The Ladder Dancer by Roz Southey

A Charles Patterson mystery - Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, 1736. A foggy September evening. When a child is ridden down and killed by an unknown horseman, musician sleuth Charles Patterson, the only witness close enough to see that the collision was no accident, vows to hunt down the rider. But there are distractions, including Richard Nightingale, a fashionable 'ladder-dancer', who arrives from London to cause havoc with the ladies. Then Nightingale himself is attacked, and Patterson realizes the situation is more complicated than he first thought . . .