Blind Justice (Sir John Fielding) (Paperback)

~ Bruce Alexander (Author) "HAVING OFTEN BEEN ASKED TO COMMIT TO PRINT THESE memories of my association with the late Sir John Fielding, the celebrated magistrate of the Bow..." (more)
Key Phrases: Sir John, Lord Goodhope, Lady Goodhope (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This launch of a projected series set in 18th-century England introduces Sir John Fielding--blind, brilliant, compassionate magistrate of London's Bow Street Court--and Jeremy Proctor, the narrator, a penniless, intelligent 13-year-old orphan whom Sir John has taken into his household. Exercising the broad magisterial powers of the era, the judge investigates the death of wealthy Lord Richard Goodhope, who was discovered shot through the head, gun at his feet, behind the locked door of his library. Though the initial finding is suicide, Jeremy notices a clue that points to murder, a conclusion bolstered by the findings of surgeon Gabriel Donnelly. The investigation of Lord Richard's dissolute life, including extramarital affairs and gambling forays (sometimes shared with his Jamaica-based half-brother during his visits to London), seems to lead nowhere until Sir John commands all interested parties to gather at the murder scene, where he engineers a shocking solution to the crime. Lively characters, vivid incidents, clever plotting and a colorful setting make for a robust series kickoff from Alexander, a pseudonymous "well-known author of fiction and nonfiction."
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

YA?In the rough-and-tumble world of London in 1768, Jeremy, orphaned at the age of 13, is rescued from the streets by Sir John Fielding, a prominent judge who is known for his uncanny ability to dispense justice and ferret out evidence even though he is blind. Jeremy becomes Fielding's errand boy and assistant and helps him investigate the murder of Lord Goodhope, a man with many enemies. The complicated story is told by Jeremy as he remembers the case many years later. Details of the time period are accurate, including the personage of Sir John himself and the formation of the Bow Street Police. The narrator's wit, curiosity, and youthful energy make it easy for YAs to identify with him. However, the cover is drab, which may discourage young people from choosing the novel on their own.?Claudia Moore, W.T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Berkley; later printing edition (November 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425150070
• ISBN-13: 978-0425150078
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #106,662 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 1 in The Sir John Fielding Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent beginning to a wonderful series!, May 14, 2001

By	L. Carter "Steiffbearlover" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I stumbled on Bruce Alexander's series of novels concerning Sir John Fielding and his irrepressible assistant, young Jeremy Proctor, quite by accident one day as I was browsing Amazon with no clue what I wanted to read or buy. I just knew I was looking for something different and exciting, and I wanted a mystery. What I got, once I happened upon Alexander's first novel of the series, "Blind Justice", was a superior historical novel with a first-rate mystery and many-dimensional characters built in.

The plot summary of "Blind Justice" you can read here, so I won't go into it again, other than to say that young Jeremy travels to London following his father's tragic death to seek his way in the world as a printer. Mistaken for a thief and falsely accused, Jeremy is brought before Magistrate Sir John Fielding's Bow Street court, proves his innocence and is made a ward of the court by none other than Sir John himself, a character who actually existed (he was the brother of Henry Fielding - author of the famous novel "Tom Jones" - and the man responsible for the founding of the Bow Street Runners, London's very first police force.) Not long after this, the body of Lord Goodhope is found shot dead in a locked library, and thus begins a partnership that is both inspiring and highly entertaining.

I am now reading the fifth book in the series, "Jack, Knave and Fool", having finished "Blind Justice", "Murder In Grub Street", "Watery Grave" and "Person or Persons Unknown" one right behind the other. I can say with complete sincerity that each book brings a new and suspenseful plot combined with the author's superior eye for the details of the period. Mr. Alexander makes Georgian-era London as visible to the mind's eye as accurately as any photograph might have - the markets, the bawds on the street, the scamps and thieves and the high-and-low born people who pass through Sir John's court are most memorable and oftentimes quite humorous. The regular characters evolve well throughout the series and young Jeremy is a most reliable and mature narrator.

Start your trip through Georgian London with Sir John and Master Jeremy Proctor in "Blind Justice" and, once you do, you'll be picking up the second installment, "Murder In Grub Street", soon enough.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A delightful discovery, February 3, 2007

By	Jonathan Appleseed - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Bruce Alexander does a spectacular job bringing the streets of 18th century London alive in this, the first of the Sir John Fielding mysteries. Perhaps because the main character is blind, or because Alexander is a gifted craftsman, all of the other senses are dramatically heightened. I could *hear* Sir John speaking, questioning informants, thieves, etc. I could smell some of the dirtier aspects of London, I could hear the din of the crowd at market, see the areas of London that were visually pleasing and smell those that were not. The single most important task that any author has when writing historical fiction of any genre is to bring that period alive. And Alexander does.

He also gives us a brilliant "detective" - Sir John Fielding, the blind magistrate of Bow Street, an immensely likeable and quick thinking man who is able to "see" more than others, in some cases, because he pays attention to the other four senses that many people take leave of when their eyes are open. Relying on four out of five senses, as opposed to one out of five, Sir John finds himself better armed than most for inquiries.

The story is told through the eyes of thirteen-year-old Jeremy Proctor, who finds his way to London after the grossly unjust murder of his father - killed by spending too many days (unfairly so) in the stocks. He is brought before Sir John immediately upon his arrival to London, part of a scam of an independent thief taker - put Jeremy behind bars, and the thief taker gets a bounty. Sir John "saw" through the charade, and took Jeremy under his wing, intending to find him a trade such as his father was teaching him: printing.

But a murder gets in the way of that, and Sir John, for the moment, requires Jeremy's presence to assist him, and finds that Jeremy possesses a keen eye and a sharp mind. So Jeremy becomes Sir John's assistance into the investigation of Lord Goodhope.

It starts out so simply - the murder - that I was sure it would be solved within a matter of a few pages, and then the real mystery would come out. But Goodhope's murder was the real mystery, and (as any good murder mystery should) with each layer we peel away the circumstances surrounding the murder becoming cloudier, and more and more people seem to be implicated.

In a detective story such as this, the author needs to have a good grasp of how interrogating works, and it was delightful watching Sir John interview the cast of characters that may or may not have had anything to do with the crime. By "a good grasp", I mean that the detective, Sir John in this case, should understand that each person needs to be treated differently in order to bring out the desired answers. Alexander handles this masterfully. Indeed, the interrogations were often the most enjoyable parts of the book.

Unlike many mysteries, where the characters aren't deeply developed, Alexander spends time with all of the main characters, fleshing them out as real and believable. You begin to enjoy the time that you're spending with his characters, and indeed, when I closed the book, I did regret it (and hastily ordered the next few in the series - and I'm not even a big mystery buff).

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A mystery lover's mystery!, March 10, 2006

By	Paul Weiss (Dundas, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

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In 1768, a recently orphaned Jeremy Proctor arrives in London and promptly finds himself in the dock facing false charges of theft under the gavel of the blind magistrate, Sir John Fielding. The justice, wisdom and perspicacity of Sir John prevails and Jeremy, cleared of all charges, finds himself, despite his youth, in the enviable position of assisting Sir John in investigating the details of the messy suicide of a member of the House of Lords, Sir Richard Goodhope.

"Blind Justice" is a mystery lover's mystery. Anybody who enjoys a classic mystery with that time-honoured formula ending that places all of the characters into a single room for the explosive climactic finish in which the canny sleuth reveals the grim details of the crime to all and sundry will howl with delight at Alexander's debut to what will prove to be an enduring, exciting series. Despite having much in common with the puzzles of Agatha Christie and her calm, gentle approach to their solution, this locked room head-scratcher will also appeal to grittier, more contemporary readers as it takes a peek under the covers of every stratum of Georgian England society - the slums, the prisons, the docks, pubs, the theater, outdoor markets, upstairs, downstairs, the courts, gaming houses, bordellos, the street walkers, the pickpockets, scamps, cut-purses and thieves.

Alexander's brilliant characterizations, his often humorous and always vivid dialogue, and atmospheric descriptions of an astonishingly wide variety of colourful settings bring Georgian England to life in an easy-reading eminently enjoyable historical mystery. Two thumbs up!

Paul Weiss