Synopses & Reviews
Winner of the 2008 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel
In 1840, the theatre world in London is shocked by the brutal killing of one of its youngest and most successful entrepreneurs, bludgeoned in his house. The discovery of a contentious theatre contract, a collection of promissory notes and a walking stick, its bloodied ivory head in the shape of a dog, are the only leads. Inspector Owen Endersby, of the recently formed London Detective Police Force, is called upon to apprehend the culprit before Christmas Eve. The inspector has six days to chart the by-ways of the Criminal Mentality. The case soon involves street vendors, downstairs servants, money lenders and the greatest performers of the stage. Who had motive to batter the young man to death? Without the techniques of the modern-day detective, Inspector Endersby must root out the villain any way he can by disguise, break-and-enter, bribery, mail tampering and physical force.
Review
Thorough research and skillful, vivid writing. London Free Press
Review
A theatre mystery of the finest order. ReviewingTheEvidence.com
Review
A delightful Victorian romp through the London theatre world. Globe and Mail
Synopsis
In 1840, the theatre world in London is shocked by the brutal killing of one of its youngest and most successful entrepreneurs, Mr. Samuel Cake, found bludgeoned in his bachelor house with few leads. Inspector Owen Endersby is called upon to apprehend the culprit before Christmas Eve, just six days away. The case soon involves street vendors, downstairs servants, moneylenders and the greatest performers of the London stage. Without the help of fingerprinting, blood analysis, or any other technique of the modern-day detective, Inspector Endersby must root out the villain any way he canby disguise, break-and-enter, bribery, mail tampering and physical force. London in 1840 is a brutal city. As the investigation moves into the darker realms of human behavior, Endersby faces instances of child abuse, child labor, madness and sexual deviancy.
Synopsis
In 1840, the theatre world in London is shocked by the brutal killing of one of its youngest and most successful entrepreneurs. Inspector Owen Endersby, of the recently formed London Detective Police Force, is called upon to apprehend the culprit before Christmas Eve.
About the Author
Jon Redfern is a graduate student at the University of Toronto. His thesis was on the operas and melodramas of London's great theatres, and the producers of these entertainments, and became the basis for his latest detective novel. Fedferns first novel, The Boy Must Die, won the prestigious Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Crime Novel in Canada for 2002. Redfern teaches English as a professor at Centennial College in Toronto. He has been a free-lance journalist for both the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail, a story editor for the CBC and a children's playwright. Since 1989 his short stories have appeared in numerous literary journals.