Still haunted by the death of her only brother, James, in the Great War, Evelyn Gifford is completely unprepared when a young nurse and her six-year-old son appear on the Giffords' doorstep one night. The child, the nurse claims, is James's, conceived in a battlefield hospital. The grief-stricken Giffords take them both in; but Evelyn, a struggling attorney, must now support her entire family - at a time when work for women lawyers is almost nonexistent.
Suddenly a new case falls in Evelyn's lap: Seemingly hopeless, it's been abandoned by her male coworkers. The accused - a veteran charged with murdering his young wife - is almost certain to die on the gallows.... And yet, Evelyn believes he is truly innocent, just as she suspects there may be more to the story of her "nephew" than meets the eye...
"In this determinedly old-fashioned novel of tangled mystery and morality, Evelyn makes for a smart and resolutely modest heroine." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. Her latest is her best novel to date. Strongly recommended for readers who enjoy Sarah Waters, Geraldine Brooks, and Jacqueline Winspear." - Library Journal
"Starred Review. A fine, compassionate, elegiac combination of human andcourtroom drama-the author's best yet. " - Kirkus Reviews
"A thoroughly engrossing read that will appeal both as mystery and historical fiction." - Booklist
This information about The Crimson Rooms was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Kathleen MacMahon is a writer and journalist. Her first novel, This is How it Ends was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Book of the Year award, as well as two Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards and was chosen by the public as runner-up in the RTÉ Liveline listener's poll for Book of the Year 2012. Her second novel The Long, Hot Summer, was published in 2015 with both critical and commercial success. A former radio and television journalist with Ireland's national broadcaster, Kathleen lives in Dublin with her husband and twin daughters.

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