Hangman's Corner: A Ned Parker Hansom Cab Mystery (Historical Fiction) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Peter King (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in 1870 London, King's lively first in a new series introduces hansom cab driver Ned Parker, who hides out with such colorful cohorts as Smiling Sid, Paddy Reilly and Benny the Brain at Hangman's Corner, a former gallows site in Battersea Park. When one of Ned's fares, a possible suspect in the theft of church valuables, turns up in the Thames dead of stab wounds, Ned agrees to assist Det. Rollo "Jacko" Jackson, much as the cabbie's late father used to aid undercover police investigations. After the arrest of fellow driver Herbert Summers for the murder on dubious evidence, Ned vows "to get every cabby in London to help," all 6,000 of them. Ned's quest for justice takes him to the British Museum, where he encounters Karl Marx writing his opus; the blood-soaked Smithfield meat market; and eventually a tunnel under the site of a Spanish treasure galleon's sinking centuries earlier. King (The Jewel of the North) ends his busy, at times improbable tale with a stock chase scene across London. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

King gives readers a wonderfully diverse roundup of characters and classes from Victorian London by having a hansom cab driver as his hero. Ned Parker is kind of a poor man’s Sherlock Holmes: his job matches his passion for observation and carries him into all corners of the city, making him a perfect amateur sleuth. One of Parker’s fares is dressed as a clergyman, but there’s something about his appearance that doesn’t ring right. Parker lets him off, glances away for a moment, and his fare has vanished—until Parker is called to the morgue the next day to identify the fare, a stabbing victim. Parker is drawn into the mystery further when a fellow cabby is arrested for murder. His investigation careens through the British Museum, the Admiralty, and the music halls where his girlfriend, Millie, performs. A wonderfully fun, atmospheric, action-packed historical mystery. --Connie Fletcher --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 407 pages
• Publisher: Gale Cengage; Lrg edition (August 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 141040918X
• ISBN-13: 978-1410409188
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,088,639 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New Victorian murder mystery series a real treat, June 17, 2008

By 

Christina Lockstein "Christy's Book Blog" (Oconto Falls, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Hangman's Corner (Five Star First Edition Mystery) (Hardcover)

Hangman's Corner by Peter King is the first book in the Ned Parker, Hansom Cab Driver, mystery series. Ned is known by friends and colleagues alike as being unable to keep his nose out of everyone else's business. And being a hansom cab driver in Victorian England, he has a finger on the pulse of the city and a rare talent for observation. After picking up a strangely dressed passenger, Ned is brought in for questioning: the passenger has turned up dead. Another cabbie is fingered for the crime, so Ned alerts the 6000 cab drivers in London and starts the investigation himself. Ned is an extremely likable narrator: he doesn't fuss at lying or withholding evidence from the police (or cheating on his girlfriend), but he has a deep instinctual sense of right and wrong that forces him to keep searching for answers, even after his life is threatened, and then threatened again, and then again... With a girlfriend who is a wannabe actress on the fringes of society, Ned finds himself with an entrance into higher society, including brushing shoulders with the Prince of Wales. This jumping from the gritty slums of London to hobnobbing with royalty gives the book an extra charm. I certainly hope this first in the series won't be the last!