Review: The Real Sherlock Holmes by Angela Buckley

Sysnopsis: On 6 December 1886, Arthur Foster leaves the Queen’s Theatre, Manchester with a pocket full of gold and a lady bedecked with diamonds on his arm. He hails a hansom cab unaware that a detective has been trailing him as he crisscrossed the city. As the cab pulls away, the detective slips inside and arrests the infamous ‘Birmingham Forger’. The detective is Jerome Caminada, legendary policeman and a true Victorian super-sleuth.

Known as a ‘terror to evil-doers’, Caminada is at the top of his game as he stalks nefarious criminals through the seedy streets of Manchester’s underworld. Born in the slums, he has an intimate knowledge of the labyrinth of dark alleyways and the shady characters that inhabit them. Caminada’s compelling story bears all the hallmarks of Arthur Conan Doyle and establishes this indefatigable investigator as one of the most formidable detectives of the 19th century and a real-life Sherlock Holmes.

Caminada - a man's whose career rivaled and paralleled that of London's Inspector Frederick Abberline. Both men came from humble beginnings, went into a trade before entering the Police Force; both were skilled and rose through the ranks; both become private detectives after leaving the force; and both would be remembered for their most famous of cases.

Buckley provides us with a series of vignettes that introduce us to this remarkable man, his methods, his crimes (ie: the one he solved), and his life.  Caminada truly was unique among his peers and possibly, even among investigators regardless of the time period in which they worked.  Reading some of these cases, you would be inclined to think that Caminada himself was a fictional character due to his highly successful methods of crime-fighting and policing.  It is a testament to this man that we are still amazed today at his level of cunning, doggedness, and dedication to his career.  

I found this to be a most interesting read - and whether he truly was the inspiration for Conan Doyle's "Sherlock Holmes", there is no doubting the man's obvious (subconscious) influence.

See also: 

- Twenty Five Years of Detective Life by Jerome Camanada

- Slums, Squalor & Salvation 

Review: The Career Killer by Ali Gunn

Synopsis: When a serial killer poses a woman wearing a wedding dress in one of London’s most beautiful gardens without being seen, all eyes fall on newly-promoted DCI Elsie Mabey’s team of misfits as they investigate their first case together.  Nobody else wants the case and nobody wants the team she’s forced to work with. Her subordinates are the opposite of the Met’s finest; they’re the “not quite fired” of London policing.  Can this ragtag band pull together to catch a killer or will their failure be a self-fulfilling prophecy?

When I first read the synopsis with the line "they’re the “not quite fired” of London policing", I thought, this sounds a bit like the TV series "Old Tricks" - which I love - so thought I would give it a go.

What I found was a story line featuring a a newly promoted DCI Elise Mabey and her team of three: the experienced DS Patricia Knox, the naive DS Georgia Matthews, and the newly transferred DI Sebastian Stryker - not quite "Old Tricks" but possibly those no others wanted on their teams (for whatever reasons).

So the each of the characters - lets start with DCI Elise Mabey. Newly promoted to DCI she is keen to step out of the shadows of her more famous policeman father and make a name for herself on her own terms - " ... she needed this case ... she needed the chance to prove, once and for all, that she earned her command ... ". Added to this is the added pressure of suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) - leaving her tired, irritable and not in the mood to suffer fools.

Elise is joined by the newly transferred DI Sebastian Stryker - in Yorkshire he was a big fish in a small pond, now in London, he finds that he really is a small fish and must prove himself deserving of his place. We often, however, find him at odds with his boss, much to her chargrin.

Our two Detective Sergeants could not be any more different - DS Patricia Knox is - quite frankly - ob-knox-ious! A veteran officer who was up for the position Elise secured, Knox makes no bones about her feelings - though a past indiscretion was the cause of her downfall. She is jealous, disruptive, and working to her own agenda. Then lastly we have DS Georgia Matthews - the youngest, most inexperienced, and easily led of the team. Knox has taken her under her wing - and begins to lead her astray.

Others who feature include the Crime Scene Manager, Annie Burke; Chief Pathologist, Valerie Spilsbury (named after legendary Sir Bernard Spilsbury, eminent British Pathologist I wonder); and DCI Fairbanks - Mabey's co-worker, rival, and the epitome of the lazy cop.

DCI Mabey soon finds herself in charge of a serial killer case and picks up an additional caseload from Fairbanks. Mabey laments that " ... she needed to pull this useless team of hers together to get justice ... " - but will this motley crew be able to solve this case before imploding.

I found the narrative intriguing and it held my attention. The procedural aspects were detailed as we move with the team as they discover and investigate, experiencing the highs and lows of the investigation. We also get a bit of the sense of the behind the scenes politiking within the police force, especially between Mabey and Fairbanks.

I did feel that a couple of aspects contained within the narrative to be rather questionable - particularly Knox going off to participate in another case - would this have happened in real life - I personally could not say, but as a reader I found it a little unbelievable. There were times when I found myself questioning the main characters and their actions as well - they were not only disfunctional but disobendient, doing as they pleased often ignoring Mabey's directives, which shows weakness on her part, leaving the reader to question whether she really is deserving of her promotion. At least the characters weren't portrayed as "peter perfects" but were flawed, human.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and I would be interested in reading more from this author and from this series. 

Review: Scotland Yard's Murder Squad by Dick Kirby

Synopsis: In 1906 the Metropolitan Police Commissioner was asked by the Home Office to make available skilled investigators for murder enquiries nationwide as few constabularies had sufficiently skilled - or indeed, any - detectives.

Thus was born the Reserve Squad, or Murder Squad, as it later became known. Despite a reluctance by some forces to call upon The Met, the Murder Squad has proved its effectiveness on countless occasions with its remit extended to British territories overseas. A particularly sensitive case was the murder of a local superintendent on St Kitts and Nevis.

A former Scotland Yard detective, the Author uses his contacts and experiences to get the inside track on a gruesome collection of infamous cases. Child murderers, a Peer's butler, a King's housekeeper, gangsters, jealous spouses and the notorious mass murderer Dr Bodkin Adams compete for space in this spine-chilling and gripping book which is testament to the Murder Squad's skills and ingenuity - and the evil of the perpetrators.

Brimming with gruesome killings, this highly readable book proves that there is no substitute for old fashioned footwork and instinct.

Kirby - through his vast experience and network of contacts from his Flying Squad days - is able to present an eclectic range of cases from the annals of Scotland Yard. After presenting us with a brief history, representing a nostalgic view of bygone times, we are launched into our first case, taking place at the turn of the 20th century. 

As with many of the earlier cases, forensics was in its infancy, and detectives were still expected to put in the hard slog and discover or reveal the evidence for themselves. Fingerprinting was in use as was the traditional "line up", but it was the sharp-eye witness and the sifting through the circumstantial evidence that aided in a conviction. Only one case presented featured the "court room confession" and a number of cases are still unsolved; and not all our suspects paid the ultimate price. We meet along the way a mixed bag of detectives - a "suspicion" of detectives if you like - and I enjoyed the "what happened to ..." at the end.

For those interested in true crime and / or police methods, this will prove an enjoyable read.

Memoirs of a Bow Street Runner by Henry Goddard

“Because of the shortage of real information, so little fact and so much fiction has been written about the Runners that they seem like characters from legend rather than history. This book goes some way to restoring them to life...”

The first autobiography of a Bow Street Runner to ever be published, Henry Goddard’s memoir provides an interesting insight into life as one of Britain’s ‘first police-detectives.’

When this title popped up in my news feed - and I was intrigued. Having come across the Bow Street Runners in various Victorian Crime Fiction tomes, I was interested to see what else was out there by fictional and non-fictional accounts.

So here is a select few titles that may interest:

• The First English Detectives: The Bow Street Runners and the Policing of London, 1750 - 1840 by J. M. Beattie
• The history of the Bow street runners, 1729-1829 by Gilbert Armitage
• Before the Bobbies: The Night Watch and Police Reform in Metropolitan London, 1720-1830 by Elaine A. Reynolds
• A History of English Criminal Law and Its Administration from 1750: The clash between private initiative and public interest in the enforcement of the law by Leon Radzinowicz
• Crime and Society in England, 1750-1900 by Clive Emsley
• The English Police: A Political and Social History by Clive Emsley
• The Great British Bobby: A History of British Policing from the 18th Century to the Present by Clive Emsley
• Police Detectives in History, 1750-1950 by Clive Emsley
• The Ascent of the Detective: Police Sleuths in Victorian and Edwardian England by Haia Shpayer-Makov
• The Rise of Scotland Yard: A History of the Metropolitan Police by Douglas Gordon Browne
• Scotland Yard and the Metropolitan Police by Sir John Fitzgerald Moylan
• The Birth of the British 'Bobby': Bow Street Runners, Scotland Yard & Victorian Crime by Don Hale
• A Certain Share of Low Cunning: A History of the Bow Street Runners, 1792-1839 by David J. Cox
• Chronicles of Bow Street Police-office: With an Account of the Magistrates, "runners," and Police; and a Selection of the Most Interesting Cases, (2 Volumes) by Percy Hetherington Fitzgerald
• Crime, Policing and Punishment in England, 1660-1914 by Drew D. Gray
• Policing Victorian London: Political Policing, Public Order, and the London Metropolitan Police by Phillip Thurmond Smith
• Crime, Policing and Punishment in England, 1750–1914 by David Taylor
• The Queen's Peace: The Origins and Development of the Metropolitan Police, 1829-1979 by David Ascoli

There will by many more tomes out there for the interested reader - or budding author.