The Mystery at Rake Hall C.S. Lewis investigates (The Times Best Crime Fiction of 2025 So Far)

''A marvellous literary thriller'' Clare Chase

¿In post-war Oxford, secrets lie behind every door.

In 1947, with rationing still biting and the black market thriving, university don C.S. 'Jack' Lewis finds himself pulled into a mystery straight from one of his friend Dorothy Sayers' novels. Susan Temple, his brightest student, has hidden herself away at Rake Hall - a hostel for unmarried, outcast mothers - and hasn't been heard from since.

With no experience beyond catching the occasional student plagiarist, Lewis is hardly a detective. But when Susan's absence continues to haunt him, he teams up with her concerned friend Lucy and together they delve into the disturbing rumours of a nasty racket at Rake Hall. Can Lewis's nose for the truth separate fact from fiction?

In The Mystery at Rake Hall, Maureen Paton - whose mother lived at the real-life Rake Hall while pregnant with Maureen - brilliantly recreates a post-war Oxford world, as well as imagining an alternative life for one of its most famous residents.