Dead Ringer

Edwin James Mysteries #1

by Roy Lewis

In old age, Edwin James looks back over his scandalous life in the law and the theater. He recalls his rise to fame and fortune which begins as a debt-ridden counsel in the case arising from the Running Rein scandal of the 1844 Derby. Humiliated in court and blocked by the machinations of the Victorian Establishment he begins his hunt for the missing witness and the Derby winner which has been spirited away. Aided by ex-convict Ben Gully, he probes in the dark belly of the London underworld while at the same time trying to avoid his creditors. He is faced with a suicide and a murdered corpse hidden in the London sewers, before he seeks the final deadly truth in the foggy dockyards along the river, only to discover that the truth may not be all it seems, and that old scandals can rise up to engulf him.

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

John Royston Lewis, who published his fiction under the name Roy Lewis, was a prominent English crime writer who wrote more than 60 novels. He was also a teacher, and he taught Law for 10 years before being appointed as One of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Further & Higher Education. He lived in the north of England where many of his novels are set.

Lewis is also the author of several law texts, which he published under the name J.R. Lewis.

Librarian's note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Rog Harrison · Rating 2 out of 5]

I first came across this author's books in 1981 and I read twenty four of them between then and 1991 so I was intrigued to find this more recent book (2011) in my local library.

The story is told by an elderly disgraced lawyer to his step-son and relates to events which took place in London in 1844. The lawyer had been acting as the barrister for a racehorse owner whose horse won the Derby but certain influential people would not honour the bets as they claimed the horse had won unfairly. The case is lost as the plaintiff is unable to produce the winning horse! The lawyer wonders what had really happened and starts his own investigation. Lots of interesting information about Victorian London but sadly this was not the sort of story I wanted to read.