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4.0
The Mannequin House - RN Morris
Oh I love a Victorian set murder mystery and a locked room one at that.
A young woman is found murdered in a locked room, she is a mannequin or model for The House of Blackley. All kept on a short rein by the mysterious and nasty Mr Blackley, no visitors allowed, only work.
Inspector Quinn is sent to investigate under the eye of a new DCI and finds obstruction at every turn.
‘’Welcome to special crimes, Sir’
‘This sort of thing happens a lot, does it?’
‘There’s always something, Sir. Something different.’’
Quinn is a great character- is looking for truth and does the footwork to investigate- suspects abound including a monkey. It’s laughable that it is thought possible but because forensics is in its infancy it is thought possible. He is grizzled and rough around the edges but gets the job done. I love the insights into what would have been a bit of a fledgling police service. I liked the interplay between Quinn and the other police officers and how they run rings around Coddington the ‘green’ and inexperienced DCI.
But There’s a darkness in Quinn, he has a history of a breakdown and a compulsion to do bad things, that along with Blackley, who is powerful and domineering makes for some interesting stand offs. Blackley exerts force over the mannequin girls to get his way. He uses and abuses them and is suspect number one.
‘In other words, as a police detective, from time to time, it happened that he killed people.’
There is glamour sided by side with squalor, The House of Blackley reminds me of Harrods in my minds eye.
There is something quite nasty afoot in this mystery and I enjoyed following Quinn and his fellow officers along the way, it moved along nicely and tied up well at the end.
This is the first of this authors books I have read and will happily return to Victorian London for more detective work.
✩✩✩✰
With Thanks to RN Morris for my digital copy of this book
Oh I love a Victorian set murder mystery and a locked room one at that.
A young woman is found murdered in a locked room, she is a mannequin or model for The House of Blackley. All kept on a short rein by the mysterious and nasty Mr Blackley, no visitors allowed, only work.
Inspector Quinn is sent to investigate under the eye of a new DCI and finds obstruction at every turn.
‘’Welcome to special crimes, Sir’
‘This sort of thing happens a lot, does it?’
‘There’s always something, Sir. Something different.’’
Quinn is a great character- is looking for truth and does the footwork to investigate- suspects abound including a monkey. It’s laughable that it is thought possible but because forensics is in its infancy it is thought possible. He is grizzled and rough around the edges but gets the job done. I love the insights into what would have been a bit of a fledgling police service. I liked the interplay between Quinn and the other police officers and how they run rings around Coddington the ‘green’ and inexperienced DCI.
But There’s a darkness in Quinn, he has a history of a breakdown and a compulsion to do bad things, that along with Blackley, who is powerful and domineering makes for some interesting stand offs. Blackley exerts force over the mannequin girls to get his way. He uses and abuses them and is suspect number one.
‘In other words, as a police detective, from time to time, it happened that he killed people.’
There is glamour sided by side with squalor, The House of Blackley reminds me of Harrods in my minds eye.
There is something quite nasty afoot in this mystery and I enjoyed following Quinn and his fellow officers along the way, it moved along nicely and tied up well at the end.
This is the first of this authors books I have read and will happily return to Victorian London for more detective work.
✩✩✩✰
With Thanks to RN Morris for my digital copy of this book
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