Description

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 BOLLINGER EVERYMAN WODEHOUSE PRIZE FOR COMIC FICTION

‘A joyously funny and absurd steampunk frolic that satirises both the era in which it is set and our own age’
FINANCIAL TIMES

From the creators of the acclaimed audio drama podcast Victoriocity comes a cozy scifi mystery set in the chaotic metropolis of Even Greater London – unmissable for fans of Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series and Terry Pratchett’s Discworld.

EVEN GREATER LONDON, 1887: a vast, uninterrupted urban plane encompassing the entire lower half of England and, for complex reasons, only the upper third of the Isle of Wight… The immense Tower casts electricity across the sky itself, powering the mind-boggling mechanisms of the city below; the notorious engineer-army swarms through its very veins, building, demolishing, and rebuilding whatever they see fit; and – at the heart of it all – sits the country’s first ever private detective agency.

Archibald Fleet and Clara Entwhistle hoped things would pick up quickly for their new enterprise. No one is taking them seriously, but their break will come soon. Definitely… Probably.

Meanwhile, police are baffled by a series of impossible bank robberies, their resources wholly absorbed by the case. Which means that when a woman witnesses a kidnapping, Fleet-Entwhistle Private Investigations is the only place she can turn for help. Luckily they’re more than happy to oblige.

But what’s the motive behind the kidnap? As Clara and Fleet investigate, they find more than they could ever have imagined…

READERS ARE LOVING HIGH VAULTAGE:

‘One of the most original stories I’ve read’ NetGalley review
‘Clever, original, funny, sharp, satirical and incredibly entertaining’ NetGalley review
‘My favourite steampunk/humorous alt history novel’ NetGalley review
‘A wonderful escape from real life’ NetGalley review
‘Great fun and endlessly inventive. This was a riotously imaginative read’ NetGalley review
‘Reminds me of the Discworld books, which is NOT a comparison I use lightly’ NetGalley review
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Chris and Jen Sugden’s book ‘High Vaultage’ was a No. 5 Sunday Times bestseller w/c 18-03-2024.

Publisher Review

It is everything I hoped it would be (everything the radio show led me to think it would be) and more: a masterly comic writing and a superb piece of worldbuilding, as perfect a piece of neo-Victoriania as I remember since … well, since the actual Victorian epoch, which I remember well. You will laugh, you will cry (with laughter), and most of all you will frantically turn the pages. Unlike Queen Victoria, we are most assuredly amused — Adam Roberts, author of THE THING ITSELF and PURGATORY MOUNT Electrifying! Full of whimsical humour and unexpected twists, the weird and wonderful world of HIGH VAULTAGE has private detectives and bank heists galore, with a mostly mechanical Queen Victoria thrown in for good measure — Thomas D. Lee, bestselling author of PERILOUS TIMES Prepare for an electrifying ride through Even Greater London in this delightfully twisted mash-up of Douglas Adams and Charles Dickens. High Vaultage positively crackles with invention and intrigue and I loved every page. Mark my words: Fleet and Clara are destined to join the waxwork hall of fame for all-time great literary detective duos — Helen Marshall, World Fantasy Award-winning author of GIFTS FOR THE ONE WHO COMES AFTER and THE MIGRATION I LOVED this book . . . I just loved spending time with Clara and Fleet and revelling in their delightful dialogue and marvelling at the wonders of Even Greater London (then having to go and have a lie-down, obviously), and of course trying to solve the Fiendish Mystery (all the while worrying about the safety of an annoying beagle). I already want to return to Mrs Pomligan’s Coffee House (and Museum of Nearby Horrible Murder) and take another cab to the Thames Glacier, so I’m desperately hoping that there will be more adventures to come… Thank you so much for sending this to me! Also, for any reader who’s already a Victoriocity podcast fan, it’s so great to get to know our favourite characters even more, and their voices come through fantastically vividly. But for anyone new to the world, this is a wonderful introduction to the mysterious mechanical madness that is Even Greater London, and the many Highly Suspicious Goings-On therein. And they have a whole podcast to listen to after they’ve finished! — Sarah Brooks, author of THE CAUTIOUS TRAVELLER’S GUIDE TO THE WASTELANDS Very funny . . . Extremely easy to recommend, especially to fans of Discworld, Dishonoured or Douglas Adams — Alasdair Beckett-King Wickedly funny, deliriously inventive, delightfully weird. The Sugdens’ Even Greater London is one of the best-realised fantasy playgrounds since Great A’Tuin ambled across the stars with The Discworld on their back — Malcolm Devlin, BSFA-nominated author of YOU WILL GROW INTO THEM If you put Sherlock Holmes in a blender with Dickens, and then filtered it through a Terry Pratchett filter – the result is a whole lot of fun * Front Row, BBC Radio 4 * If Douglas Adams . . . were still alive and wanted to get into podcasting, VICTORIOCITY might likely be something he’d have written * Vulture * The sheer inventiveness keeps you sleuthing on * The Financial Times *