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Murder in Piccadilly
(1936)(The first book in the Chief Inspector Wake series)
A novel by Charles Kingston
Bobbie Cheldon, of the wealthy and distinguished Cheldon family, yearns for better circumstances than those of his life at Galahad Mansions, where he dwells with his mother in the ‘hinterlands of Fulham’.
Bobbie is twenty-three years old and has yet to hold down a job, instead living in hope of inheriting the Cheldon fortune from his miserly uncle.
When Bobbie falls in love with a pretty young dancer at the ‘Frozen Fang’ in Soho, his need for a wealth becomes all the more desperate. His intended, Nancy, has very worldly ideas about her future, and is less attracted to Bobbie for the idyllic marriage he promises, than for the fortune he expects to inherit.
Bobbie’s uncle Massy is all that stands between him and the future happiness this young man feels entitled to. When the weak willed and naïve Bobbie falls under the sway of the roguish man about Soho, the ex-boxer Nosey Ruslin, the stage is set for murder in the heart of Piccadilly.
The murder itself is performed in the most striking of circumstances, and when Chief Inspector Wake of Scotland Yard enters the scene, he uncovers a tangled web of love affairs, a cynical Soho underworld, and a convincing motive for murder.
But all is not exactly as it seems, and the path to riches is paved with trouble for all of those involved.
Murder in Piccadilly is an atmospheric and suspenseful thriller. Written between the two world wars it is a captivating detective novel from the golden age of British crime fiction.
Charles Kingston (1884–1944) wrote over 20 crime novels in the golden age of British crime. Many of his books – including Poison in Kensington and The Highgate Mystery – are set in London. All have been unavailable for many decades, and Kingston’s work has long been neglected by readers of classic crime fiction.
Genre: Mystery
Bobbie is twenty-three years old and has yet to hold down a job, instead living in hope of inheriting the Cheldon fortune from his miserly uncle.
When Bobbie falls in love with a pretty young dancer at the ‘Frozen Fang’ in Soho, his need for a wealth becomes all the more desperate. His intended, Nancy, has very worldly ideas about her future, and is less attracted to Bobbie for the idyllic marriage he promises, than for the fortune he expects to inherit.
Bobbie’s uncle Massy is all that stands between him and the future happiness this young man feels entitled to. When the weak willed and naïve Bobbie falls under the sway of the roguish man about Soho, the ex-boxer Nosey Ruslin, the stage is set for murder in the heart of Piccadilly.
The murder itself is performed in the most striking of circumstances, and when Chief Inspector Wake of Scotland Yard enters the scene, he uncovers a tangled web of love affairs, a cynical Soho underworld, and a convincing motive for murder.
But all is not exactly as it seems, and the path to riches is paved with trouble for all of those involved.
Murder in Piccadilly is an atmospheric and suspenseful thriller. Written between the two world wars it is a captivating detective novel from the golden age of British crime fiction.
Charles Kingston (1884–1944) wrote over 20 crime novels in the golden age of British crime. Many of his books – including Poison in Kensington and The Highgate Mystery – are set in London. All have been unavailable for many decades, and Kingston’s work has long been neglected by readers of classic crime fiction.
Genre: Mystery
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