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Edwin James Mysteries #3
A Fugitive Englishman
A successful Englishman flees to America to escape his hidden past—only to get himself into deeper, more dangerous waters in New York Edwin James reaches the height of his professional career in the law when, on the brink of being knighted, legal scandals and debt force him to flee England with his new bride and attempt to establish a new career in America. There, his involvement with the most sensational actress of the day soon destroys his marriage, and he quickly finds himself recruited into Colonel Lafayette Baker's Secret Detective Service investigating Fenian activity in New York's hell-hole, the Five Point. And it isn't long before he joins forces with former political assassin, Carlos Rudio, in the hunt for John Wilkes Booth, the murderer of President Lincoln. Forced to work with corrupt judges and policemen in New York James becomes involved with the most notorious fraudsters of the day, and always in the background lie the lurking dangers that arise from the shadows of his scandalous past, shadows that threaten to rise up and engulf him once more.
256 pages, Paperback
First published November 30, 2014
21 people want to read
About the author
Roy Lewis
174 books74 followersJohn 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 6, 2024
This is the story of a corrupt but fictitious lawyer’s fall from grace interwoven with real events.
In 1860’s London Edwin James QC, MP, is heading for the heights of a legal career: anticipating a knighthood, dreaming of becoming Lord Chancellor. The snag is his propensity for high living, whoring and the defence of scoundrels as unprincipled as himself. Thriving in a corrupt system he overreaches himself and defends a trickster who has defrauded a number of poor Irishmen. He wins the case only to become the target of the fearful Cork Revengers. Already deep in debt he flees both killers and creditor to set up shop in New York, another city teeming with lowlife and lucrative lawsuits.
James takes to the new lifestyle with gusto but his penchant for sailing close to the wind continues, and rumours of his dodgy past have followed him across the Atlantic. He makes enemies, is intimidated, blackmailed and ultimately cajoled into working as a spy for a branch of the establishment, itself treacherous. Now he is caught up in the crucial events of the time - a witness to the murder of President Lincoln and involved in the subsequent hunt for the assassin. He fails to avoid racist riots following the Emancipation Act when Irish immigrants turned on freed slaves but manages to rescue a woman from rape by three thugs, the one courageous act of a dissolute life.
An clever book without sympathetic characters. James is no anti-hero but a highly clever fox, once vainglorious, reduced to penury and self-pity - an unworthy commentator on a crucial period of American history. If it was the author’s intention to expose the sleaze behind the birth of a great nation he has made his point.
In 1860’s London Edwin James QC, MP, is heading for the heights of a legal career: anticipating a knighthood, dreaming of becoming Lord Chancellor. The snag is his propensity for high living, whoring and the defence of scoundrels as unprincipled as himself. Thriving in a corrupt system he overreaches himself and defends a trickster who has defrauded a number of poor Irishmen. He wins the case only to become the target of the fearful Cork Revengers. Already deep in debt he flees both killers and creditor to set up shop in New York, another city teeming with lowlife and lucrative lawsuits.
James takes to the new lifestyle with gusto but his penchant for sailing close to the wind continues, and rumours of his dodgy past have followed him across the Atlantic. He makes enemies, is intimidated, blackmailed and ultimately cajoled into working as a spy for a branch of the establishment, itself treacherous. Now he is caught up in the crucial events of the time - a witness to the murder of President Lincoln and involved in the subsequent hunt for the assassin. He fails to avoid racist riots following the Emancipation Act when Irish immigrants turned on freed slaves but manages to rescue a woman from rape by three thugs, the one courageous act of a dissolute life.
An clever book without sympathetic characters. James is no anti-hero but a highly clever fox, once vainglorious, reduced to penury and self-pity - an unworthy commentator on a crucial period of American history. If it was the author’s intention to expose the sleaze behind the birth of a great nation he has made his point.
Displaying 1 of 1 review