eForeword by Marilyn Bardsley
For some reason, Hollywood missed the sensational 1974 story of the murder that drove the handsome 7th earl of Lucan from his luxurious homes and private clubs to some unknown but widely speculated offshore haunt where British justice would never find him. His warped, narcissistic sense of entitlement snuffed out the life of a lovely young woman and mother, seriously injured his wife, psychologically damaged his three children, and made life hell for his family and friends.
Crimescape is fortunate to have this uniquely British story told by the uniquely talented British author M.J. Trow. He is the creator of three highly acclaimed detective novel series: the 16-book Lestrade series, which is based on the police detective in the Sherlock Holmes stories; the 18-book Peter Maxwell series, which features “Mad Max,” a teacher in the flawed British educational system who pits himself against the bureaucracy to solve mysteries; and his newest, the Kit Marlowe series. The second Kit Marlowe novel,
Silent Court
, was published in 2011, and the third,
Witch Hammer
, will be published in the spring/fall of 2012.
Scorpion’s Nest
is currently in production for publication at the end of 2012.
The Kit Marlowe book,
Dark Entry
, is the first in an historical mystery series taking place in Cambridge in 1583. About to graduate from Corpus Christi, the young Christopher Marlowe spends his days studying and his nights carousing with old friends. When one of them is discovered lying dead in his King’s College room, mouth open in a silent scream, Marlowe refuses to accept the official verdict of suicide. Calling on the help of his mentor, Sir Roger Manwood, Justice of the Peace, and the queen’s magus, Dr. John Dee, a poison expert, Marlowe sets out to prove that his friend was murdered.
M.J. Trow has written 11 nonfiction books, many about historical figures, such as El Cid, Spartacus, Boudicca, and Jack the Ripper. Actress Angelina Jolie is a fan of his
Vlad the Impaler: In Search of the Real Dracula
.
www.crimescape.com
Prologue: Murderous London
Think of murders in London and you probably conjure up the scum-cobbled alleyways of Whitechapel, Jack London’s Abyss, where the greatest serial killer of all time, Jack the Ripper, plied his trade in 1888. At least five street women from the East End, called “Unfortunates” by the prim Victorian middle class of the day, fell victim to Jack’s knife.
But murderous London is full of victims. Only yards from the Ripper’s killing ground, gang member George Cornell was shot dead in the bar of the Blind Beggar pub in 1966—the bullet marks are still there. Go west and you won’t find—because it’s been demolished—10 Rillington Place in Notting Hill, where landlord John Christie raped and asphyxiated his targets before stashing their bodies in the garden, under the floorboards, in a kitchen cupboard. That was in the 1940s and 1950s. Go north to Hilldrop Crescent and look in vain for the house—it too has gone—where the “mild-mannered murderer,” American dentist Harvey Hawley Crippen, buried his wife in the cellar of Number 63 in 1910. Actually, he probably didn’t. Recent research indicates that the great pathologist Bernard Spilsbury got it wrong. The remains found in the basement were those of a man. Crippen was hanged anyway.
If you know where to look, London is full of murder—sudden, horrifying death that shatters the stillness of a summer’s afternoon or punctuates the music of the night. The last place you’d look for it is Belgravia, the eminently respectable part of London sandwiched between Chelsea to the west, Pimlico to the south and Buckingham Palace to the north. It is full of opulent houses in squares and broad streets, property that changes hands for millions. The buildings gleam white in the summer sun, with four or five stories, columns gracing the porticoes and pretty hanging baskets of flowers and window boxes
For some reason, Hollywood missed the sensational 1974 story of the murder that drove the handsome 7th earl of Lucan from his luxurious homes and private clubs to some unknown but widely speculated offshore haunt where British justice would never find him. His warped, narcissistic sense of entitlement snuffed out the life of a lovely young woman and mother, seriously injured his wife, psychologically damaged his three children, and made life hell for his family and friends.
Crimescape is fortunate to have this uniquely British story told by the uniquely talented British author M.J. Trow. He is the creator of three highly acclaimed detective novel series: the 16-book Lestrade series, which is based on the police detective in the Sherlock Holmes stories; the 18-book Peter Maxwell series, which features “Mad Max,” a teacher in the flawed British educational system who pits himself against the bureaucracy to solve mysteries; and his newest, the Kit Marlowe series. The second Kit Marlowe novel,
Silent Court
, was published in 2011, and the third,
Witch Hammer
, will be published in the spring/fall of 2012.
Scorpion’s Nest
is currently in production for publication at the end of 2012.
The Kit Marlowe book,
Dark Entry
, is the first in an historical mystery series taking place in Cambridge in 1583. About to graduate from Corpus Christi, the young Christopher Marlowe spends his days studying and his nights carousing with old friends. When one of them is discovered lying dead in his King’s College room, mouth open in a silent scream, Marlowe refuses to accept the official verdict of suicide. Calling on the help of his mentor, Sir Roger Manwood, Justice of the Peace, and the queen’s magus, Dr. John Dee, a poison expert, Marlowe sets out to prove that his friend was murdered.
M.J. Trow has written 11 nonfiction books, many about historical figures, such as El Cid, Spartacus, Boudicca, and Jack the Ripper. Actress Angelina Jolie is a fan of his
Vlad the Impaler: In Search of the Real Dracula
.
www.crimescape.com
Prologue: Murderous London
Think of murders in London and you probably conjure up the scum-cobbled alleyways of Whitechapel, Jack London’s Abyss, where the greatest serial killer of all time, Jack the Ripper, plied his trade in 1888. At least five street women from the East End, called “Unfortunates” by the prim Victorian middle class of the day, fell victim to Jack’s knife.
But murderous London is full of victims. Only yards from the Ripper’s killing ground, gang member George Cornell was shot dead in the bar of the Blind Beggar pub in 1966—the bullet marks are still there. Go west and you won’t find—because it’s been demolished—10 Rillington Place in Notting Hill, where landlord John Christie raped and asphyxiated his targets before stashing their bodies in the garden, under the floorboards, in a kitchen cupboard. That was in the 1940s and 1950s. Go north to Hilldrop Crescent and look in vain for the house—it too has gone—where the “mild-mannered murderer,” American dentist Harvey Hawley Crippen, buried his wife in the cellar of Number 63 in 1910. Actually, he probably didn’t. Recent research indicates that the great pathologist Bernard Spilsbury got it wrong. The remains found in the basement were those of a man. Crippen was hanged anyway.
If you know where to look, London is full of murder—sudden, horrifying death that shatters the stillness of a summer’s afternoon or punctuates the music of the night. The last place you’d look for it is Belgravia, the eminently respectable part of London sandwiched between Chelsea to the west, Pimlico to the south and Buckingham Palace to the north. It is full of opulent houses in squares and broad streets, property that changes hands for millions. The buildings gleam white in the summer sun, with four or five stories, columns gracing the porticoes and pretty hanging baskets of flowers and window boxes
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