"The Maul and the Pear Tree" by P.D.James and T.A.Critchley

In December 1811 the family and household of a young shopkeeper on the Ratcliffe Highway in the East End of London were brutally bludgeoned to death. A few days later an innkeeper and his family met the same fate. These bloody murders caused panic through the neighbourhood and a sensation across the nation; the magistracy and watch were exposed as incapable and floundering.The scandal led indirectly to the foundation of the Metropolitan Police in 1829.

The story of the murders and the bumbling investigation is vividly told. As in a classic whodunnit, there is a large but limited cast of suspects, most of whom are closely linked to one another and to one or both victims.  Evidence is presented, sometimes obliquely so that the reader is given parts of the puzzle to solve, and testimonies are forensically dissected. Sometimes background details become extended and slightly impeded the flow of the narrative and the ending is a little disappointing (perhaps I was unrealistic in expecting a rather more ingenious solution to a two hundred year old mystery) but apart from these niggles this is an outstanding read.

Thrilling. February 2013; 364 pages

This review was written by the author of Bally and Bro, Motherdarling  and The Kids of God