M J Trow

I am sometimes hesitant to read fiction that uses real-life people as characters, but for some reason, I couldn't resist M.J. Trow's Four Thousand Days. Perhaps it was the time period-- 1900, right at the end of Victoria's reign. Perhaps it was the fact that Margaret Murray was a female archaeologist. For whatever reason, I'm glad I picked up this enjoyable historical mystery (and I appreciated the author's The Real Margaret Murray at the end of the book).

Dr. Margaret Murray isn't the only show more interesting character in the book. There's the handsome Constable Adam Crawford who attends Murray's free archaeology lectures on Fridays and has a keen eye for rooting out clues to solving crimes. There's retired Scotland Yard inspector Edmund Reid, subject of the popular Inspector Dier mystery novels. There's Tom, a former thief and erstwhile chef and server at Murray's favorite watering hole, the Jeremy Bentham. Of Murray's students, the standout for me was Janet Bairnsfather, "the Job of University College," who's much too rigidly proper to fit in well with Murray and her inner circle of students. Even the characters on the periphery are interesting, and sometimes good for a laugh or two, like the Herne Bay Decorum Society, "...a not-very-well-meaning clique of busybodies, largely female...who twitch curtains and look for outrage."

The mystery is a good one, and I was dying to find out what the archaeological find was. When I did learn, I think my jaw hit the floor. (And that was also when I learned the significance of the book title.)

Four Thousand Days is a well-written, thoroughly enjoyable historical mystery, and I'm looking forward to seeing Margaret Murray in the future.

(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley) show less

I came to this from reading Trow's earlier book on Richard III - Richard III in the North - However, this tome covers the mystery of the princes in the tower. Using the time honoured technique of analysing means, motive and opportunity, Trow posits the question - qui bono? Who benefits?

Trow sets forth his case utilising methods familiar to anyone who has watched or read a police procedural, court room drama or forensic investigation. As the with any suspicious death, he looks at those show more closest to the victims - the most obvious suspects (Richard III and Henry VII), some lesser suspects (the adherents, the family) before putting forth one who he considers highly likely and almost unanimously overlooked. A person who had the holy trinity of means, motive and opportunity - a person who quite literally got away with murder. In fact, someone I myself had not considered!

I found this to be a compelling read - it covers off the period of the Wars of the Roses, the reigns of Edward IV and Richard III, Bosworth, and the succession of Henry VII, the mystery of the princes and the pretenders rather succinctly without bogging the reader down in a mire of dry information overload (or dump). There is enough here for even the most casual reader to follow without having to take a crash course in medieval history.

Whether you agree or disagree with Trow's conclusions, this makes for some thought-provoking reading - who knows, maybe there is another suspect lurking in the shadows that no-one has considered ... after five centuries, nothing is conclusive but nor should it be dismissed for not following the two "standard" lines of thought.

Definitely one for my own library! show less

This is an excellent book and tells everything that we can now know about the man who, over 100 years ago, murdered and dismembered several women and dumped their body parts in the Thames. Many of his victims, like the killer himself, remain unidentified and the case is all but forgotten today except as a footnote to the Jack the Ripper case, since the Ripper and the Torso Killer were operating in London at the same time.

A word of warning: M.J. Trow spends much of the book NOT talking about show more the Torso Killer. He discusses other cases (Jack the Ripper, the Green River Killer, the unsolved "Jack the Stripper" murders in the 1960s, etc.), and compares them to the Torso Killer's crimes. I thought this was a good idea. Other readers may find it annoying.

Trow winds up making some postulations about the Torso Killer that make a lot of sense, and some of them are very specific. For example, he believes the killer was a horse slaughterer and/or butcher and thinks he's identified the place where the killer worked (in both the "working for money" sense and in the "killing" sense, since Trow thinks he did the killing and dismemberment at his place of employment), and therefore his employer. There are no lists left of employees from that time and place, so Trow doesn't go so far as to provide any provide any potential names, and he's careful to emphasize that this is just his IDEA, his THEORY, and none of the notions in his theory need be considered to be a fact. But I've never seen a person writing about historical unsolved crimes go so far as to suggest where the killer worked.

I really liked the book actually, thought it was well-written and well-researched. It's not for everybody, but I think fans of historical true crime will like it. Jack the Ripper hobbyists in particular might enjoy it. show less

Teacher Peter “Mad Max” Maxwell is looking forward to spending his summer break relaxing and playing with young son Nolan, but his plans go awry when his wife DI Jacquie Carpenter asks him to take their elderly neighbour and her friend to visit Haledown House, a stately home open to guests, as a special favour for the friend’s birthday. The visit proves disastrous, but the silver lining is that Mrs. Ariana “Harry” Hale-ffinch, whose husband owns Haledown House, offers him a job: show more 1,200 pounds a week for him to stroll around the grounds telling stories about the site and its family to visitors, along with giving lectures and attending dinners with the house guests. When she sweetens the offer by including Jacquie in whatever dinners her schedule accommodates *and* offering to let Nolan spend days at a time at the stables (where he will be supervised by some of Max’s “Own,” former students whom he knows he can trust), well, what can Max say but yes? Of course, he’s only there for one day when the uncle of the owner is found dead, apparently having had his throat torn out by dogs, and then one of the American house guests is poisoned….This is the 20th in the Mad Max series; unlike most of the books, everything takes place away from Leighford High School where he works, but there are still connections to the school given that he knows most of the young people in the vicinity. I liked this one because Max gets to show off his erudition and also gently mock the (mostly) American guests he has been hired to entertain, while at the same time the dynamics of the family and staff running the stately home are well-drawn and believable. I think this could be read as a one-off, but this deep into the series it’s probably better for the reader to have started at the beginning of the series (“Maxwell’s House”) and carry on from there; recommended. show less