The Strings of Murder by Oscar de Muriel: A review
The Strings of Murder by Oscar de Muriel My rating: 3 of 5 stars Supercilious prig. Those are the words that came to mind when I considered how to describe Inspector Ian Frey. Frey is the son of an aristocratic English family in 1888 London. He's essentially a ne'er-do-well; he failed at law school and then found he didn't have the stomach for medical school. Finally, he found a niche with Scotland Yard CID where he discovered that he actually had a talent for detecting. But then the Jack the Ripper murders paralyzed London with fear and stymied Scotland Yard which was unable to solve the crimes. The bureaucratic answer to the public's concern was to fire people. Ian Frey's boss who had supported him was forced to resign and the "new broom" at the head decided to sweep Frey away as well. The Prime Minister, however, had other plans for him. He tapped Frey to go to Edinburgh to assist in an investigation there. It seems that there may be a Jack the Ripper ...