A well-written account of a murder that happened in 1860. A wealthy but miserly widow, landlord of a mostly slum properties in London's East End, was battered to death, leading to a potential miscarriage of justice that, forty years later, attracted the attention of Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes stories. The author of this account offers his own solution to the crime.
It was well-told, beautifully paced, easy to read, and fascinating: it certainly had me turning the pages. It left me thankful that today the police have forensic evidence and that successful prosecutions require a rather higher standard of proof than in those days.
There were some nice comparisons between then and now:
"Part of the reason for social tensions in 1860 was the resentment felt by previously well-paid manual workers (many now casualised) for the new generations of poor incomers who were thought to be bringing fown streets by being prepared to live in squalid and even dangerous housing" (Ch 1)
It referenced the Ratcliff Road murders in 1811 which are the subject of The Maul and the Pear Tree by P D James and T A Critchley and the Road Hill House murders which are written about by Kate Summerscale in her book The Suspicions of Mr Whicher.
I also wondered whether the Irish portion of the career of prime suspect Mullins might have inspired Conan Doyle to write his late Holmes novel The Valley of Fear and whether the description of the Chancery battles might have inspired Charles Dickens while writing Bleak House.
I noticed that The Mile End Murder received a favourable review from my old school mate Craig Brown, author of:
- One on One: 101 mini-biographies
- One Two Three Four: the story of the Beatles
A very enjoyable true crime book.
May 2023; 299 pages
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