The Wretched

The Wretched is a gripping Victorian crime thriller that opens on the undulating moors of Dartmoor in 1885, with the escape of convict John Fitzpatrick from Dartmoor Prison. His escape has been aided by Irish Fenians - a group dedicated to bringing about an independent Ireland. But the question isn't just why but what is their motive? Fitzpatrick himself certainly doesn't know the answer.
In pursuit of Fitzpatrick is Scotland Yard Detective Inspector Raymond Briggs. The inspector though is a broken man, wracked by a choking melancholia and worse. He needs to solve this case to validate himself and reclaim his reputation, not just for himself but to silence those at Scotland Yard who mock and regard him as washed up.
By his side is Isidore Runce: privileged by birth, exiled from her family by scandal, and quietly in love with the broken man she follows into the murky Bristol underworld.
From the wilds of Dartmoor to the backstreets of Bristol and on to the polluted air of London, Briggs and Runce pursue Fitzpatrick through a web of Fenian plots, police corruption, and buried personal trauma-heading toward a reckoning neither of them anticipated.
With richly drawn, complex characters and a plot steeped in tension, The Wretched is not only a page-turning thriller-it's a powerful exploration of fate, justice, and the human cost of cruelty. A dark tale of obsession, betrayal, and the weight of the past. Yet, amid the bleakness, there are flickers of warmth: wit, friendship, and the stubborn hope that even the wretched might find redemption.

Rachael Anne Long is the author of several ebooks, including the anarchic animal adventure series, The Lost Forest and the adult short story collection, First Person Singular. Rachael has previously worked for government departments and a national children's charity. She lives in Somerset, England with her daughter and their orange rescue cat where she writes, bakes, eats cake and enjoys being herself.