Sherlock Holmes and the Vanishing Girls of West Ham

Phil Lecomber author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Titan Books Ltd

Publishing:21st Sep '27

£19.99

This title is due to be published on 21st September, and will be despatched as soon as possible.

Sherlock Holmes and the Vanishing Girls of West Ham cover

A fiendish, twisty London-set mystery, based on real-life unsolved crime, that sees Holmes and Watson trawl the shabby districts of the East End as they try to uncover who is snatching girls from the streets, and why. For fans of Gareth Rubin's Holmes and Moriarty.

It is 15 February 1890, and Doctor Watson receives a summons from his old friend Sherlock Holmes, telling him to meet him in West Ham, a shabby district of East London. When Watson arrives at a disused property on West Street, he is met by Holmes, Inspector Lestrade and Lestrade's former protege Inspector Drake, who now heads up the Metropolitan Police's K Division, which oversees the district of Stepney.

In the house, Drake leads them to a cupboard in which is concealed the partially decomposed body of a girl. He tells them he's pretty sure it's Amelia Jeffs, a 14 year old from West Street who disappeared a couple of weeks ago on her way to buy a fried-fish supper for her family. After Watson confirms the girl has been strangled and estimates she was killed around two weeks ago, Drake reveals that two other teenage girls from the same street, Mary Seward and Eliza Carter, disappeared in 1881 and 1882 respectively.

This is the starting point for the great detective's descent into a sinister world of child abductions, which always involve the victim being seen with a 'hideous old woman' prior to their disappearance. The investigation takes Holmes and Watson to some extremely dark places: to a post office in East London in which the body of a girl is found stuffed into a box; to the pubs of the East End, where rumours of a trafficking gang abound; and to the brothels of Belgium, where English girls who've been snatched from the streets are put to work against their will.

But will Sherlock Holmes ever be able to fully discover what really happened to the vanishing girls of West Ham, and solve one of Victorian London's greatest real-life unsolved crimes?

Praise for Midnight Streets

A walk on the wild side of 1920s London. Dark, atmospheric and utterly compelling.
-Jake Arnott, bestselling author of The Long Firm and The Fatal Tree

It's 1929. While Sam Spade is busy chasing a black bird through the mean streets of San Francisco, war vet and private sherlock George Harley is following the bloody trail of a book of the damned through the streets of Jazz Age London. Phil Lecomber's jaw-dropping debut is exactly what I want from a historical hardboiled novel: passionate nihilism and a tough-as-nails loner making his way through a depraved underworld whose darkness goes all the way down. Actually, I'm lying. I didn't know that's what I wanted until Lecomber served it up to me in Midnight Streets, and I very much hope he has more in store for us.
-Duane Swierczynski, New York Times bestselling author of Lion & Lamb, California Bear and Secret Dead Men

I loved this fast-paced, atmospheric adventure through the smoke and neon of 1920s Soho, vividly written and rich with historical detail. The twists and turns will leave you reeling.
-Alex Pavesi, bestselling author of Eight Detectives

If Patrick Hamilton and Dashiell Hammett had got hammered in some boozer in old Soho, Midnight Streets is the novel they'd have come up with. Dodging razor-wielding gangsters, ponces, streetwalkers and bent coppers, cockney private eye George Harley armed only with his wits and a pair of knuckledusters, navigates his way through a pitch-black noir cityscape. All of London (low) life is here. A cracking debut.
-Martyn Waites, author of the Joe Donovan crime series

A polished story set in a vibrant and colourful London between the wars. Full of twists, it gradually unveils a horrific set of crimes. The dogged George Harley will appeal to anyone who loves a private detective story.
-Mick Finlay, author of the Arrowood Mysteries series

A gripping mystery, steeped in the deliciously seedy side of the Golden Age crime.
-Lucy Barker, author of The Other Side of Mrs Wood

A clever mix of Silence of the Lambs and Dennis Wheatley, all set in the dark and dangerous world of Jazz Age Soho.
-Stuart Douglas, author of Death at the Dress Rehearsal and Death at the Playhouses

Absolutely terrific - incredibly gripping... brought the seamy streets and seamier denizens of 1920s London to brutal life.
-Ajay Chowdhury, author of The Waiter and The Cook

Set in London in 1929 - prime Golden Age territory - Midnight Streets is as dark as any noir classic. In this book, evil has its gloves, and its monocle, off, and we see the darkness we knew was there.
-S. J. Rozan, co-author of the Judge Dee and Lao She mysteries

An atmospheric thriller set in 1920s London, which reveals Lecomber's keen ear for the off-beat rhythms of the city. Midnight Streets burrows into the darker facets of the glittering Golden Age, with a cast of shadowy characters dragged from the back alleys. Immersive and mysterious, this debut will delight historical crime fans.
-Jo Furniss, author of Dead Mile

It's dark, it's gory, evoking an earlier time of the penny dreadfuls, that traded on the ability to shock, added to which is a real feel for the macabre and the grotesque... Midnight Streets is a magnificent period noir that is steeped in the atmosphere of London and a touch of the classic hardboiled.
-Peter Turns the Page blog

ISBN: 9781835418437

Dimensions: 198mm x 130mm x 55mm

Weight: unknown

256 pages