Customer Reviews

Person or Persons Unknown (Sir John Fielding Mysteries)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have read all of the Sir John series. They were, in fact, my introduction to the genre of murder mysteries. I have since read better constructed novels, but I continue to love the Sir John series. As far as a mystery goes, the solution became obvious a little too early in the novel for me. The continuing side plot of Jeremy's new life with Sir John held my interest for the entire novel. Definitely one I could not put down.

This is the fourth in the series set in 1770 London and featuring Sir John Fielding, the blind magistrate of the Bow Street Court, and Jeremy Proctor, a falsely accused thief whom Fielding proves innocent and then takes into his home. In this outing, person or persons unknown are killing prostitutes in Covent Garden. The Bow Street Runners (the forerunners of the modern-day Bobbys) arrive just after the murder and quickly become frustrated with the lack of witnesses and suspects. As the story progresses, suspects abound, but in the end, it is Jeremy who catches the murderer.

This series continues to excel in several key areas. Alexander spins tales with enough twists to satisfy even the most able among us at solving the mystery. He is so skillful a storyteller that the reader is transported to the squalor and filth of 1770s London. No fancy houses and servants for this series. Alexander's stories are about the every-day lives of people in the lower echelons of society. While Sir John remains, for the most part, just as we met him in Blind Justice, the first book in the series, Jeremy has been developed over the course of the series so that the reader comes to like the teenager for who he is. Alexander's history never overshadows his characters or story, but the reader always has a sense of the place and time.

An excellent series that continues to get better with each entry.

This is the 4th book in the Sir John series and upholds the outstanding writing and vivid details of daily life in England of the 1700's. I always look fwd to reading another episode in the adventures of Sir John Fielding and his young assistant Jeremy Proctor.The murder investigations they perform are well thought out and hold your interest. I can atribute many nights of reading until the early hours to this series. Keep them coming Mr.Alexander.

Reader from just outside The Beltway should know that Sir John Fielding was Henry Fielding's brother, WAS "The Blind Beak" and was hardly implausible, but a real historical personage, magistrate of Bow Street, "honcho" of the Bow Street Runners, predecessor to Scotland Yard. The author has a wonderful grasp of life in london in the late 1700's, the story and all characters are quite plausible, as are all four of the author's books about Sir John Fielding and Jeremy Proctor.

I enjoyed this fourth novel in Bruce Alexander's Sir John Fielding series a little more than any of the first three for one principal reason. The book appears to be good enough to stand on its own because there are apparently a large number of people who enjoyed it (and maybe some who DIDN'T enjoy it) without understanding what the author did.

But the reason why I enjoyed this book most of all is because I have an interest in the subject matter that this novel REALLY concerns. Because what Alexander did was to take a famous series of serial killings of prostitutes that actually took place in late 19th century London and transpose them into the year 1770, the year in which this novel takes place.

Can it be that so many readers failed to recognize that the details of the killings in this novel match so perfectly with the details of the murders that actually took place in Whitechapel in 1888? Just to make the contract a little more binding, the author also gives us a suspect nicknamed "Jack-the-carver".

"He'll carve you up, see?" Jimmie Bunkins says to his chum, the narrator and main character, Jeremy Proctor, explaining the nickname. "Is he what you would call a 'high ripper'?" Jeremy asks in reply, using the term that was then used to describe a knife-wielding criminal.

The usual cast of characters that Alexander's readers have grown fond of are here: the indomitable Sir John Fielding, his young assistant, Jeremy, Jimmie Bunkins, the reformed former sneak thief and street urchin, and Black Jack Bilbo, Bunkins's guardian and Jeremy's avuncular mentor. And I am happy to report the return of Ignatius Donnelly, the kindly Irish doctor who played a significant role in "Blind Justice", the first novel in the series before departing for Lancashire in fruitless pursuit of the lovely widow, Lady Goodhope.

In addition to that, Jeremy (who seems to have no shortage of worthy adult male role models) is also befriended by Constable Perkins, one of Sir John's "Beak Runners", who has developed his one arm and his fighting skills to such an extent that he can lick any man with two arms. His imparting of some of those skills to Jeremy plays a significant role in this novel.

Jeremy's character development remains of interest to those who have read this series in order. We know of Jeremy's intent to study the law with Sir John, but here we see, for the first time, a "flash-forward" twenty-seven years into the future where Jeremy has actually become a practicing solicitor. Partly consistent and partly inconsistent with that, we also see Jeremy pitting his own judgment against that of Sir John during a criminal investigation for the first time in this series.

And in the third novel, Watery Grave, at the age of 14, Jeremy learns the "facts of life" from Black Jack Bilbo. "Persons Unknown" takes place after Jeremy turns 15 and is feeling the yearnings of puberty. His interest in a female street acrobat- turned-prostitute is an interesting sub-plot.

There are weaknesses in this novel that a less tolerant reviewer might not so readily excuse. Jeremy's treacly personality is less tolerable at a time when he is entering puberty. Surely, even a well-spoken 15 year old lad in the year 1770 had thoughts and instincts and language considerably more coarse than those displayed here by Jeremy.

The fight scene that takes place between Jeremy (after he has received instruction from Constable Perkins) and a street thug is ridiculously one-sided. And Sir John's original plan to trap the murderer is utterly ridiculous and provides more comic relief than the author must have intended.

This reviewer's affection for the characters and for the setting in which they perform and his delight at seeing the Whitechapel mystery moved 118 years back in time into a fictitious setting override his objections, and 5 stars are awarded.

The fourth installment in Bruce Alexander's murder mystery series about blind 18th-century London magistrate Sir John Fielding is another step up. The plot is built around a Jack the Ripper-style murders of a series of prostitutes. Alexander appears to have read liberally from Patricia Cornwell to Patrick O'Brien, for his stories introduce elements of early forensic criminology and O'Brien's careful historical pictures of English life. The stories are good, they are not great. They are fun and easy reads.

With sympathetic characters and crisp dialogue, this tale mixes mystery with shrewd observation and vivid description. For fans of historical mystery, it's a great read that's a welcome addition to an excellent series.

Prostitutes are being murdered on the streets of 18th century London and Sir John Fielding is on the case. However, some were dispatched with a single thrust of a thin blade to just the right place, indicating the murderer knows anatomy. Others were cut open and certain of their internal organs were removed, again by someone with anatomical knowledge. Is this the work of a surgeon? Could it be a butcher? Or might the murderer be a soldier? Or is there more than one assassin?
This is yet another of Mr. Alexander's books that conveys a feel for the time place and people. One thing I know: it's a difficult book to set aside!

As if life for the working class in 1770 London wasn't difficult enough, Covent Garden becomes the haunting ground for an 18th century version of Jack the Ripper. A psychopathic killer is targeting the local street ladies and blind magistrate John Fielding knows the savagely brutal murders will continue until he apprehends the killer and brings him to English justice at the end of a rope on Tyburn gallows!

Despite being an easy-reading lightweight historical mystery set in Georgian England, "Person or Persons Unknown" is most definitely not a cozy mystery in the style of Agatha Christie or Susan Wittig Albert. A graphic and gritty portrayal of the rough side of 18th century London, "Person or Persons Unknown" will treat its readers to extraordinary characterization and atmospheric embellishment that brings people, time and place to life with a sparkling vitality and a sense of realism that can hardly be rivaled - the sights, the smells, the sounds, the slums, the prisons, the docks, pubs, outdoor markets, dark alleys, upstairs, downstairs, courts, gaming houses, bordellos, street walkers, pickpockets, scamps, cut purses, thieves and even the callous exhibition of a public hanging at Tyburn. Nor does Mr Alexander hold back on a very graphic description of the savagery of the prostitute murders. In short, Bruce Alexander brings a very nervous gaslit Georgian London to life with an unrivalled clarity.

Atmosphere, growth of his starring characters (most notably Sir John Fielding's protégé, young Jeremy Proctor, and former street tough, Jimmy Bunkins) as well as sparkling realistic dialogue are more than enough to compensate for the novel's obvious weakness. As a mystery, the solution is somewhat pedestrian and the hunt for the murderer seems to depend much more on happenstance and good luck than inspired detection or dogged police work and perseverance. A one-star deduction for the weakness in the plot in what would otherwise have been a stellar novel.

"Person or Persons Unknown", preceded by "Watery Grave", "Blind Justice" and "Murder in Grub Street" is the fourth entry in Alexander's highly successful Sir John Fielding series. While it does stand alone as a satisfactory mystery, readers will derive the most enjoyment if they dig into the series from the start so they can revel in Alexander's wonderful multi-story character development as well as the mystery.

Thoroughly enjoyable and highly recommended.

Paul Weiss

This is a cracker of an historical series, and each book seems to get better. In this the fourth in the series, we have Sir John Fielding and his protege Jeremy Proctor trying to determine who is killing prostitutes right in their own neighbourhood. There have been a number of gruesome deaths, and they are anxious to solve the murders. Alexander is a wonderful writer and his characters are richly portrayed. In this book Jeremy is now fifteen years of age, and he is growing up. He is able to take a much more active role in the exciting life on Bow Street. Another nice thing about this series is the real historical people that we meet. Along with Sir John Fielding, we also meet the Irish author Olver Goldsmith, who lived during the time period when this book was set. I also really enjoy this first-hand look at the Bow Street Runners that we get with each book. This is a first-rate series, and I look forward to completing it.