The Chelsea Murders

This is my third time reading The Chelsea Murders, and this time I actually remembered which of them was the killer about halfway through. I don't think there's a murder mystery out there that I've ever enjoyed quite as much, certainly not of the classic English variety which this both is and sends up.

We are, as it were, led by the nose through a series of murders terrorising London's bohemian Chelsea area. The killer, who enjoys sending cryptic literary notes to warn of his coming exploits, is one of three students making a film. The police are all over them and the press are sniffing round like bloodhounds and everyone's trying to work it out, but the killer always seems one step ahead.

By all accounts this is packed to the rafters show more with London arty/publishing/whatever in-jokes of which I can fairly confidently say I got bugger all. That doesn't matter. It's clever, sharp, witty, full of characters that are mostly unlikeable but who are all doing interesting things and the whodunnit aspect is utterly, deliciously maddening in a way that most whodunnits just aren't.

Davidson didn't write another one like this. Like DCS Warton he'd had enough of the murder game, which was almost a pity. Luckily he wrote some other great stuff instead, and we can always go to Chelsea. show less

Oh god, not more Davidson. The first one was OK, the second was bad. Both had dislikeable protagonists; the second also suffered from overwrought writing. How bad would this be?
Not terrible; not great. It’s written with more restraint, so that’s one thing. Another thing is that it solves the protagonist issue by not really having one. There’s a trio of characters—a detective, a journalist, and a film-maker—who share more or less equal billing, and we get occasional interjections from the supporting cast. A serial killer is at work in Chelsea; the detective and the journalist are after them, and the film-maker is one of a few central suspects, along with some of his friends and associates.
The story ticks along well enough, with show more a few nice scenes, and seems to hang together, but in the end I don’t think it can really decide what it wants to be. It’s thriller-ish in tone, at least in parts, but never really leans into the gore and horror of the serial killer. It has trappings of a whodunnit, clues and riddles and all, but then kind of switches two thirds through to a howdunnit as the identity of the killer becomes obvious. There are red herrings so stinking that you might wonder if this was the point, to undermine the tropes of several crime subgenres at once, but the book doesn’t seem clever enough for that. There’s a half-hearted thematic concern with the clash between the staid world of the police and the louche, bohemian culture of art-school Chelsea, but this never comes into focus. It doesn’t help that Davidson hadn’t lived in London (indeed for the UK) for a while, and so his late-70s Chelsea is mostly populated by vaguely hippy types left over from the 1960s—not a punk in sight. The wrap-up is something of a damp squib. Oh, and there’s some terrible racially stereotyped characters. It is, at least, short. It passed the time well enough and didn’t actively annoy me, so I guess it’s better than the last two Davidsons, but thank god there’s no more. show less

Over the past few years I've read four other books by Lionel Davidson, all thrillers. The Chelsea Murders, a police procedural, has been my favorite. It's similar in style to other such mysteries I've enjoyed, like JJ Marric's Superintentent Gideon, or Ed McBain's 87th Precinct, and a couple of others.

What I enjoyed about the story was how it moved from police investigation, to following the suspects and also the intrepid reporter trying to get her own byline out of her investigation. It's all very well-paced, exciting and all in all an excellent story.

The story begins with the murder of Dutch student, Grooters, in her student residence in London. The story then moves back in time a couple of weeks and we meet three pals, university show more students Artie, Steve and Frank, making a movie about 'murder'. We also meet Mary Mooney, newspaperwoman, their friend btw, a reporter trying to be hired full-time by the local rag. She heads off to the scene of a murder, gets there before the cops, talks her way into the crime scene and becomes both the bane of the cops, while still sort of assisting them.

And then there is Inspector Warton, a tired cop, but still the best man to solve the various events that will be taking place over the course of the story. It's nice to see a smart, competent police officer working a case. He has an excellent team as well, especially his assistant Summers and new cop Constable Mason who will be used effectively throughout the story.

It's all just a fascinating case, or cases more exactly. The three friends are all suspected but as you go through the story and gather clues yourself, you (well, maybe it was just me) start to see other possibilities. (Let me know if you have any others). We move from a woman attacked by a kissing bandit, a hanged Chinese clothier and other victims. The police are still organized and under Warton's careful eye, the clues are gathered and you get the feeling that he will solve the case quite satisfactorily. Every character is interesting and well - crafted. There are secrets and lies that will leave you suspecting first one, then another... Mary Mooney is a great character, reminding me of the reporter in the Endeavour TV series.

All in all it was a great way to start off a new month. The story is a page turner, entertaining and ultimately so very satisfactorily concluded. Try it. (4.5 stars) show less

Gave up on it. A juicy murder to start, then all the principles get together in a pub and speak enigmatically for several chapters. It might all have come together at some point but I wasn't enjoying it.