6 h 36 minAudiobook3 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
How do you hunt a killer when no one can quite name the person you seek?
In Captain Shannon, Coulson Kernahan places a journalist on the trail of a phantom killer. Anarchist terror shadows the pursuit, while hidden identities make the hunt uncertain. The clues come slowly. In this Victorian thriller, the danger lies not only in finding the enemy, but in knowing who that enemy really is.
The streets of London form the setting for a story of secrecy and pursuit. Kernahan draws on a world where newspapers carry reports of bombings and plots, and secret societies feed public fear. With a reporter as its central hunter, the novel brings the search for a killer into the newspaper world's restless search for answers.
What you’ll discover
- A journalist in pursuit Follow a reporter whose relentless hunt puts the search for identity at the story's heart.
- An enemy without certainty Enter a mystery where the killer remains elusive and appearances offer little firm ground.
- London under a shadow Step into streets where anarchist terror and secrecy give the pursuit its threatening atmosphere.
- Clues that come slowly Let the gradual arrival of clues draw you deeper into the journalist's uncertain chase.
- Victorian fears laid bare Explore a thriller shaped by public fears of plots, secret societies, and hidden enemies.
Who will love it
For readers who love period thrillers, Victorian settings and tales of secrecy and pursuit, with hidden identities and danger in the streets of London.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Why anarchists haunted Victorian fiction
- The journalist as the hunter
- Hidden identities and the phantom enemy
- The author and his taste for drama
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Captain Shannon
by Coulson Kernahan · 1897
A journalist hunts a killer no one can quite name through a London gripped by anarchist terror.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 4
Why anarchists haunted Victorian fiction
In the later nineteenth century, newspapers across Europe were full of reports of bombings and plots. Anarchism, a belief that society should have no government, became a source of public fear. Writers of fiction took up the subject eagerly, and it gave them villains who worked in secret and struck without warning.
This fear shaped the thriller as a form. Authors such as Joseph Conrad and G. K. Chesterton wrote about plotters and informers in their own ways. Popular novelists wrote simpler tales, with a clear threat and a clear hunt.
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Who wrote Captain Shannon?
Captain Shannon was written by Coulson Kernahan, an English novelist, critic and journalist who died in 1943. He was active in the literary world of Victorian and Edwardian London.
What kind of book is Captain Shannon?
It is a Victorian thriller. Stories of this type deal with secret plots, hidden identities and a hunt for a dangerous enemy, often with a journalist or amateur at the centre.
Why were anarchists common in Victorian fiction?
Bombings and plots in the later nineteenth century alarmed the public. Newspapers reported them widely, so novelists found in anarchists a ready source of fear, secrecy and drama.
The author
Coulson Kernahan
1858–1943 · English novelist
Coulson Kernahan was a British writer born in Ilfracombe, Devon, in 1858. He wrote novels, essays, and poetry in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His novels included Captain Shannon. He lived in England and died in 1943.
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