Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #362064 in Books
• Published on: 1996-11-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 320 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The lusty life of London's Covent Garden?and its diverse practitioners?highlights the second appearance of blind Sir John Fielding, an 18th-century magistrate first met in Blind Justice. Jeremy Proctor, Sir John's 13-year-old ward, has been hired by Grub Street publisher/bookseller Ezekiel Crabb. But the night before the apprenticeship is to begin, Crabb, his family and two employees die in a hideous massacre. Houseguest and rustic poet John Clayton, found dazed with ax in hand, is taken into custody. But Fielding is not satisfied with the evidence. In pursuit of the truth, he enlists the help of the Bow Street Runners, Samuel Johnson (but not Boswell), a pickpocket, a gambler, another publisher and, of course, Jeremy. More murders and a torched synagogue lead to a band of religious zealots who have come from Monongahela in the American colonies to convert London's Jews. Still needing facts, Fielding sets a trap that snares the villains in a stunning double climax. Especially noteworthy are scenes of Sir John in action at the Bow Street Court, dispensing practical justice to Londoners high and low.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
YA?In this sequel to Blind Justice (Putnam, 1994), 13-year-old Jeremy Proctor again teams up with Sir John Fielding, the blind magistrate and co-founder of London's first police force, this time to investigate who massacred the printer, Ezekiel Grabb, and his family and two employees the day before Jeremy was to be apprenticed to him. Acting once more as Sir John's eyes, the boy becomes ever more deeply involved in the magistrate's life and eventually earns himself a permanent place in his household. Though fiction, this book relies heavily on historic figures as its key characters. Its strength is its depiction of 18th-century London, seen through the eyes of young Jeremy, as he ranges from Grub Street to the Bedlam madhouse, from Covent Garden to London's worst slums..?Pamela Rearden, Centreville Regional Library, Fairfax County, VA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ingram
Sniffing a set-up when he oversees a seemingly open-and-shut case involving a murdered printer and a raving poet, Sir John Fielding is aided by thirteen-year-old Jeremy Proctor and uncovers a sinister truth. Reprint. PW. NYT.

Customer Reviews

An ok read
Fun historical fiction, but pretty predictable. Definately not as good as the 1st or 3rd books. I would read it anyway to keep up with the likeable characters.

Great Follow up
This is a great third book. Navy captain drowns, who did it? Blind Fielding is da man.

Pretty Good
"Murder in Grub Street", the second installment in Bruce Alexander's "Bow Street Runners" series is more carefully crafted than the first book, but still has weaknesses. It is a period mystery set in 18th-century London. Blind magistrate Sir John Fielding and his young sidekick Jeremy, who narrates the story, solves a mass murder case in London's publishing district. It's a good tale, but some of the weaknesses of the first book are still here: Fielding does things no blind person -no matter how gifted- can do; young Jeremy speaks like an educated adult, and his occasional forays into childhood speech sound just like an adult-trying-to-write-like-a-child wrote them. The plot is carefully constructed but hinges on some artificial twists that must leave readers shaking their heads: Jeremy narrowly escapes from a building that blows down in the wind, not once but twice; a poor street urchin pops up conveniently every few pages to provide important clues. The most interesting thing about Alexander's mystery series is the local color and language of historical London. They're fun and easy to read, but as mystery novels go, these first two are strictly average.