Untitled Hancock 2 [Paperback]

Barbara Nadel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 6, 2009

The chilling new World War Two crime mystery by the award-winning author Barbara Nadel; fourth in the highly popular Francis Hancock series. East London, 1940: Francis Hancock finds the brutally eviscerated body of a woman in a derelict house. Francis' sister, Nancy, knew the victim. Then, shockingly, two more murders follow. Rumours start to spread through the East End about another Jack the Ripper. When a fourth woman is murdered, Nancy admits that she knew all of the victims, and Francis sets out to find the killer, discovering a trail of murderous resentment that goes back decades...

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in early 1941, Nadel's unremarkable fourth Francis Hancock mystery (after 2008's Ashes to Ashes) involves yet another search for a latter-day Jack the Ripper. Hancock, a 48-year-old undertaker and Great War veteran, happens on the mutilated corpse of Nellie Martin in a ruined house in London's bomb-ravaged East End. Even before a second victim turns up, rumors swirl that the Ripper has returned, despite the half-century that has passed since the 1888 autumn of terror. Hancock eventually learns that each of the women had been a White Feather girl who confronted able-bodied men seen out of uniform during WWI and presented them with white feathers as a symbol of cowardice. He's unsettled to discover that his older sister also participated in the movement. A less than compelling whodunit plot and a hero whose torment over his war experiences appears commonplace compared to that of, say, Charles Todd's Ian Rutledge make this a routine read. (Nov.) (c)
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.

Review

"Impeccable mystery plotting, exotic and atmospheric."  —Guardian on After the Mourning

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Headline Book Publishing (July 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0755336240
• ISBN-13: 978-0755336241
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Charecter and Setting accent a good mystery, April 7, 2011

By 

W. Lancaster - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sure and Certain Death (Hardcover)

Note: I have not read any of the other books in this series but as I understand they are stand alone novels.

I really liked the setting and character for this novel. The main character, Francis Hancock is a half Indian undertaker, he's also a shell shocked veteran of the Somme during world war two and is somewhere in his late forties early fifties. That right there would interest me as he is not a standard vanilla charter and his personality is engaging and interesting throughout the book. Nadel does a good job in reminding us that he is shell shocked and a little unstable and keeping it a part of his character without ever letting it get in the way of the story.

The background of London during the bombing in World War 2 is interesting. With the exception of one minor detail it never influences the plot and remains background for the entire novel but it does show what sort of world the characters are living in. London itself is never painted out in vivid detail but rather sketched in charcoal to give a few details of the scenery. It has a minimalist style that works.

Plot wise the novel cannot be solved instantly as Francis has to find clues and information but I will say that Francis and I figured out what was going on at about the same time. The ending when it comes is surprising but not untelegraphed. Looking back I realize there was quite a bit of introduction to the murderer that I missed the first time. There are also a few red herrings, one of which that got me, but that also tie well into the novels structure and development.

All and all, a good read if you are into mystery novels.

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a good book it talks about nazie germany., September 15, 2011

By 

Tyler "Woodward" (Portland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sure and Certain Death (Francis Hancock Mysteries) (Paperback)

It starts out borning but then pickjs up. The united states wins the war. And it talks about that. and just about how it all came to be.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Only Fair, October 22, 2010

By 

P. Gorczyca "PLG" (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sure and Certain Death (Paperback)

Have never read any Nadel books before. Kind of an odd setting - a WWI shell-shocked undertaker, but that aside, book was moderately interesting.