I don't suppose there will be many people reading this who haven't heard of Martin Edwards, author of numerous crime novels including the seven volumes in the attractive Lake District series, editor of the British Library Crime Classics and writer of the hugely successful non-fiction Golden Age of Murder and other celebrated non-fiction books. Up to now his fiction has been firmly rooted in the present day, but in this new book he is breaking the mould - Gallows Court takes place in 1930s London. When I heard this, I imagined a sort of pastiche of a golden age novel, but that's not at all what the book is. Certainly he's done his research and the period detail is immaculately created, but never in my rather extensive reading of novels written during the period have I encountered such a fast-paced and violent plot as Edwards has created for Gallows Court. Maybe I just haven't read enough of them?
Young Jacob Flint is a junior crime reporter on a London newspaper, the Clarion. When his boss Tom Betts has a serious accident, he's given the job of taking over the crime desk. He's after a scoop, and hopes he has found it in the person of a mysterious, beautiful young woman named Rachel Savernake, who seems to be in some way linked with a series of bizarre and violent deaths which have terrified the city.
Rachel is the only daughter of the famously vicious and eccentric Judge Savernake. When she was a young child, her father attempted suicide in court. He was forced to retire and took his small daughter to live on remote Gaunt Island in the North Sea. After the Judge's death, Rachel remained on the island with just a handful of loyal servants, until she reached the age of 25 and inherited the Judge's substantial property and fortune. She now lives in solitary splendour in London, still taken care of by the loyal Mr and Mrs Trueman, and seems to have set herself up as a private detective. Jacob, however, wonders if her connection with the murders is a bit closer than simply investigation. What he suspects, and finally uncovers, is a web of the most shockingly corrupt practices, involving many pillars of the community. In the course of all this, he runs into danger several times, and discovers that several people he likes and trusts are not at all what they have seemed. Indeed, false identity plays a large part in the novel and there are several surprising twists along the way. As for Rachel, her role in it all remains a mystery until almost the end of the story.
So - don't expect a cosy mystery along the lines of Christie or Sayers. This is a thoroughly modern take on the 1930s and none the worse for that. The amount of violence and general unpleasantness may not suit the faint-hearted, but for those of a sturdier disposition it will be a real page-turner.
