A beautiful young woman is found dead in a department store bed. She’s surrounded by white roses. Detective Best is called from London to the grey and blustery north to investigate. After finding out the girl was involved with local spiritualists, he meets a Dead End. Everyone seems to have a reason for killing the girl – from her maid to her fiancé who happens to be the long-lost brother to the department store owner. But she’s not the only girl who is missing. Will Detective Best be able to face his own painful past in order to solve the case? 'Dead End' is a gripping historical murder mystery story from acclaimed author Joan Lock. Praise for author Joan Lock: “Gripping Victorian mystery” - Publishers Weekly on Dead Born “Multilayered, ingeniously plotted, atmospheric and suspenseful, with an appealing hero… Lock’s latest Inspector Best novel makes outstanding reading for historical mystery buffs” - Booklist on Dead Letters Joan Lock's first book, 'Lady Policeman', described her six years as a policewoman in London's West End during the 1950s. The next, 'Reluctant Nightingale', focused on her previous training as a nurse in the Northeast. Nine non-fiction, police/crime books followed including three on Scotland Yard's First Detectives and the first history of the British Women Police, a subject on which she became an authority. This led to her writing extensively in the Police Press in support of women police when they were having a difficult time during integration and to acting as advisor and participant in the BBC4 TV documentary, A Fair Cop: One Hundred Years Of Women Police, screened in March 2015. Joan has also written short stories, radio plays (some historical) and radio documentaries. Her crime fiction includes one modern novel, Death In Perspective, and seven Victorian mysteries featuring the charismatic Scotland Yard Detective Ernest Best.