Somewhere in This City

Chief Inspector Martineau Investigates #1

by Maurice Procter

Hell is a City is the first of Maurice Procter's Inspector Martineau series and was made into taut, fast-paced film in 1959 by Hammer Studios, set against the grimy back streets and rain-streaked bright lights of Manchester. When hardened criminal Don Starling escapes from jail, killing a prison guard in the process, Inspector Philip Martineau knows he will stop at nothing to make good his escape. The two men have known each other since childhood, and Starling blames Martineau for his incarceration a decade earlier. As the story hurtles to its conclusion, the two men meet in a final, violent confrontation. - See more at: http://www.themurderroom.com/books/h/...

Genres: Crime

216 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

Sometimes credited as Maurice Proctor.

Maurice Procter was an English novelist. He was born in Nelson, Lancashire, England. He attended the local grammar school and ran away to join the army at the age of fifteen. In 1927 he joined the police in Yorkshire and served in the force for nineteen years before his writing was published and he was able to write full time. He was credited with an ability to write exciting stories while using his experience to create authentic detail. His procedural novels are set in Granchester, a fictional 1950s Manchester, and he is best known for his series characters, Detective Superintendent Philip Hunter and DCI Harry Martineau. Throughout his career, Procter’s novels increased in popularity in both the UK and the US, and in 1960 Hell is a City was made into a film starring Stanley Baker and Billie Whitelaw. Procter was married to Winifred, and they had one child, Noel.

Reviews

[Tasneem · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea but slogged through it nonetheless.

[Bill Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favourite British crime movies is Hell is a City. Until this month, I never knew that it was based on a book by Maurice Procter, who lived in Halifax where I live. So, I had to give it a go. Procter was a serving officer in Halifax and wrote about what he knew. Turned out he wasn't a bad writer. This is the first in the Martineau series and is interesting, clearly set in the area and mostly Grantchester. Why he felt he needed to hide Manchester, I've no idea. It is tense and a clear track to the denouement. What makes it more interesting than the standard police procedural is Procter's sense of character, warts and all. They seem very rounded and of their time and ours. They have their flaws - not alcoholics or special issues, but the standard problems that faced people everyday in the 1950s and how they lived their lives. I'll be back for more.

On The Murder Room edition: these are cheap reproductions of what look like original editions, typos, print and blotches. No new typesetting. The new element seems to be the contents page, in a different type, but the numbering is incorrect, about 6 pages out. And then the covers in the series are identical apart from title changes. Disappointing. I may try and track down original hardbacks.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: when Don Starling escapes from jail, Inspector Martineau knows the escapee will be coming for him.