Trumpets Sound No More [Paperback]

Jon Redfern (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2007

In 1840, the theatre world in London is shocked by the brutal killing of one of its youngest and most successful entrepreneurs, Mr. Samuel Cake, found bludgeoned in his bachelor house with few leads. Inspector Owen Endersby is called upon to apprehend the culprit before Christmas Eve, just six days away. The case soon involves street vendors, downstairs servants, moneylenders and the greatest performers of the London stage. Without the help of fingerprinting, blood analysis, or any other technique of the modern-day detective, Inspector Endersby must root out the villain any way he can by disguise, break-and-enter, bribery, mail tampering and physical force. London in 1840 is a brutal city. As the investigation moves into the darker realms of human behavior, Endersby faces instances of child abuse, child labor, madness and sexual deviancy.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

In 1840, the theatre world in London is shocked by the brutal killing of one of its youngest and most successful entrepreneurs. Inspector Owen Endersby, of the recently formed London Detective Police Force, is called upon to apprehend the culprit before Christmas Eve.

About the Author

<div>Jon Redfern is a graduate student at the University of Toronto. His thesis was on the operas and melodramas of London's great theatres, and the producers of these entertainments, and became the basis for his latest detective novel. Fedfern's first novel, The Boy Must Die, won the prestigious Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Crime Novel in Canada for 2002. Redfern teaches English as a professor at Centennial College in Toronto. He has been a free-lance journalist for both the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail, a story editor for the CBC and a children's playwright. Since 1989 his short stories have appeared in numerous literary journals.</div>

Product Details

• Paperback: 348 pages
• Publisher: Rendezvous Crime (October 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1894917405
• ISBN-13: 978-1894917407
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,634,620 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a beautifully crafted and haunting mystery., April 4, 2008

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trumpets Sound No More (Paperback)

Jon Redfern hails from Alberta, Canada. He worked as a free-lance journalist for both the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star; as well as stints with the CBC and work as a children's playwright. He has published numerous short stories in literary journals. His graduate thesis dealt with operas and melodramas in London's great theaters. His first novel, THE BOY MUST DIE garnered the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel in 2002. Jon teaches English at Centennial College in Toronto.

Set in 1840, TRUMPETS SOUND NO MORE is the tale of a brutal killing within the theater world in London. Samuel Cake's battered body is found with no apparent motive. Inspector Owen Endersby is pressured by his clueless superiors to solve the murder before Christmas Eve. Endersby is known for his scientific method, which is at odds with the political games played in his department. In spite of pressure to make a reckless arrest, Endersby enters the world of street vendors; servants; lenders; and the vagaries of the theater in search of the killer:

"He stood by me there once he had received his money. I had no intention of ever paying off the full amount of the note, and he knew that. But on Friday last, he wore a different face. No longer pleading, no longer like a frightened servant. He stood there, and he threatened me with dismissal if I did not stop taking rum and hashish. 'Into the street, Miss Root, where starvation awaits you,' he said. It was that simple..."

Redfern does a beautiful job of presenting Victorian London with all of its blemishes: an overcrowded city where children were routinely abused by elders versus the world of performance, considered vulgar, even as the wealthiest attended the shows. His plot is carefully laid out; characters range from the sedate and tranquil Endersby and his sweet wife to the sad and talented child Betty Loxton. In the middle are the actors and lenders, with their macabre dance of life and death. TRUMPETS is a solid historical mystery written by an author who has spent years researching this fascinating period. Redfern is a sensitive author whose books transport the reader back to the Victorian Age in order to entertain and enlighten. This is a beautifully crafted and haunting mystery.

Shelley Glodowski
Senior Reviewer