Death at Whitechapel

The name "Robin Paige" usually guarantees an absorbing and even educational read, but DEATH AT WHITECHAPEL falls below the high standards set by the rest of this historical mystery series. Our pair of sleuths, Kate and Charles, stumble across clues to the identity of the perpetrator of the previous decade's "Jack the Ripper" killings - unfortunately, this particular theory's been trotted out a dozen times before now, and Alan Moore's FROM HELL should have been the final word on it.

Another problem is keeping the backstory straight: in the first novels in the series we were informed that Sir Charles gained his peerage through his work with cameras, but here we learn that it was *actually* as a result of his heroism in combat. (Make up show more your minds, authors!) There's also a morally-dubious subplot amongst the household staff, where a character resorts to poison to get rid of an unwanted face from the past.

Finally, the portrait of young Winston Churchill is quite dull: from the way he's portrayed he could be Any Edwardian Young Man, displaying none of the sharp wit and dogged determination Winnie was so famous for. This wouldn't be so bad by itself if the Greatest Briton of the 20th Century (TM) weren't made to look inferior to the two fictional sleuths (which he is here) and if he weren't found guilty of a fictional crime at the very end of the novel (admittedly based on an incident from his past, but exaggerated to make the consequences far more serious). It's bad enough to imply that Randolph Sr might have been part of the Masonic Plot, but to accuse Winnie, tGBot20thC (TM), of similar cruelty as well... It all adds up to a work that's not much fun to read, but, as I said, this isn't typical of the Paige oeuvre. Try BISHOP'S KEEP or GALLOWS GREEN instead. show less

This mystery, set in the early years of the 20th century finds Jennie Churchill, mother of Winston, being blackmailed. She goes to her friends Kate and Charles Sheridan for help. There's a rather convoluted tie-in with Jack the Ripper. I found myself not really believing the plot and wondering why the author would even try to string together the events in such a manner. This one is not up to the author's usual standards.

I am familiar with most of the major Ripper theories, including ones published since 2000. So the results of Kate and Charles' investigations were not surprising; more a matter of thinking, "Oh that's the direction they chose to go." What I do find unlikely is that the rightfully frightened poor of Whitechapel and the artists Sickart and the retired police investigator would spill the whole story to our intrepid pair after maintaining silence for 10 years. It really isn't very believable.

I own several books about Jack the Ripper. That 'Robin Paige' [Susan Wittig & Bill Albert] based Death at Whitechapel on the one I found the least credible made it impossible for me to take this series seriously again. Yes, this was the book that killed it for me. I didn't even bother to finish it. (It hasn't stopped me from enjoying the China Bayles or Darling Dahlias series, though.)

Enjoyable little historical fiction mystery series.