Murder in Grub Street

Murder in Grub Street (1995) Bruce Alexander

The second Sir John Fielding mystery, Murder in Grub Street opens with a recreation of broadsheet announcing the news of a horrific murder on Grub Street. A publisher on Grub street whose family and apprentices were all murdered in their beds. This cases shocks not just London, but also Jeremy Proctor, who was to have begun his apprenticeship with Ezekiel Crabb the following day.

Not only does this give us a gruesome and exciting murder, but it also allows Jeremy to remain with Sir John Fielding–the end of the first book closes with Sir John saying that despite the wishes of his wife and Jeremy, the best place for Jeremy is an apprenticeship with a printer. So we can continue to see London through Jeremy’s eyes, and learn more about Sir John through the boy living with him.

There was a great deal of character development in the first book, and although Jeremy’s situation, and that of Sir John Fielding are briefly covered, this tales builds upon the previous book. I’m not sure how this would effect someone picking up this book as their introduction to Sir John Fielding, but with Amazon and Abebooks, there’s hardly a need to start in the middle of a series.

In this book I particularly liked how Bruce Alexander extricated Jeremy from leaving Sir John’s household, and how the step made sense in the context of the characters and the situation. It was a very neat solution. I also liked how characters from the previous book that I didn’t think to see again appeared in this book–some with surprising results.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the mystery and watching it unfold. As with the first book, all the pieces were there, but I didn’t necessarily put them together. I also liked the existence of sub-plots and stories; it was hard to tell what was related to the mystery, and what was a sub-plot that was unrelated to the murders.

The one problem I had with the book was that there were a group of religious zealots who happened to be from North America from the Monongahela valley. HEY! No fair! My home area gets mentioned in a book and it’s because there are a bunch of religious nut jobs? Wah!

I am a huge fan of British mysteries, starting with Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple mysteries and moving forth from there. But I think that murders set during this time period–at the creation of the Bow Street Runners yet when there were still independent thief-takers–are especially fascinating. They’re also a reminder of how lucky I am to live in a modern era. I may enjoy reading historical mysteries and high fantasy–but I certainly wouldn’t want to live in such a time period. I like electricity and computers indoor plumbing and orange juice year round.

If you like British mysteries, then this is a series you won’t want to miss. As I said, you could almost certainly pick up this mystery and read it without having read the previous book. But really, you should start the series at the beginning.
Rating: 7/10

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