Interesting premise and topic, but reads more like a textbook. While I was looking forward to this book and learning about historical murders and unsolved cases, this was a difficult read. Lacking emotion or passion for the subject it makes a very dry read.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you NetGalley, Jonathan Oates and Wharncliffe Books for hearing my honest review. Looking forward to reading more with you
#partner

I enjoyed this book very much.

The author has thoughly researched the cases mentioned within the book and give a interesting insight into just how difficult it was for the Police in the '20's and '30's to solve murders without the scientific advantages of today. The chapters are short and easy to dip in and out of easily.

Recommended to true crime readers

This was well written, I did find my mind wandered a few times and I had to force myself back to reading it. I did finish it though. And would say it’s a read for true crime people to try

This book is exactly as described.

The author takes you through 20 unsolved murders in London, talking you through what happened, who the victim was, and the suspects. Then they explain what the police did to try and catch the killer, and what made the cases unsolvable.

I enjoyed this book, learning about what happened back then and how some of the murders shaped London as we know it.

I found this book really interesting, especially for those who like to read about true crime. It was of course devastating but also showed a side of London that I hadn't really explored till I picked this up. Highly recommended!

This was well researched and a good, easy read. As you know, I am huge fan of true crime, which is why this appealed to me. Ste asked if I was frustrated by the fact that each murder was left unsolved, but that didn't bother me.

Most of the murders had almost certainly been solved, but lack of evidence meant the police were unable to prosecute people. I think knowing how we have much more powerful tools at our disposal now - for instance DNA testing - shows how very important these developments are when reading something like this.

I found this an easy read and I think other true crime fans will enjoy it too.

Interesting accounts of little known murders. Dr. Oates includes only truly unsolved crimes and gives a brief overview of the details of each. This is a quick read and I will recommend it to my true crime loving friends.

Princess Fuzzypants here: In spite of the serious content, I always find these books entertaining and easy to read. There are lots of places where the reader could dip in or out and not lose the plot since they are individual cases that remain unsolved to this day. That is not to say the authorities did not know who committed the crime. Often they had a very good idea of the villain. What they lacked was sufficient concrete evidence that would hold up in court. It must have been so frustrating to work on one of those crimes.

A number of the stories involved prostitutes who sadly have often been easy fodder for those who would harm them. But there is the story of a young schoolgirl and an elderly landlady and so many in between. Some like the murder on the railway read like a closed door mystery. Others are caused by people in the process of committing a crime where the victims have been both innocent and not. An interesting tidbit is where in London most of these crimes were committed. Rather than the rough and tough East End, it is the west-end of London including The West End and Kensington.

Always fascinating, this book, like similar ones, give the reader an insight into what life must have been like for these poor souls in the early part of the last century. Four purrs and two paws up.

This was a good book. As a true crime fan, I really enjoyed reading about unsolved murders. The book was researched really well, and I learned about some new cold cases. Definitely would recommend for any true crime buff.

An interesting read about unsolved murders between the worlds. I liked how well researched this book is and the style of writing.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Not all murders are solved, especially those that occurred in the days before advanced forensic science techniques. In this book, the author has written about some of those unsolved cases from the 1920s & 1930s in London.

True crime is a perennial favourite and infinitely fascinating for many readers - myself included. I found this to be a very interesting read, and not at all dry as some other reviewers have commented. The cases were written succinctly with all available evidence covered and possible perpetrators identified, if possible. The author includes plenty of detail on the victims' lives but it is not sensationalist. Some people may find that the lack of resolution is frustrating, but I didn't find that a problem. In fact I finished reading it in under 2 days. Definitely recommended for anyone who likes true crime.

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers, Pen and Sword True Crime, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

An interesting collection of the unsolved murders or questionable deaths in London in the years between the wars. Sadly these murders will not be solved but it was interesting to read about the police procedures at the time.

While this is a really interesting subject, and the author is clearly enthusiastic about it, it just didn't quite work for me. The writing itself needs a bit of polishing and the cases could have been laid out in a much more accessible way. It also has the feel of being a "taster" for a longer, more detailed book.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advance copy to review. This review is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

I really wanted to like this book before I read a word. I love the topic and I wanted to explore London crime further. I was able to read this via NetGalley. Before I go further with my review I want to say that I struggled with giving this two or three stars. Overall, I went with three. The information is there. Obviously this author has encyclopedic knowledge of London crime that spans many years. The problem was how this information is presented. It came across as extremely dry, like reading dusty, old police files. I had to take breaks reading this. Now I am a historian so I am used to a more scholastic and less narrative type of reading but I do not know if this will grab your average crime lover. This is the hardest part of writing crime. How does one make an interesting narrative and not water down the facts? Some authors go the opposite direction and give a lot less facts and lots of speculation. That balance can be hard to maintain. The facts are all here, there is no doubt about that, this is how it happened. It was frustrating, and this is not a criticism of the author, but I had to remind myself of the title. Getting toward the end of a case I am like, ok, who is guilty? And then, oh yeah, Unsolved. The topic in and of itself is frustrating. My other criticism is the photos included. We all love the visuals. I always go to a map and look up the places and follow the story just to get that visual. If the victim got killed on a specific street he just included a picture of that street. It left me wondering, is this the picture of the actual house or just any house somewhere on the street? It would have been better to have pictures of the actual murder scene, when possible. The other photo issue I have is placing a photo just for the sake of having a photo. he would mention an obscure suspect, maybe a sentence at most is given to this person and yet there is a picture of the street he lived on. That just felt like filler to me.
Overall the author delivers on the raw facts. They are all there. The questions are all asked, but for me, would have liked a bit of narrative as opposed to a dry reading.

I received this book as an ARC in exchange for a review. Thanks to Netgalley and Pen and Sword.

I wanted to read the book as I enjoy reading Vintage True Crime books and this was an interesting read. It is difficult to get all the information due to the times that the crimes were committed but the Author has done his best and the book makes for an interesting read. He has done a lot of research into each case and it shows in his writing.

I wouldn't read it again but I did enjoy it.

Enjoyable reading about 20 unsolved cases from long ago. The author includes reference to the source files used to gather the information contained in the book. The narrative flows well and is well written.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book to read and review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

"All great cities are magnets for crooks, gamblers, dope pedlars, prostitutes, pimps and perverts and general riff raff." - Chief Superintendent Thorp


What It's About: This true crime book is a collection of twenty haunting and shocking unsolved cases that happened in London from the 1920s and 1930s:- railway murder, fatal shooting of a police officer, IRA killings, serial killer in Soho and so forth.

My thoughts: Unsolved cases are like an itch in the brain and you can't scratch it. But I enjoy reading about them to find out what went wrong with these cases and how they ended up being cold cases. So, naturally this book caught my attention especially when they are cases from the 1920s and 1930s.

I enjoy reading old cases because they give us a glimpse of the society's way of life back then and how the investigations were conducted despite the limited technology and knowledge in forensics we have today.

I appreciate that the author indicated his sources for these cases in the introduction page. Why is this important? Well, I personally think it will affect your expectations when reading this book. Ok, these are really old cases and the sources is pretty limited to case files, newspaper reports, memoirs of serving officers, and so forth. So, this book is written like case file, "stick to the facts" style of writing without any sensationalism which may be dry and dull for some readers.

Overall, this is a pretty good read and the cases are interesting. It is not a book to be read in one sitting since there are a lot of information and can be overwhelming. I think the author did a great job in sharing these cases.


***Thank you Pen & Sword True Crime and NetGalley for this gifted review copy in exchange for an honest review.***

I thought the cases that were discussed were very interesting, there were police shootings IRA killings, and Jane-does. I do think Jonathan Oates did research these cases thoroughly but the book was hard to read. The writing felt dry and the facts are thrown in after each other with no specific order to them. This book is definitely for the fanatics, and not for the casual reader.
And unfortunately, because these cases are unsolved, you are kept hanging at the end of the stories.

3.5* The author outlines the facts of 20 unsolved murders in London between 1920 and 1940. I liked that these facts were often given in the voice of those involved (police, doctors, witnesses, etc) through reports and statements. One thing I found very interesting was how often people wrote in to the police (sometimes anonymously; sometimes falsely). It was more often than I realized. I also really enjoyed when the author made connections to Agatha Christie or used quotations from her books. Christie wrote many books in the 20's & 30's and juxtaposing her fictional murders with actual ones was interesting.

Interesting book which is heavy on the facts of each case. However, the author, in most cases, does little to set to set the scene or try to evoke a real sense of time and place. For me this means that I won't be tempted to read any of the author's other works (which are liberally referred to throughout the book). A rather dry read.