A Gentleman's Murder

A Gentleman’s Murder

Christopher Huang

Inkshares

November 1924. Great War veteran Lieutenant Eric Peterkin comes from an old British army family, which helped him gain membership of the prestigious Britannia Club for ex-military men. There have always been Peterkins in the Britannia Club. As the last of his line following the Great War’s slaughter, Eric was made welcome—after a fashion. There are some who count Eric’s half-Chinese blood against him, and he’s subjected to numerous casual swipes on the matter of his heritage.

Still, Eric counts as an officer and a gentleman, and he’s called upon to referee a bet between two club members, one of them newcomer Albert Benson. When Benson is found murdered in the club’s vault the following day, Eric’s instincts for justice are aroused—especially when it seems the police detective investigating has concealed evidence. Benson announced he would ‘soon right a great wrong.’ What did he mean? As Eric follows the trail from rural West Sussex to London’s Chinatown, danger takes shape on all sides. It soon looks like the murderer is uncomfortably close to home, and Eric must risk all he holds dear to bring the killer to justice.

AGentleman’s Murder introduces a new detective on the scene. Huang brings the world of the 1920’s to life, and Eric Peterkin is a great character with foibles, failings and bags of pluck who inhabits that world to the fullest.

Death in the Air

Death in the Air

by Kate Winkler Dawson

Hachette Books

Mentioned in literature and commemorated in art, the infamous London peasouper is a choking miasma composed of smoke and fog that has been a striking feature of the city for centuries.

In December 1952, a ridge of high pressure stalled over London. Cold fog blanketed the city. The smoke from industry, millions of domestic fires and the exhaust from vehicles merged with the fog until it became impossible to see more than a few feet. Smog invaded homes and businesses, theaters and cinemas. People began to die by the thousands. Those with respiratory conditions found it hard – then impossible – to breathe. Ambulances couldn’t find their way through the murk to reach those in need. Public transport was curtailed. Drivers abandoned their vehicles. Transport accidents increased and so did crime, as criminals took advantage of the obscurity. Hospitals across London became full to overflowing.

Not all the deaths were caused by the smog. John Reginald Christie, a mild-looking and somewhat creepy middle-aged man haunted the then-squalid Notting Hill area of London in search of women to kill. When the so-called Beast of 10 Rillington Place was eventually arrested six women, including his own wife, had fallen victim to Christie. 

When the fog lifted after four days, the published death toll of four thousand shocked the nation. The true total was known but hushed up for fifty years. In all, twelve thousand people died from the effects of the smog, yet the public of the time seemed more fascinated by the murders at 10 Rillington Place.

In Death in the Air, Kate Winkler Dawson draws upon archives, eyewitness and anecdotal accounts of the peasouper and serial killer that paralyzed a great city, to create an engrossing narrative about a largely forgotten episode in history which nevertheless led to two significant measures: The Clean Air Act, the first legislation in the world designed to deal with atmospheric pollution, and the trial of John Reginald Christie led to the eventual abolition of the death penalty in Britain.

Rating: Four Sushi Rolls