Autumn, 1888. The population of London is horrified by the atrocious murder spree being conducted by Jack the Ripper. While Metropolitan Police Commissioner Charles Warren throws the bulk of his investigative resources into the search for The Ripper, another, less well publicized killer is at large.
Tucked away on the inner pages of the daily press, a few short articles tell of the strange, … strange, unsolved murders taking place on board the carriages of the new-fangled and much-heralded London Metropolitan Railway. Each murder takes place the day after the Ripper killings, as the murderer appears to be taking advantage of the lack of police resources to tackle two major investigations simultaneously.
Inspector Albert Norris is charged with bringing the railway killer to justice, but clues are few and the killer’s motive unclear. He is forced to carry out his investigations ‘quietly and without causing a public panic’ as the authorities seek to maintain confidence in the underground railway system’s safety. The press is being told even less, and Norris can count on little help from above as he attempts to solve the inexplicable series of murders.
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Behind Closed Doors: by Brian L Porter
Set in 1888, this Victorian crime novel sees Inspector Norris and his sidekick, Hillman, setting out to solve the crime of a murdered woman found on the new, underground railway system that we now call ‘The Tube’.
When one murder turns to three, Norris and Hillman are under pressure to discover the murderer. However, with few clues to go on, a killers motive that seems unclear, and an order from their superiors to keep the investigation quiet, they have very little to go on. They can’t involve the press and ask the public for help as the possibility of bad publicity could ruin the Metropolitan Railway before it’s had a chance to get going. The only possible suspect seems highly unlikely, yet the few clues Norris and Hillman manage to uncover, all point in that direction.
All three murders are cleverly intertwined within the historical, horrific murders carried out by the notorious Jack the Ripper at that time. By the end of the novel, the reader is left with a thought-provoking possibility.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, Porter’s descriptions of Victorian London coupled with the colloquial expressions of that time really brought the story to life.
Once again this author does not disappoint. He takes Detective Inspector Albert Norris and his assistant, Detective Dylan Hillman through the paces of detectives in London, 1888, the year of Jack the Ripper. They, however, are not going after the White Chapel murderer. They are assigned to a case where a woman has been stabbed to death in the underground railroad, the new transportation system of the modern age. The powers that be, both financial and governmental want no publicity. They don’t even care if everything is swept under the rug and silenced. They fear someone is trying to drive the populace away from this new way to travel through London. It’s foul, smelling, sulfur air from the enclosed underground system, with the coal and wood burning locomotives. Then they discover the dead woman was pregnant. Norris cannot let the matter rest and he investigates. This leads him to one of the top railway officials and a Bible Class study composed of all women. The author brings out the social class system where one does not even consider the high ranking members of society or those involved in leading the churches as believable suspects. It simply isn’t possible. Then another woman is murdered on the train in a like manner. She also belongs to the same church and Bible Study group. Norris and his aide begin to close in on the vicar and Norris is put on sick leave. He realizes there is something in all the notes and he and Hillman start going over them when another lady is murdered underground but not on the train. Her body is horribly mutilated by the train striking her. She too was a member of the Bible Class. Before they descend on the Vicar, they find something in the notes that solves everything, but will it? The powers that be still want silence. Excellent read.
I’m a huge fan of Brian’s, and a huge Ripper buff, so I’ll read anything having to do with him. This is a double dip treat, as there’s another killer on the loose in 1888 London, but he’s killing women on the new Metropolitan Railway Line. Is this killer and Jack one and the same? Inspector Albert Norris does a masterful job of deducing who the killer is…and I won’t give any clues away but he finds not only the killer, but an accomplice as well. I read it almost in one sitting, not wanting to put it down until they found the killer, and try as I might, I couldn’t figure out who it was. A must for Jack fans and fans of Victorian murder mysteries.