Murder in Piccadilly

By Charles Kingston

'Scores of men and women died daily in London, but on this day of days one of them had died in the very midst of a crowd and the cause of his death was a dagger piercing his heart. Death had become something very real.'

When Bobbie Cheldon falls in love with a pretty young dancer at the Frozen Fang night club in Soho, he has every hope of an idyllic marriage. But Nancy has more worldly ideas about her future: she is attracted not so much to Bobbie as to the fortune he expects to inherit.

Bobbie's miserly uncle Massy stands between him and happiness: he will not relinquish the ten thousand a year on which Nancy's hopes rest. When Bobbie falls under the sway of the roguish Nosey Ruslin, the stage is set for murder in the heart of Piccadilly - and for Nancy's dreams to be realised.

When Chief Inspector Wake of Scotland Yard enters the scene, he uncovers a tangled web of love affairs, a cynical Soho underworld, and a motive for murder.

This good-natured vintage mystery novel is now republished for the first time since the 1930s, with an introduction by the award-winning crime writer Martin Edwards, the leading expert on inter-war detective fiction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
• Release date: May 5, 2015
• ISBN: 9781464203749

Reviews for Murder in Piccadilly

[brianewilliams · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a Golden Age murder mystery story, set in 1930's England. Twenty-some Bobbie Cheldon. has fallen in love with a young nightclub dancer, Nancy Curzon, and asks her to marry him. However, she wants a rich husband and Bobbie is penniless. She gives him a month to make himself worthy of becoming her husband. He's separated from a family fortune by his uncle, Massy, who is a relatively young man at 53 years old. Driven by his love for Nancy he starts to think how much better off his life would be if the family fortune was his. He is encouraged to take action by some shady characters in Nancy's circle of friends, and Massy's days are numbered. Soon Massy is dead, the victim of a stabbing in the Piccadilly Underground station.Chief InspectorI Wake of Scotland Yard enters the picture to investigate the murder. He's a tough no-nonsense copper with a proven track record of solving difficult cases. He is the star of the book as far as I am concerned. The remainder of the story is a typical police procedural, but with an ironic plot twist, that makes for a droll ending. In the end Wake makes an arrest but it is a by-the-way event to close the book.The ever present British class system plays out in the background. Nancy is part of the Bohemian city crowd in the London show business west End, and worse, she suffers from being "common". Her friends are dodgy types, tainted by petty criminal past lives. In contrast to her and her crowd, is Bobbie, a poor member of the landed gentry. He is by all accounts a lazy and spoiled stupid boy who lacks the means to earn a living. Despite that he easily assumes the airs of the aristocracy when he assumes the family estate. It's all good local colour for the murder mystery.The Introduction written by Martin Edwards presents an interesting perspective on the book and the author.

[booksandscones · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

23-year-old Bobbie Cheldon has been raised in impoverished gentility in a poor part of London, but he will inherit a Sussex manor house and 10,000 pounds a year when his rich Uncle Massy Cheldon dies. Bobbie falls desperately in love with Nancy Curzon, a 19-year-old dancer he meets in a seedy nightclub wonderfully called the Frozen Fang. Nancy is a smart Cockney girl, and lets it be known that the only man she'll marry is a rich one. Through Nancy, Bobbie also meets the sinister but affable Nosey Ruslin, a former prizefighter and theatrical manager. Nosey slyly plants the idea in Bobbie's mind to secure his fortune, and Nancy, by getting rid of nasty Uncle Massy. Bobbie is at first horrified, but quickly embraces the idea as his only solution.Not a whodunnit, but a "will they get away with it?" as ponderous Chief Inspector Wake of Scotland Yard methodically investigates the case. There is a surprising twist at the end that delighted me as much as The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. A good-natured old-fashioned thriller, as the Introduction says.

[infjsarah · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I was disappointed in this. It was slightly treacle like to read and there is no real mystery. You know all along who the killer is - it's the getting to the point and whether the policeman will get there that the story follows. None of the characters are at all likeable.And I didn't get the end at all - is there someone else - did I miss something?But if the surprise wife is involved it still doesn't make sense, as the Fagin like character still makes nothing out of it as far as we are aware Wouldn't recommend this as a read.

[muddyboy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I just love that Poisoned Pen Press is reprinting British mysteries from the golden age of that genre (1930's to 1950's). The first choice is a good one. The book is about a man who will inherit great wealth if his uncle passes away. To complicate things the love of his life will not marry him until he becomes a man of means. When his uncle is stabbed to death at Piccadilly Square he becomes the obvious suspect. The last half of the novel is full of unsuspected twists and turns that caught me off guard. Kudos to P. P. P. and posthumously the author Charles Kingston.

[kathy89_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A naïve and poor 23 yr old society man, Bobby Cheldon is has fallen in love with Nancy, a young woman who wants a career on the stage. Nancy won’t leave the theater unless she can marry a wealthy man and Bobby won’t inherit his uncle’s estate until he dies but he’s only 53. Nancy’s “manager” sees an opportunity for blackmail and starts manipulating the situation to his advantage. I really enjoyed the couple surprise twists at the end.