Person or Persons Unknown

Person or Persons Unknown (1997) Bruce Alexander

About a year has passed since the events of Watery Grave and Jeremy Proctor is starting to become a full fledged teenager–in though if not in deed. Although he appreciates what Sir John Fielding has done for him, he begins to feel that he is being treated like a child, instead of the man he is sure he has become. Luckily, there isn’t too much teenage rebellion here, mostly just cranky teenage thoughts.

Meanwhile, someone in London has started murdering prostitutes. The first is found soon after she was killed, with a precise strike to the heart with a long, thin knife. Further deaths follow, and the list of suspects ranges from a solider to individuals near and dear to Jeremy.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The mysteries are getting better, although it is worrisome how Jeremy manages to be at the scene of so many of the crimes in this book. Either London was much smaller than it is today, or he had terribly bad luck to keep chancing upon the scene of the crimes at the right time. But it’s a mystery, so one comes to expect things like that–and at least Jeremy has the excuse of spending a great deal of time with the magistrate and various Bow Street Runners, so that would in many cases more likely to become more involved in finding dead bodies than one would normally expect of your average fifteen year-old boy.

Yet before I pick too many nits, I’d like to point out that these concerns/issues came to me only after I had finished the story. While reading the tale was good enough that I was sucked in, and thoughts of realism and probability were nowhere to be found. I was interested only in discovering the identity of the person or persons unknown responsible for the deaths.

Although I thought Jeremy’s fascination with Mariah was a bit foolish, I’ve never been a teenage boy, so that may well have been a reasonable occurrence. And more importantly, it served to explain yet again how so many women in London ended up on the streets of becoming prostitutes–without coming across as a lecture. Another instance in the story also served to remind one of how far women have come in the world. In the past women were chattel and property of men–and husbands and fathers could treat their wives and daughters as they pleased.

Yet one more reminder of why I’m glad to be alive in modern times.

Although Jack Black Bilbo barely appears in this story, I was glad to see the return of Mr Donnelly, the doctor. Although I don’t ever get the sense of his accent from his dialogue, I still like him, and like how he noticed far more than anyone in Jeremy’s household, that Jeremy is growing up. I also like the relationship that Jeremy develops with Mr Perkins (although I have to doubt that I month of fisticuffs would be enough to serve Jeremy as well as it did.)

So although I found some aspects of the story a tad bit unbelievable, it didn’t particularly bother me. After all, if I wanted 100% realism, then I’d be reading non-fiction. If you haven’t read a Sir John Fielding book, then you should be able to read this without having read the previous three books. But really, why not read the books in order if you have the chance?
Rating: 8/10

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