REVIEW
Deryn Lake "Death at the Beggar’s Opera"
New English Library (0 340 64985 2) £5.99
This was a hugely enjoyable read - unexpected because historical crime novels are not usually top of my list. But the period is so successfully evoked that that aspect of the book alone kept me delighted and glued to the page. The foray into 18th Century London - the journeys through the streets with the lovely old names - the sedan chairs - the hansom carriages - the linkmen with their torches at night in the dark narrow back streets with their filthy gutters created a strong feeling of the period, as did the descriptions of the elegant members of the beau monde with their wigs and white painted faces, and the peachers (informers) from the rogues underworld and the Bow Street Runners who are conscripted by the Blind Beak to help in the final attempt to catch the murderer.
The story opens with a production of The Beggars’ Opera in The Theatre, Drury Lane, attended by the beau monde of Georgian London. The leading actor, playing Macheath, is a man who is notorious for his philandering and when he is murdered during the opening night of The Beggar’s Opera there is no shortage of suspects sharing a common motive of revenge. Another very nasty murder later and motives may not be so simple, suspects fewer and less obvious. The partnership of John Rawlings, the young Apothecary with a shop in Shug Lane and a penchant for detective work, and the Blind Beak , Mr John Fielding, Principal Magistrate of the lawless town of London, is an inspired one. Their pursuit and eventual tracking down of the murderer is exciting and full of suspense. I’m glad I have the treat of the first in the series, Death in the Dark Walk, to come. And no doubt there will be more to follow. If you like an good whodunit with lots of atmosphere and historical detail Death at the Beggar’s Opera is for you. (P.E.D.)