The Infidel Stain: The Blake and Avery Mystery Series (Book 2) - Softcover

The Infidel Stain is a richly detailed and smartly plotted novel that firmly establishes Carter as an authentic voice in the world of historical crime. (Observer)

Witty and unfailingly readable...its contemporary resonance [is] all the more effective for being implicit. (Andrew Taylor The Spectator)

An entertaining stew of blackmail, murder, cross-dressing and incomprehensible slang ... like Dickens, Carter's righteous anger at Victorian hypocrisy does not prevent her from revelling in it with infectious glee. (Sunday Telegraph)

While the relationship between the dynamic duo Blake and Avery evolves in a nuanced, tender way the real star of the show in this complex, clever novel is London itself. (Evening Standard)

The Strangler Vine was a promising and enjoyable debut - plenty of action, rich in historical detail, all crowned with a very clever twist. Carter has proved with The Infidel Stain that it was not a one-off. (The Times)

If this series is not bought for film, it would be another mark of the corporate stupidity that lost the BBC Ripper Street. It is, however, far more pleasurable and impressive to read. (Independent on Sunday)

M.J. Carter is a slick storyteller who combines respect for a good murder with cool historical analysis . . . [The Infidel Stain] promises to be an equally pertinent comment, in the year of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, on the price of a free press. (A.N. Wilson, ‘Summer Reads’, Times Literary Supplement)

Vivid...done with brio. (Mail on Sunday)

Vividly realised...the second outing for [Blake and Avery] is even more fun, with the same blend of derring-do and elegant writing. ..Delicious stuff. (Financial Times)

A sinister tale involving political revolution, printers and porn, The Infidel Stain drips with period atmosphere. (Bella Magazine)

It's 1841, and three years after we left them at the close of The Strangler Vine, Blake and Avery are reunited in very different circumstances in London. There has been a series of dreadful murders in the slums of the printing district, which the police mysteriously refuse to investigate, and Blake and Avery must find the culprit before he kills again.