Age: 48
male
Blake Ritson won a scholarship to St. Paul's School in London before attending Cambridge University and was soon appearing in the West End in the Tom Stoppard play 'Arcadia', for which he received excellent notices. In addition to acting - notable television roles have included 'Emma', 'Upstairs Downstairs' and 'Mansfield Park' with Billie Piper - he has also co-directed and co-written four prize-winning short films with his brother Dylan, another Cambridge graduate and ex-member of the Footlights company. He also plays musical instruments and was one of the backing band on the album 'Cowley Road' by fellow thespian - and 'Mansfield Park' co-star - Douglas Hodge.
"London, 1782. Desperate for her politician husband to return home from France, Caroline 'Caro' Corsham is already in a state of anxiety when she finds a well-dressed woman mortally wounded in the bowers of the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. The Bow Street constables are swift to act, until they discover that the deceased woman was a highly-paid prostitute, at which point they cease to care entirely. But Caro has motives of her own for wanting to see justice done, and so sets out to solve the crime herself. Enlisting the help of thieftaker, Peregrine Child, their inquiry delves into the hidden corners of Georgian society, a world of artifice, deception and secret lives. Daughters of Night, was a Book of the Year in the Times. It was also shortlisted for the Theakston’s Crime Novel of the Year, the Goldsboro Glass Bell, the Capital Crime Fingerprint Historical Novel Award and the Historical Writers’ Association Gold Crown; and longlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger." © Laura Shepherd-Robinson
