Bloody business: An anecdotal history of Scotland Yard

by H. Paul Jeffers

From the serial murders of Jack the Ripper to the Great Train Robbery, the real-life crimes documented by Scotland Yard rival the thorniest cases of such resourceful fictional detectives as Sherlock Holmes, Jane Marple, and Hercule Poirot. Gathering together a dazzling array of true crime stories, this fascinating history of the world's most famous police department presents detailed portraits of the colorful characters who have left their mark on British law enforcement: magistrate Henry Fielding and his Bow Street Runners; Charles Rowan and Richard Mayne, the architects of England's new police force; and a rogues' gallery of notorious criminals� from Constance Kent, the 16-year-old child killer whose ingenious coverup almost fooled Victorian detectives, to a raft of modern-day terrorists including foreign extremists, IRA gunmen, and drug overlords. Elegantly written and filled with intriguing information, this book is a fitting tribute to those staunch upholders of British justice, the "sharp-eyed blokes'' of Scotland Yard. Black-and- white photos and illustrations.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, True Crime, Mystery, British Literature, Historical

278 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

H. Paul Jeffers was an established military historian and author of seventy books. He worked as an editor and producer at ABC, CBS and NBC, and is the only person to have been news director of both of New York City's all-news radio stations. He taught journalism at New York University, Syracuse University, and Boston University.

Reviews

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was published in 1992, so that is as far as it goes. As stated in the introduction, the author's goal is to attempt to counter undermining of Scotland Yard's reputation by various mystery writers. He does a reasonably good job, though his own prejudice isn't entirely lacking.

I found this book interesting and informative. However, if you are squimish at all, I don't recommend it. Descriptions of murders contain very specific details.

[Tomijo Gale · Rating 3 out of 5]

The use of the term "anecdotal" in the book's title suggested to me a kind of "pull up a chair by the fire and let me tell you a story" sort of narrative. In such a scenario I would expect the emphasis to be on thrilling, perhaps even lurid story telling but cemented in the necessity of fact to give it sufficient grounding. Unfortunately, the narrative never really finds a voice sufficient to engage at that level despite the number of rather gruesome and lurid cases it relates. Most of the book is bogged down by dry and sometimes awkwardly written chronologies rendered with broad, fairly emotionless strokes. As a reference work for timelines and facts, the book is worth a cursory read, but it failed to be the thrilling, atmospheric ride along that Edward Gorey's wonderful jacket illustration led me to anticipate.

[Marcia Semenoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Expecting a true crime account of British murders through the ages, I was surprised to also find a history of policing included. But both topics were engaging reading, and I now know many interesting facts about Scotland Yard, Bobbies, and Jack the Ripper.

[Raechel Henderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A readable history of Scotland Yard. There's enough accounts of horrific crimes to balance out the more mundane details of accommodations and technological advances.

[Betsy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh
Didn't finish

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating look at the creation of and history of the Metropolitan Police and Scotland Yard as told through some of their most famous cases.

[James S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Superficial and exceedingly dull. How can murder become a dull subject? It takes an especially uninspired author to accomplish that. A waste of a nice book cover.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very thorough history of the police force in England. Very interesting book that I would recommend for anyone who is a history buff. Does give short synopsis of famous crimes and criminals.

[Americanogig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good read though quite disturbing. For instance, my knowledge of poisons definitely grew as I read on. Is this a good thing? Really seems an awful way to die. Antimony sounds pretty but its reality is horrid. This book highlighted the relations of the police and British class struggles (like celebrity status here). In one well-known case,the house was shown extremely deferential treatment...they even wiped away a bloody handprint so it wouldn't upset the family.

I found out 'Sheriff' comes from 'shire reeve' (think Cadfael). 'Scotland Yard' was named thus because the original building was built in an area once used for Scottish dignitaries, which called, what else, but Great Scotland Yard. They rebuilt and became New Scotland Yard. Now, their place of operations looks like a large office building. So much of the "romance" via fictionalization of the place has disappeared. I didn't end up finishing the book because it went too far into modern crime and then it was just disturbing. I can't belive that the detective process actually had to be INVENTED?!?! Police never solved anything after it happened, just tried to prevent it from happening in the first place. They wouldn't follow up and punish criminals like we do now.

They were much maligned in the fiction of the day>Dickens and later on, the insipid (NOT intrepid, insipid) Lestrade in Sherlock Holmes. Interesting fact: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle actually solved quite a few cases himself using that famous deductive reasoning. A woman's jewels went missing while attending a production where Doyle was also present. He told her who had them and he was right! He also helped a few people who were falsely accused escape a death sentence. Pretty cool. Another fact: the Bow Street police force were said to be able to arrive at a scene in 15 minutes (quite a feat in the time of horses), thus Bow Street Runners.

[Amy the book-bat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book fulfills requirement #2- true crime for the 2014 eclectic reader challenge.

This book covers the history of the creation of Scotland Yard through the 1990's. I thought it was interesting and balanced the history of administration and the like with descriptions of some of the crimes they solved. I was more interested in the various crimes than the politics of running a police force, but I thought the author did a good job of blending the two. Occasionally I was a little confused by the dates as they were presented, but overall I think the book was well laid out. Strangely enough, I had just watched a couple shows on the Travel Channel that talked about some of the cases, so it was nice getting a little more information or a different point of view of those incidents. On a different note, I would have liked the print to have been a little larger and the pictures to be a little lighter/clearer, but that is probably a little picky on my part.

[Christopher Roth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those slapped-together Barnes & Nobles books, written by some nameless hack who probably churned out a cookbook last week and will be churning out a history of doorknobs next week. Someone who grew up in Britain, say, and pays attention half-way to stuff like this will find little that is new or enlightening. But a lot of the Victorian stuff and the overview of the Metropolitan Police was new to me, thus interesting. No one should ever go out and actually buy this book full price; it'll show up in the remainder bins soon enough.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had a lot of interesting cases in it. Given the number of cases Scotland Yard has tackled since its inception some brevity in discussion is understandable.

While I enjoyed reading this book, I still felt like the author tried to cram a little too much in. I would have enjoyed a more extended treatment of the major cases.

This book did give me a better understanding of Scotland Yard and the effect of the attitude of the British people on Scotland Yard's workings.

[Peter Talbot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good if superficial compendium of true crime, and a great intro to the Yard and its important antecedents. Crimes of today were mostly eccentricities in the past. Even murder most foul was largely unremarkable princely politics until the industrial revolution gave the common man a soul worth jurisprudence. What fools these mortals, etc.

[Susan Burin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a novel but is a historical story of the Scotland Yard in London, England. However, while giving historical formation, tales of actual cases are told and the means for the times of how they were solved or not. I found it interesting, and easy to read and keep my attention.

[Cindi · Rating 3 out of 5]

In some spots rattled off too many statistics, but overall enjoyable. Put me in the mind to read a good English mystery. Peter Robinson and Inspector Alan Banks, perhaps?

[Brett]

Non-fiction,Anthology,Crime

[Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides]

I checked this out from the library in 2007 but I don't think I actually read it.

[Joshua Bunnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book for a referance guide for my book series I'm currently writing. For this purpose its a good book. But if you choose to simple read the book - its still a good read.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun! if you like detective murder mysteries....

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

A diverting read. Well-written with a nice variety of anecdotes about the Yard. They even got Edward Gorey to do the cover illustration.

[Gopal]

Thanks