Scan barcode
A review by steven_v
Death at Whitechapel by Robin Paige
3.0
This is another interesting historical mystery by the husband-wife writer team that works under the pseudonym "Robin Paige." This time, Sir Charles and Lady Kate wind up investigating the murders of Jack the Ripper, and interacting with a young Winston Churchill.
The novel was fairly enjoyable, but I found the whole "Freemason Conspiracy Theory" rather silly, and from what I have read on the internet, although it may have been in vogue at the time this novel was written (in the 1990s), it has been fairly roundly debunked in the years since. (Not that I probably would have credited it anyway.) The theory follows all the typical patterns of a "Grand Conspiracy Theory" (Google it to learn more about the patterns) -- which is to say it's not much different from UFO conspiracy theories, Bigfoot conspiracy theories, JFK conspiracy theories, and so forth. I don't discount the idea, put forward by the authors and, according to them, other "Ripperologists," that "Jack the Ripper" might have been a group of people... but the rest of the conspiracy is a flight of fancy, in my opinion.
I think this brings up another problem, here, which is that the Sheridans are not solving a particular murder. Unlike the previous Victorian mysteries, they're working on something that happened years ago, and for which there's no real direct evidence (almost everything is based on hearsay). Compared to the other stories, in which Charles and Kate witness the murder or examine the body before it's even cold, this distant removal of the crime made the story less interesting.
On the other hand, I enjoyed Charles and Kate as usual - they are wonderful characters. The novel is well written, and the portrayal of Winston Churchill is interesting.
The novel was fairly enjoyable, but I found the whole "Freemason Conspiracy Theory" rather silly, and from what I have read on the internet, although it may have been in vogue at the time this novel was written (in the 1990s), it has been fairly roundly debunked in the years since. (Not that I probably would have credited it anyway.) The theory follows all the typical patterns of a "Grand Conspiracy Theory" (Google it to learn more about the patterns) -- which is to say it's not much different from UFO conspiracy theories, Bigfoot conspiracy theories, JFK conspiracy theories, and so forth. I don't discount the idea, put forward by the authors and, according to them, other "Ripperologists," that "Jack the Ripper" might have been a group of people... but the rest of the conspiracy is a flight of fancy, in my opinion.
I think this brings up another problem, here, which is that the Sheridans are not solving a particular murder. Unlike the previous Victorian mysteries, they're working on something that happened years ago, and for which there's no real direct evidence (almost everything is based on hearsay). Compared to the other stories, in which Charles and Kate witness the murder or examine the body before it's even cold, this distant removal of the crime made the story less interesting.
On the other hand, I enjoyed Charles and Kate as usual - they are wonderful characters. The novel is well written, and the portrayal of Winston Churchill is interesting.