A Capital Crime
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Review
'One of the country's most acute psychological crime novelists' Independent.
'Wilson brings post-war London to life in a finely crafted murder mystery that yields surprises to the very end' Time Out.
'Stands with 10 Rillington Place ... will make you wonder forever more about the seething passions behind your neighbour's door' Daily Telegraph.
'Wilson brings post-war London to life in a finely crafted murder mystery that yields surprises to the very end' Time Out.
'Stands with 10 Rillington Place ... will make you wonder forever more about the seething passions behind your neighbour's door' Daily Telegraph.
Review
'One of the country's most acute psychological crime novelists' Independent. 'Wilson brings post-war London to life in a finely crafted murder mystery that yields surprises to the very end' Time Out. 'Stands with 10 Rillington Place ... will make you wonder forever more about the seething passions behind your neighbour's door' Daily Telegraph.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is the best novel to date not only in terms of the Stratton series but also in terms of all of Laura Wilson's novels. The preceding stories in this series were flawed in terms of plot although characterisation and period detail have always been excellent. This is the first time that all three aspects (plot, characterisation and period detail) have gelled together in a seamless manner to produce a really well written novel. Hopefully this novel will result in a much wider readership for Laura Wilson who, in my opinion, has been an underrated novelist in terms of popularity despite the prizes she has garnered. If you're looking for an evocative and psychologically driven crime story then you should read this novel. Highly recommended.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
As the author herself points out, there are close parallels between this story and the stories of Evans and Christie, but it is a work of fiction and, I think, should be treated as such. To do otherwise is to miss the point. I have no idea what was going on in the minds of the arresting officers and it has no relevance to this story because Davies and Backhouse are not Evans and Christie. I think giving the role to an established and well liked character is very interesting, much more interesting than using a stereotypical bad cop bullying a confession out of someone who was unfit to plead. This device, as well as adding depth to Stratton's character, raises many difficult questions about our system of justice.
Does it work as a detective story? Yes and no. We know the outcome of the detective puzzle but the characters and the world they live in are strong enough to sustain our interest. Davies and Backhouse are both very strongly drawn, Backhouse, in particular, being a creature of nightmare, plausible yet deeply horrible. Life in the early fifties becomes very real - its dreariness, narrow-mindedness and the sense of disappointment that victory and the end of the war did not bring universal happiness and lightness of being, just tiredness, guilt and regret. It reminds us how stratified society was in those days - you live in your own small world and, on the whole, do not move out of it. If you do, you become vulnerable.
I have enjoyed the other books about Stratton and this one maintains their high standard, but it is, although engrossing, a less comfortable read. This is why I have given it only four stars instead of five, which is perhaps unfair.
Does it work as a detective story? Yes and no. We know the outcome of the detective puzzle but the characters and the world they live in are strong enough to sustain our interest. Davies and Backhouse are both very strongly drawn, Backhouse, in particular, being a creature of nightmare, plausible yet deeply horrible. Life in the early fifties becomes very real - its dreariness, narrow-mindedness and the sense of disappointment that victory and the end of the war did not bring universal happiness and lightness of being, just tiredness, guilt and regret. It reminds us how stratified society was in those days - you live in your own small world and, on the whole, do not move out of it. If you do, you become vulnerable.
I have enjoyed the other books about Stratton and this one maintains their high standard, but it is, although engrossing, a less comfortable read. This is why I have given it only four stars instead of five, which is perhaps unfair.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Travesty
What a disappointment. The author had a chance to treat the Evans/Christie cases with some respect for the historical truth that it deserves, but she has ignored that opportunity. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Dr. P. R. Lewis
FACT AND FICTION INTERWOVEN
I have not read any Stratton novels before, but I certainly enjoyed this book. It used the story of 10 Rillington Place,and the characters of Christie and Evans to create a... Read more
Published 12 months ago by bibliophile
Disappointing
The plot of this book is apparently based on true life crimes which I wasn't aware of at first, and consequently I found it disappointing at the end as it was inconclusive, as was... Read more
Published 13 months ago by crime reader
A page turner
I really enjoyed Wilson's earlier books which had a good psychological edge. This one is third in her stratton books and is really well written. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Ms. G. Sheath
A good treatment of fact as fiction
For this reader the fictional treatment of the Evans-Christie cases carried conviction. The author evokes period, place, scene and people involved in the two cases so well that the... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Alan Hamilton
excellent story - a bit spoilt by the "love interest"
I thoroughly enjoyed the aspects of this book that relate to the real life "10 rillington place" scenario, including the excellent descriptions of 1950s London and the "old style"... Read more
Published 19 months ago by D. Cameron
Good thriller, good history
This is very worth while reading, and I enjoyed it. The central plot is an investigation into a terrible double murder, and there is a secondary plot concerning the book's... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Junius
A vast improvement on "An Empty Death".
I must admit I approached this third novel in the Stratton series with some trepidation, firstly because "An Empty Death" had been disappointing after "Stratton's War" and because... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Nicholas Peacock MA
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