Jonathan Oates

Unsolved London Murders: The 1920s & 1930s by Jonathan Oates is an interesting and straightforward collection of 20 unsolved cases from the period.

Let me start by clarifying what this book is and what it is not. Broadly speaking, there are three basic types of true crime books. One is far and away what is thought of as popular crime books, these essentially try to recreate the lead up to and the commission of the crime, then tells about the investigation in narrative form also. When these show more are called popular true crime books the term can, depending on who is saying it, mean it as a positive or a negative. The second is more along the lines of investigative journalism which tends to be somewhat narrative in nature but the narrative is as much about the writer's investigation as about the crime itself. Finally there are the true crime stories that present just what is known, makes a couple of conjectures, but by and large just "sticks to the facts." This type of approach is often the only way to present older crimes that might not have garnered a lot of press coverage or public scandal. This book fits squarely into that third category. So, as an analogy, this is less like twenty short stories and more like twenty case files.

I mainly mention all of that because this book did not fail at being a bunch of narratives, that wasn't even what it was doing. It did, however, succeed quite well as case files with narrative included when there was enough information to create one. Some readers prefer recreations and something that feels more like a novel or, in this case, short stories. This isn't that.

The writing is actually quite good for the material it is offering. I don't think it is dry, it simply isn't embellished, which again is due to the difference in the type of book it is. There is also a tendency as a reader in 2020 to imagine what the next step would be if the crime was committed now, and that can throw off the flow when none of the tests we would expect are run because they don't yet exist, at least not in a forensically usable form.

One of the more interesting aspects of reading about past crimes is noticing how society treated people different, and sometimes not so different, based on gender, socioeconomic class, etc. Along those same lines it is fascinating to think about how some aspects of policing at that time could transfer to our time. More community policing than paramilitary policing, more like a neighbor in uniform rather than someone with an inflated sense of self-worth being armed to the teeth walking through other people's neighborhoods looking for trouble. Public servants versus armed government thugs. But we all have our own ways into these old cases and come away with different thoughts.

As long as you're not looking for re-creations and true crime written as fiction, you will find a lot here to enjoy.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. show less

The Crimes That Inspired Agatha Christie by Jonathan Oates and Anna-Lena Berg is a fun and informative read that connects real crimes with some of Christie's stories.

I think using the word "inspired" might be a bit of overstatement in several of these cases, but that doesn't detract from the book as a whole. I found the true life crimes, and the glimpses at how the legal system and crime investigation functioned at the time, fascinating. What was acceptable at trial and what has changed show more since then made me wonder how our current norms will someday be viewed.

The descriptions of the crimes and trials are brief and to the point, which is necessary to keep the book readable. I thought the addition of sources for further reading after the chapters gave the reader the chance to read more about the ones that piqued their curiosity. I also looked some information up online just to supplement what was written. The book is very good and using it to direct further searches makes it even better.

Certainly any Agatha Christie fan will enjoy this but I think those with an interest in criminology will also find many points worth their time and might even spur them into doing more research in a different direction than crime novels.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. show less

Throughout her vast output of writing, Agatha Christie used a knowledge of true crime to inspire her plots. In this book Oates and Berg explore some of those inspirations. Each crime is not given a lot of detail but what makes this book so fascinating is the linking to the novels, short stories and plays. It's a clever mix of true crime over the centuries and a homage to the great fiction writer.

A very interesting book about true crimes that could have or did influence Agatha Christie's stories. It seemed very well researched. Each story gave good details explaining how the original crime correlated with a Christie book, but did not have any spoilers that would ruin the Christie books, if you haven't read them yet. There was also an appendix in the back of the book with list of the crimes/correlating books. Although there were pictures in the back of the book for the different show more crimes, I would have preferred them to be with each story. But, I definitely plan to purchase a hardback of this book when available, to add to my library.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for a review. show less