The Riot

DI Ted Stratton #5

by Laura Wilson

August 1958. London is hot and tired, and nowhere more so than Notting Hill, where DI Stratton has just been posted.

Stratton’s new manor is dirt poor and rife with racial tension. The end of the war saw a flood of Caribbean migrants. Now, a decade later, working-class Teddy Boys are showing mounting hostility towards their black neighbours.

Notorious landlord Danny Perlmann, a Polish refugee, is taking full advantage of others’ reluctance to rent to the immigrants – or to prostitutes – and is making a fortune off the high rents he charges. Caught in the middle of this war over rents and turf is Irene, a young runaway on the verge of going on the game.

When Perlmann’s rent collector is murdered, Stratton is called to investigate. Notting Hill is a cauldron, soon to be the scene of the worst racial violence England has ever known, and Stratton is right at the heart of it.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery

368 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2013

About the author

There is more than one author with this name

Laura Wilson is an English crime-writer based in London, where she was born and raised. She has degrees in English Literature form Somerville College, Oxford, and University College London, and has worked as a teacher and editor of non-fiction.

Many of her novels have either a historical setting or a distinct historical connection, and often have split or dual narratives. Her first novel, A Little Death was shortlsited for a CWA Dagger award, and her fifth, The Lover was short listed for both the CWA Gold Dagger and the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger.

Reviews

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Laura Wilson is one of my favourite crime writers. I've read every novel she's written, so I'm a huge fan. I've enjoyed her DI Stratton series so far, but I was disappointed in this latest novel. I wasn't sure whether it was the subject matter that I found uninteresting or whether the narrative simply didn't have enough tension and mystery. There were so many different characters introduced in the opening chapters that I was immediately confused. Throughout the novel even more characters were introduced and only played a fleeting part of the story so that I didn't feel involved or emotionally engaged. I think the only redeemable feature for me was DI Stratton himself and his new love interest. The atmosphere of racial tension in the 1950s is well executed, but some light relief in the form of DI Stratton's home life and an update on his family would have been most welcome. The novel focused too heavily on interviewing suspects. I sincerely hope the next DI Stratton novel will be a big improvement on this one.

[Book Grocer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Purchase The Riot here for just $8!

The fifth book in the DI Ted Stratton series, this is set in London in 1958 and deals with racial tension in Notting Hill. Not an easy read, but a very rewarding one, Wilson covers more interesting territory than a pulpy whodunnit. Historically accurate and convincing.

Elisa - The Book Grocer

[Tilly Wark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave this book a 4 only because I had difficulty keeping track of the characters (new station, new people). That aside, to read this book you have to be willing to be uncomfortable. Many of the scenarios, people, and backstories are akin to what I had studied in a Holocaust novel class, along with an African-American Women Writers class; themes and vocabulary will be tough to swallow. Treat this review as a trigger warning in that regard. However, if you are willing to chance discomfort, this book is an interesting narrative of ideals of the time that just happens to fall within a murder mystery. I do hope that there will be more books in the series.

[Harvee Lau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very dry narration. It didn't hold my interest though the subject matter of the racial events in London in the 1950s is definitely a good subject.

[F · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this thoroughly. Well-written, and it seemed to conjure up both the place and the time authentically. I always enjoy reading crime novels set in streets which I know. My sister lived in this part of London and my first visit to London was to stay with her in about 1962, so not so very long after this story is set.
Good fun. I will now seek out some of the other DI Ted Stratton novels when I next feel like a 'good relaxing read'!

[Dennis Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

found this to be a bit slow reading

[Wendy Marchment · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found it dragged for me.

[Patty Lloyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliantly written book about a detective called Stratton, he has been posted to Notting Hill in 1958 where many immigrants from the Caribbean have found inexpensive flats. The most notable landlord is murdered and although everyone loved him DI Ted Stratton is called in to investigate. It's a great read, fast paced (which is what I like in a book). I would recommend this book to anyone who loves detective stories

[Rob Kitchin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The strengths of The Riot are the characterisation, sense of place and time, and social contextualisation. DI Stratton is a strong and interesting lead and the book is full of a diverse set of well defined and vividly penned characters. There is a strong sense of London in the late 1950s as the social mix of some neighbourhoods start to change, and Wilson does a good job at conveying the social realities of working class life and the tensions around change. Indeed, the story works well to weave issues of race (both Black and Jewish) and gender through class and capital. And the plot is intriguing and quite complex. That all said, the story is let down a little by its pacing and balance. Prior to ‘the riot’ the storytelling is quite slow and there is a lot of unneeded detail. For example, on his initial visit to the house in which a murder occurred Stratton laboriously meets everyone in the building and others nearby, most of whom never reappear in the book and who tell him little of importance. After ‘the riot’ things speed up somewhat, but there’s sometimes not enough fleshing out or reveal as to what is going on, especially with respect to the Perlmann’s empire. Overall, an interesting and entertaining story that’s nicely contextualised.

[David Lowther · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Riot is set in west London in the late 1950s at a time when racial tensions were running high and disturbances frequent. Inspector Ted Stratton, the central character in four previous Wilson novels, finds himself transferred from the West End to Notting Hill. He tackles a murder. followed by a second and finally a third. All the crimes are committed against the background of racial tension, prostitution, slum landlords and abject poverty.

The plot is at some times confusing and at others repetitive. The conclusion winds it all up satisfactorily. I was certainly less gripped than in the previous Stratton novels. It does have two great strengths. Laura Wilson's sense of time and place is faultless and, being old enough myself to remember these times, I felt very much at home. The second is Stratton himself, a picture of a thoroughly decent man, doing a tough job and giving his all in pursuit of justice. This is, for the time being, the final Stratton novel.

David Lowther. Author of The Blue Pencil, Liberating Belsen and Two Families at War, all published by Sacristy Press.

[Trish McCormack · Rating 2 out of 5]

This definitely isn't one of the better novels in this series - the only thing that saves it is the ongoing and very convincing backstory regarding Stratton himself. There were too many thugs and not enough mystery in this story. It tries to be both social history and mystery which for me did not work. A shame because the earlier Stratton stories are brilliant.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Portrays the racial tension in Britain in 1958.
It was hard for people to come into the country and hard for others to accept them.
No different from today really although a lot of the intense abuse/language has stopped,thankfully.
The author portrays this tension well and i liked the character of DI Stratton,who seems very non-judgemental.
Good solid investigation work brings results.

[Tara Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable. Quite claustrophobic narrative in places, very fitting for hot, sultry and on the edge of chaos Notting Hill. And reading this brings into sharp relief the idea that nothing much changes, and history repeats itself endlessly, and people are always people. Nearly 60 years on from the setting and you can still hear similar conversations!

[Chris Skidmore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite as good as the best of the DI Stratton books in my opinion. I thought the background to the Jewish characters was well sketched in and they were not as crudely drawn as they would have been in fiction of the period.

[Lorraine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very disappointing. Confused narrative and far too many characters introduced in the first few chapters who then and never reappeared. Loved the other books in this series but decided not to finish this one - rare for me.

A wasted opportunity given the subject matter.

[David Highton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good solid police story set in 1958, the fifth outing for DI Ted Stratton. Set in Notting Hill and White City amid the emerging racial tensions following the large Afro Caribbean immigatation earlier in the 1950's

[summersperi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the dialogues seem a bit out of place at times. After reading through the first few chapters, I thought I'd give this one a skip. Glad I didn't and I'm fairly satisfied in the end

[Robert Richmond]

I enjoyed this book it seemed to be historically accurate and the took me by surprise. Definitely a good read

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Far too convoluted and complicated

[John Newcomb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this little murder mystery based at the time of the Notting Hill riots. It was like Andrea Levy with a police investigation.