The Price of Murder

I've read the entire Sir John series and am a strong admirer. I think Alexander is highly talented in his abilities to bring to life the gritty, dirty,and often violent streets of old London. I find Sir John to be a terrific character - with the gift of "seeing" into the hearts of men better than most blessed with perfect vision.

Sadly, Bruce Alexander passed on shortly after the release of this book, but has left us one more book after this. What this book may have lacked in suspense and plot twists, it more than made up for interesting, fully-developed characters and providing a picture of the period and, being a huge fan of Dick Francis, the racing world turning that time. I've always thought of his books as somewhat elegant reads. I do highly recommend this series for those who love elegant writing and period history.

Bruce Alexander (AKA Bruce Cook)died this month. His books have brought me so much enjoyment, I feel like I've lost a good friend. Reading this last book will be bitter-sweet to say the least.

I have been reading the Bruce Alexander mysteries from the beginning. I will be forever grateful to the friend who put me on to them. Those of us who like this kind of thing enjoy the history and historical background which appears to be very accurate. More important, however, are the characters. They are interesting and have acquired real personalities. The plot is finely woven. I find myself reading Bruce Alexander when I really ought to be doing other things. Look out, he's addictive.

A young child, no bigger than eight, is fished out of the Thames River in London of 1774. When Sir John Fielding of 4 Bow Street, the magistrates of London and Winchester hears of this, he sends his protégée Jeremy Proctor to investigate. A month ago Alice Plummer reported her daughter was stolen and Sir John thinks that the child in the water was Margaret Plummer. When Jeremy arrives on the docks, he learns that the child was naked and there is evidence of sexual intercourse.The autopsy reveals that the child was indeed brutally molested and smothered to death. When Jeremy tries to find the mother, a neighbor says that she disappeared with a large sum of money after giving her child to a man that said he would place her with wealthy parents who couldn't have a child. When Jeremy and Alice's brother Deuteronomy, a famous jockey, manage to locate Alice in Newmarket she is honestly horrified to find out what happened to her child. She manages to give the authorities the slip and take justice into her own hands but Sir John and Jeremy are determined to find the man who actually killed the child and bring him to justice.Historical mysteries don't get better than THE PRICE OF MURDER. The story is told in the first person narrative from Jeremy's perspective years after the events of this novel have taken place. His asides to the audience are thoroughly entertaining and make the readers feel as if they are part of the tale. Depending on how one feels about animals, justice was not meted out totally by a human agent.Harriet Klausner