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: **Praise for** _ **The American Boy**_
  
  'An enticing work of fiction… Taylor takes account of both a Georgian
  formality and a pre-Victorian laxity in social and sexual matters; he is adept
  at historical recreation, and allows a heady decor to work in his favour by
  having his mysteries come wrapped around by a creepy London fog or embedded
  picturesquely in a Gloucestershire snowdrift' _�Patricia Craig,_ _TLS_
  
  'Without question, the best book of 2003, and possibly the best book of the
  decade, is Andrew Taylor's historical masterpiece, _The American Boy._ A truly
  captivating novel, rich with the sounds, smells, and cadences of nineteenth-
  century England' �Manda Scott, _Glasgow Herald_ 'Long, sumptuous, near-edible
  account of Regency rogues — wicked bankers, City swindlers, crooked pedagogues
  and ladies on the make — all joined in the pursuit of the rich, full,
  sometimes shady life. A plot stuffed with incident and character, with period
  details impeccably rendered' _�Literary Review_ 'T