- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Faber and Faber; New edition edition (6 Nov 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0571202829
- ISBN-13: 978-0571202829
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.6 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 363,228 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
In 1811 John Williams was buried with a stake in his heart. Was he the notorious East End killer or his eighth victim in the bizarre and shocking Ratcliffe Highway Murders? In this vivid and gripping reconstruction P. D. James and T. A. Critchley draw on public records, newspaper clippings and hitherto unpublished sources, expertly sifting the evidence to shed new light on this infamous Wapping mystery. 'James and Critchley evoke the horror of a dark, wintry London where ill-prepared authorities struggle to bring a major murder case to its conclusion.' Crime Times 'A model demonstration of how to assess fragmentary and often tantalising evidence . . . It makes an enthralling story.' New York Times
About the Author
P. D. James was born in Oxford in 1920 and educated at Cambridge High School for Girls. From 1949 to 1968 she worked in the National Health Service and subsequently in the Home Office, first in the Police Department and later in the Criminal Policy Department. All that experience has been used in her novels. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of the Royal Society of Arts and has served as a Governor of the BBC, a member of the Arts Council, where she was Chairman of the Literary Advisory Panel, on the Board of the British Council, and as a magistrate in Middlesex and London. She is an Honorary Bencher of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple. She has won awards for crime writing in Britain, America, Italy and Scandinavia, including the Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster Award and the National Arts Club Medal of Honor for Literature (US). She has received honorary degrees from seven British universities, was awarded an OBE in 1983, and was created a life peer in 1991. In 1997 she was elected President of the Society of Authors. She lives in London and Oxford and has two daughters, five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
fascinating...,
By donald smith (Warfield, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Maul and the Pear Tree: The Ratcliffe Highway Murders 1811 (Paperback)
this book is about more than the murder of innocent victims...it is also very much a social history of times, people and places. The authors tell the tale of the murders well, intertwined with what life was like for the poor in 1811, how they lived, what they ate, how they socially mixed with one another. The absence of a police force shows how vital clues were not followed through, silly, stupid mistakes were common, and information was certainly not to be shared. excellent read, one that deserves some thinking time after each chapter to appreciate its content.
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Murder and policing in early 19th century.,
By
This review is from: The Maul and the Pear Tree: The Ratcliffe Highway Murders 1811 (Hardcover)
This book is a vivid and detailed description of a number of brutal murders in the East End of London. In addition, piecing together the efforts of the police to identify and apprehend those responsible. The totally inadequate policing structure prior to these murders forces the Government to change the police structure, taking steps which led to the police as we know it today.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
this book has it all,
By
This review is from: The Maul and the Pear Tree: The Ratcliffe Highway Murders 1811 (Paperback)
I did not know what to expect when I bought this book. I thought it might just be full of gore given the nature of the crimes but I was wrong. True there is an element of brutality present, that is to be expected but the quality of this book is in the writing, mainly the way the cases are presented interwoven with the state of policing 2 centuries ago. The way this book is structured is pure mastery. At times it reads as a contemporary thriller-murder mystery and at other times it is a research paper which is very digestable.I was left with the extreme gratitude that I did not live in England 200 years ago as things were rather chancy back then to say the least, I loved the morality put forward as to the how the victoms were judged by the public ,crime by crime. I would recommend this book for those who want to place themselves in the past and enjoy the thrill of a dark and cold London anno 1811.
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