Cozy Little Book Journal: The Yard, by Alex Grecian

Monday, June 25, 2012

The Yard, by Alex Grecian

Labels: alex grecian, ann granger, cozy mystery, debut, england, fiction, graham moore, jack the ripper, kate summerscale, lyndsay faye, mystery, victorian

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Whew! I just finished reading Alex Grecian's novel, The Yard, and maybe now I can finally get some sleep! This book had me up half the night trying to get in just one more chapter--or more likely twenty more chapters--before bed. I loved it so much I wouldn't have been surprised if it had been published under the full title, The Yard: A Novel for Mary Lavers, by Alex Grecian. It might not have been as big a hit, but it would have been an accurate subtitle. A murder mystery set in London in 1889, a few years after the Jack the Ripper case has gone cold, The Yard (a reference to Scotland Yard) is marketed as a book for fans of The Sherlockian. While that's true, it's also a perfect book for fans of Lyndsay Faye's Dust and Shadow, Ann Granger's Inspector Ben Ross series, or the non-fiction work of Kate Summerscale (see links for all of those after the jump). In other words, it's the perfect book for me.

Having said that, it's still possible that I could have been disappointed with this book, despite it having one of my favourite time and place settings for mystery fiction (I'm a huge fan of mystery novels that take place in late Victorian London, when the metropolitan police force was still fairly new and forensic science was only at its very infancy). It's possible I could have been disappointed, but it didn't happen. I was completely thrilled with this book from start to finish. It's well written, well edited (something that can not be said for every book I read), well researched and well thought out. It's everything I love in a mystery. Heck, it's everything I love in a book.

The Yard could easily be the first in a series. The only problem I found when reading it was trying to guess which of the fantastic police characters could be the subject of future books. Since there are several candidates, and since this book is not labelled as "first in the so-and-so series" I found myself not knowing which characters would survive until the end of the book. At least if it had been subtitled "An Inspector Day Mystery" or " A Nevil Hammersmith Mystery" I would have thought, "Ah, at least that's one character I know will make it to the end!" As it was, I was terribly worried about all of them, right up to the end.

Whether Alex Grecian writes more in this series or not, he has definitely found a fan in me. I can't wait to read whatever he writes next!

Do you also love mysteries set in London in the 1890's? Hit the jump for a bunch of other book recommendations!

Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson, by Lyndsay Faye