The Maul and the Pear Tree
Registered by chawoso of Heusenstamm, Hessen Germany on 1/11/2014
This book is in a Controlled Release!
2 journalers for this copy...
The first day of Christmas my ....
A pear tree with a lot of pears and something like a partrige is travelling to USA.
Enjoy it, eponine38!
Enjoy it, eponine38!
Amazon:
In this riveting true crime account, acclaimed author P. D. James, the "Queen of the English mystery novel" (Newsweek) joins forces with historian T. A. Critchley to re-create the Radcliffe Highway murders, a series of vicious crimes committed in 1811 ... The scene is the London Docks near Wapping Old Stairs, a sinister neighborhood where pirates were often hanged. The first victims were two hardworking shopkeepers, along with their baby and shop boy. Twelve days later and only a few blocks away, an equally blameless pub owner was found together with his wife and servant, victims of equal cruelty and apparent absence of motive. The serial killings provoked nationwide notoriety and panic. With the atmosphere and pacing of her best novels, James reveals the rudimentary police system of Regency London coping with a major murder investigation -- and crimes that rank up there with Jack the Ripper, the Boston Strangler, and Son of Sam as the very symbol of murderous and unthinking brutality.
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This will be offered in my Holiday RABCK (but I will read it first, of course!)
In this riveting true crime account, acclaimed author P. D. James, the "Queen of the English mystery novel" (Newsweek) joins forces with historian T. A. Critchley to re-create the Radcliffe Highway murders, a series of vicious crimes committed in 1811 ... The scene is the London Docks near Wapping Old Stairs, a sinister neighborhood where pirates were often hanged. The first victims were two hardworking shopkeepers, along with their baby and shop boy. Twelve days later and only a few blocks away, an equally blameless pub owner was found together with his wife and servant, victims of equal cruelty and apparent absence of motive. The serial killings provoked nationwide notoriety and panic. With the atmosphere and pacing of her best novels, James reveals the rudimentary police system of Regency London coping with a major murder investigation -- and crimes that rank up there with Jack the Ripper, the Boston Strangler, and Son of Sam as the very symbol of murderous and unthinking brutality.
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This will be offered in my Holiday RABCK (but I will read it first, of course!)
I had never heard of these murders, but now I am fascinated by them (gruesome as they were). The book was loaded with information, a bit dense in spots, but fully redeemed at the end, when James and Critchley give their own opinion on the case. The murders by Jack the Ripper are quite well-known, but the Ratcliffe Highway murders preceded those by over half a century and, in my opinion, are equally interesting.
I have become so fascinated by this story that I have spent quite a lot of time online gathering additional information and viewing the actual locations (some of them no longer exist, but you can see the general area). And I hope to visit the sites during my short stay in London later this year.
Thank you so much, chawoso, for introducing me to this story!
I have become so fascinated by this story that I have spent quite a lot of time online gathering additional information and viewing the actual locations (some of them no longer exist, but you can see the general area). And I hope to visit the sites during my short stay in London later this year.
Thank you so much, chawoso, for introducing me to this story!
In mysteriousmummy's 12 Days of Christmas Exchange, I was assigned...yes, the First Day of Christmas (Partridge in a Pear Tree)! What luck! So this book is now traveling to my partner, and I hope she will enjoy it as much as I did.
Edit 28 January 2015:
The US Postal Service left this at the recipient's door on 23 January but it was evidently stolen (many recent problems in that area and the FBI is even involved). I will try to get a replacement copy to register with a new BCID. What a shame :-(
Edit 28 January 2015:
The US Postal Service left this at the recipient's door on 23 January but it was evidently stolen (many recent problems in that area and the FBI is even involved). I will try to get a replacement copy to register with a new BCID. What a shame :-(