Tony R Cox is an ex-provincial UK journalist. The Simon Jardine series is based on his memories of the early 70s - the time of sex, drugs and rock 'n roll - when reporters relied on word of mouth and there was no internet, no mobile phones, not even a fax machine.
Few historical crime fiction authors probably know as much about the intricacies and intimacies of London’s Underground stations as Jim Eldridge, and Murder at Whitechapel Road Station is the latest of four mysteries, and ‘murders’ at underground stations.
It is the latest in a prolific series that includes ten ‘Murders at’ museums, three at top London hotels, and a singular Murder at St. Paul’s Cathedral. History is a theme that runs throughout this book.
There’s a body and the aristocratic Detective Chief Inspector Edgar Saxe-Coburg, and his more basic, younger and recently married, DS Ted Lampson are called in. It’s not on their patch, but as the skirts of the poor, young victim, are lifted it becomes clear why this is not just a local Bobbies case. There’s little to see, but that’s the horror! The victim has been eviscerated and all or most of her organs, from the waist down, removed.
This is Whitechapel, London, in 1941, just over half a century after the notorious Jack the Ripper murders, and in the middle of Germany’s blitz on the East End. The gruesome murder falls into the investigatory lap of Scotland Yard.
DCI Coburg gets a call to go to Buckingham Palace; a summons from King George VI. Prime Minister Winston Churchill joins the discussion involving a missing valet. Is there a connection to the carved-apart prostitute? Coburg and Lampson are thrown headfirst into an intriguing mystery, despite their boss demanding that royalty and the Prime Minister take precedence.
The plot moves along at a conversational level whilst the author captures the essence of the 1940s, including an innocence that even extends to the seamier side of life and hard-bitten police. There’s no swearing and profanity; respect for each character; and constant puzzlement about how any individual could inflict such an appalling evisceration.
We are transported, gently, into an age of respect for titles, gentry, and doffed caps. As the body count piles up with multiple bloody murders, our mystery villain makes an anonymous appearance, watching and manipulating.
To lighten the violence and murders of the core plot there’s a lighter sub-story that brings in true stars of those difficulty times for London, including Flanagan and Allen, the Crazy Gang and Vera Lynn.
This is London through the eyes of an author who’s done his research and knows the city.
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