Books like The Lamplighter by Anthony O'Neill

In Edinburgh’s 1860s, orphan Evelyn Todd is a clever student at the Fountainbridge Institute for Destitute Girls, where she spins stories about a lamplighter who visits her window each night. The institute’s rigid governor forbids such fantasies, and Evelyn’s imaginings fade after she is taken home by a man claiming to be her father. Years later, the city’s cobbled streets are terrorised by a string of brutal killings. A detective eager for recognition, a disillusioned professor of logic, and a robust gravedigger find themselves drawn into the investigation. Their search leads them to Evelyn, who is haunted by vivid dreams of the murders and the lamplighter. As the nightmare’s details begin to reveal the killer’s identity, the trio relies on reason, intuition, philosophy, and a touch of luck to pursue the perpetrator beyond the limits of conventional detective work.

First publish date: 2003