title: Kept: A Victorian Mystery
author:  D. J. Taylor 
description: <I>Starred Review.</i> This richly textured tour de force from British author Taylor (<I>The Comedy Man</I>) centers on the abduction of disturbed heiress Isabel Ireland, whose husband, Henry, died in a fall from his horse (or a blow to the head) near their estate in Suffolk. Through intriguing letters, diaries and compelling narratives by characters from all levels of 1860s English society, Taylor follows Isabel's determined cousins to remote Easton Hall, where she's being kept by sinister James Dixey, a purported naturalist with initially murky motives. Dixey's henchmen destroy eggs of endangered bird species and maintain vicious dogs that distress his servants, especially precocious Esther Spalding, an endearing young maid who cares for Isabel in the manor's lonely west wing. In squalid, crime-ridden London, police captain McTurk shrewdly links a shady debt collection service and dramatic train robbery to Isabel's abduction. The many facets of this absorbing, multilayered tale come together in an understated but fulfilling resolution. <I>(May)</I> <BR>Copyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
zlib_text: C.L. TAYLOR
  
   _The Missing_
  
  ![](Images/image00209.jpeg)
  
  Copyright
  
  Published by Avon
  
  An imprint of HarperCollins _Publishers Ltd_
  
  1 London Bridge Street
  
  London SE1 9GF
  
  [www.harpercollins.co.uk](http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
  
  First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins 2016
  
  Copyright © C.L. Taylor 2016
  
  Cover illustration © Henry Steadman 2016
  
  C.L. Taylor asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this
  work.
  
  A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
  
  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents
  portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to
  actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
  
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