It is 1772 and a home invasion has occurred in St. James. The robbers
were all black men apparently. Sir John Fielding and Jeremy Proctor
have gone to the house to begin the investigation. After leaving there,
Sir John is shot in the shoulder by a
man who appears to be black.
The following morning, Jeremy returns to the scene of the crime to find
that most of the staff have been sacked. He does manage to find the
butler, and gets some questions answered. It seems to him that the
actual target of the robbery was the planned assassination of Sir John
Fielding. Someone knew that he would be drawn to investigate the crime
and that would be a good opportunity to kill him.
Jeremy's next task was to determine where the jewels and other items
stolen might be sold. The following night, another burglary occurs in
much the same fashion. However, in this case, the lady's maid is sure
that one of the robbers is not truly a black man. Going back the
following day, Jeremy gets more information from the cook, which
confirms the fact that at least one of the crooks is white.
The aforementioned lady's maid is found in the back garden with her
throat slit when a second robbery occurs at the same home. Fielding is
going to have to pull a rabbit out of a hat to solve this murder case
and the robberies. Can he do it before the criminals make good their
escape?
Author Bruce Alexander has written an intriguing murder mystery centred around big robberies. A thoroughly enjoyable read.
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