The Hunters Club

by Alis Hawkins

If you're not with them you're against them.Oxford, 1883. Young men are being found bound, gagged and hooded at the gates of their colleges in the small hours.

Basil Rice, Jesus College fellow, is asked by the senior proctor to investigate. But matters of sexual purity are dangerous, as it lays Basil open to unwelcome scrutiny of his own private life.

Meanwhile, the University Vice Chancellor's Court has wrongly imprisoned a young shopgirl from the town, and she seeks the services of young academic and budding journalist, Non Vaughan, to clear her name.

The uncovering by Basil of a secret society, The Venatores, and the murder of a student, cause Non and Basil to join forces. But is justice possible in a world so unjust and dangerous?

A scintillating historical mystery from the author of CWA Historical Dagger shortlisted A Bitter Remedy.

Praise for the Oxford Mysteries series'An excellent historical mystery dripping with atmosphere that exposes the chauvinism, misogyny and bigotry of late Victorian England' The Times

'Real figures from history rub shoulders with those invented by Hawkins and her inventiveness is prodigal' Financial Times

'Fearlessly tackles taboo attitudes of the era, taking aim at misogyny, homophobia, and sexual politics. An excellent addition to the historical mystery canon. Marvellous!' Vaseem Khan

'Brilliantly researched, rich in atmosphere and with two likeable and intriguing protagonists at the centre' Philip Gwynne Jones

443 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 16, 2025

About the author

Alis Hawkins grew up on a dairy farm in Cardiganshire. Her inner introvert thought it would be a good idea to become a shepherd and, frankly, if she had, she might have been published sooner. As it was, three years reading English at Corpus Christi College, Oxford revealed an extrovert streak and a social conscience which saw her train as a Speech and Language Therapist. She has spent the subsequent three decades variously bringing up two sons, working with children and young people on the autism spectrum and writing fiction, non-fiction and plays. She writes the kind of books she likes to read: character-driven historical crime and mystery fiction with what might be called literary production values.

Series: The Teifi Valley Coroner historical crime series, featuring Harry Probert Lloyd and John Davies. Published by Freight Books 2017, due for reissue by The Dome Press October 2018

Trilogy: The first of the Black Death trilogy, The Black and The White, coming soon from Sapere Books (summer 2018).

Standalone: Testament – previously published by PanMacmillan, soon for reissue by Sapere Books (summer 2018).

You can find more on Alis and her writing on her website (see link below) on Facebook - Alis Hawkins Author - and on Twitter (see link below)

Reviews

[Sian · Rating 4 out of 5]

(4.5). Given the missing apostrophe in the title, this was almost a DNF before I even started it. Had this not been the continuation of a series I was reading, I would not have persevered beyond the cover. I am so glad I did.
Non and Basil again explore the underbelly of Victorian Oxford. This time their focus is on the University’s Vice Chancellor’s Court and a secret society of sexual predators - both shocking in their own right. More than ever we see the conflict between ‘the town and the gown.’
Basil is increasingly concerned that his ‘sexual proclivities’ will be exposed and Non hears her dead sister’s voice more and more. Both those elements are a little overdone in the first half of the book for my liking. Despite that, for me, this is the strongest in the Oxford series so far. Most importantly, Non is no longer petulant and annoying. She is maturing and becoming the feisty, canny Cardi I always hoped for. I look forward to the 4th in the series.