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    The Mangle Street Murders
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    The Mangle Street Murders
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    The Mangle Street Murders
    Audiobook7 hours

    The Mangle Street Murders

    Written by M.R.C. Kasasian

    Narrated by Emma Gregory

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Gower Street, London, 1882: Sidney Grice, London's most famous personal detective, is expecting a visitor. He drains his fifth pot of morning tea, and glances outside, where a young, plain woman picks her way between the piles of horse-dung towards his front door. Sidney Grice shudders. For heaven's sake - she is wearing brown shoes.
    Set between the refined buildings of Victorian Bloomsbury and the stinking streets of London's East End, The Mangle Street Murders is for those who like their crime original, atmospheric, and very, very funny.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherW. F. Howes Ltd
    Release dateMay 1, 2014
    ISBN9781471262722
    Author

    M.R.C. Kasasian

    M.R.C. Kasasian was raised in Lancashire. He has had careers as varied as factory hand, wine waiter, veterinary assistant, fairground worker and dentist. He lives with his wife in Suffolk in the summer and in a village in Malta in the winter. He is the author of two previous historical mystery series, published by Head of Zeus, including the bestselling Gower Street Detective series.

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    Reviews for The Mangle Street Murders

    3.5/5

    147 ratings20 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Fun and entertaining and a very clever book. Loved it!
    • 4/5
      Best described as a black comedy, the novel deals with a series of grisly murders and a seemingly unsolvable crime, but the most criminal thing about the story is the unrepentant and awful personality of Grice — a detective far more cutting than Sherlock and darkly comic because of it. The type of blunt and terrible temperament one cannot help but laugh at and cringe while doing so. I loved to loathe him, though loathe is too strong a word. The tale’s told through the viewpoint of his ward, March Middleton, and it is as much about her having to put up with Grice as her strength and determination that makes this book amusing. And like any good detective story, there’s a meandering puzzle that only the warped mind of Grice could easily work out. I’ll be reading more of these.
    • 3/5
      Meh? I didn't hate it; but I didn't really like it either.
    • 1/5
      This is what you get when an author believes himself to be clever: The characters are smug, erudite, arrogant, self-righteous, & sarcastic.The book was poorly written, the characters shallow, and the plot scattered. March goes to stay with her godfather Sidney Grice, who is a private detective. Where March is modern, Grice is upright, opinionated & stuffy.Together they work to solve a grisly murder & many years later during WW II march begins to write about their experiences.I will not be reading the other two I borrowed from the Library.
    • 4/5
      After her father dies in 1882, March Middleton moves to London to live with her new guardian, Sidney Grice, the country's most famous personal (not private) detective. Shortly after she arrives, Grice is approached by Mrs. Grace Dillinger who wants him to investigate the murder of her daughter, stabbed forty times. Mrs. Dillinger is certain that her son in law is innocent. Grice refuses once he realizes that she can't pay his fee but March is so touched by her pleas she offers to cover Sidney''s fee herself.

      I can assure you that you are not going to like Sidney Grice. He's rude, snobbish, arrogant, and completely lacks any social skills. March, on the other hand, is young, but she’s very smart and more than willing to buck the rules of the time. She secretly smokes and isn't against a glass or two of gin. She assisted her late father, a military doctor, in India, so she's seen some terrible things at a fairly young age. She's definitely more than capable of holding her own against Sidney's prejudices. They both have their secrets and, as this is the first book in a series, we are only going to get hints of them at this point.

      The two main characters are different from the normal detective duo's I've read in the past. The mystery itself was a bit convoluted, but was interesting and surprising once I got into it. The atmosphere of Victorian London is absolutely real and both fascinating and revolting at the same time. What a great debut novel and introduction to some characters I'm going to continue to follow.
    • 4/5
      Yes I get it he's smart and he knows stuff but he's also an unbearable supercilious ass, so much so that I really didn't understand at the end that the heroine stayed anywhere near him. And she was way too innocent for her back story. The story is set in 1882 and March Middleton comes to the door of Sidney Grice's house to stay there as his ward (now yes, she has to stay until she's of age but I then started the series that follows this and she's still in that house having stayed there). When she was a little younger she was with her father in India and there are suggestions that a love affair went horribly wrong (the temptation to capitalise the H and W there were great). She's smart but Sidney is smarter and he never explains himself or tells people why his conclusions are right, which puts March in danger more than once. The crime is twisty and messy and the outcome features some deus ex machina. I was left feeling unsatisfied and wanting more.
    • 1/5
      Thank goodness this was borrowed from the library. Although the female protagonist was interesting and somewhat sympathetic, I really couldn't like the 'personal detective' of the story. Sydney Grice was rude, cruel and about as unlikable as a character could possibly be. Will not be continuing the series. It's too bad because there are so few good historical mysteries.
    • 4/5
      March Middleton is an intriguing and very clever character. Set in London in 1882, March's father has died and famous private detective, Sidney Grice, is her new guardian. March is soon caught up in a case where a young woman is stabbed to death while her husband sleeps nearby. The woman's mother pleads her son-in-law's innocence, however he is found guilty thanks to Sidney's detective work, and hanged even though March believes his is innocent. Is there more to the case then meets they eye? From the finest houses to the lowest gutters, the reader is transported to a world where plots will need to be unraveled by an arrogant and mostly rude detective and a very smart young woman who seems to have a promising future in detective work. Harks back to the time of Sherlock Holmes and Jack-the-Ripper.
    • 3/5
      An humorous new who-done-it series featuring an arrogant, successful, private detective, Sidney Grice and his clever, new ward, March Middleton. Even though this is yet another series set in Victorian London, the author's wry wit and vivid writing set it apart from other similar offerings. I felt that the crime being solved is almost secondary to the relationship the author is establishing between the two partners of detection and at times the story suffered because of it, but I do look forward to further installments in the series.
    • 4/5
      I bought this at a library sale because the cover caught my eye; I had no expectations, as I'd never heard of it before but it had a vaguely Holmesian feel to it. I wasn't wrong; there are both subtle and blatant nods to Doyle and Holmes throughout the story, but... I don't know how to say this. The Mangle Street Murders reads like it was written by someone well-versed in the Holmes cannon but who resented the varnish put on the Victorian age and so set out to reimagine a Holmes worthy murder mystery in all its gory, gritty detail. If that's indeed what Kasasian set out to do, then boy howdy did he/she succeed. Sydney Grice, the famous personal detective is what Holmes might look like if he were actually a sociopath. Self admittedly greedy, vain, selfish and without a shred of courtesy or decency he's almost a comic figure, until the reader is forced to witness his delight in public executions and other examples of his inhumanity. The author tries half-heartedly to hint at some underlying decency, but frankly fails; they are too few and too brief to have any impact. Add to that the grisly, graphic details in just about every scene of the book and it's a wonder I kept reading past the first mortuary scene. There were times I honestly felt like the author was trying to punish the reader, beating them over the head with the reality of the 1880's. But I did keep reading; I really liked the MC, March Middleton. From the introduction it's clear she's Grice's historian, in much the same way Watson was for Holmes, only she is (sorry Watson, I love you) much smarter than Watson and a far more invested participant. Of course she has a hidden pain - a tragedy in her past - that is shared piecemeal in the form of old journal entries. These are done perfectly: just often enough that they tug at your soul and keep you on the edge of your seat dreading what must be the inevitable. The inevitable, however, must be part of a multi book story arc because we don't get to it here. The plotting was competent. Of course Grice is secretive so neither Marsh nor the reader are every privy to crucial details until very nearly the end when he waves his superiority around in a nauseating way, but Marsh gets hers back, making for a more even read. The ultimate criminal was a person I pegged very early in the book, but there were so many layers and complexities that really all I'd done was identify the tip of the iceberg. All said, the writing is excellent, the story and characters were compelling and I definitely won't read the second one. I'm not at all ashamed to admit that I don't want this level of factual realism in my books. I enjoyed the mystery but it was overshadowed by the author's need for verisimilitude; if you don't mind that level of grittiness, and you enjoy a good historical mystery, then this one is worth exploring. Otherwise stick with Holmes and Watson.
    • 4/5
      A self-obsessed, aloof, personal detective who occasionally wears an eye patch and lives in the heart of London at the end of the 19th century. A young woman with surgical experience and a determination to be treated the same as a man. A bloody murder with an obvious suspect who acts as if he's completely innocent. Where can you find all of these things in the same place? In The Mangle Street Murders by M.R.C. Kasasian. This is the first book in the Gower Street Detective series and it really sets the scene for the kind of rude, sarcastic sleuthing that would have amused Arthur Conan Doyle to no end. This book often parodies Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories (there's even mention of the author himself) as well as the mystery genre in general. Sidney Grice is not a nice man. I didn't find him to be a likeable character in the slightest. His motivation for solving crimes is made somewhat less honorable by his greediness and priggishness. His ward, March Middleton, is somewhat of a caricature of what it means to be a feminist from the 19th century. She is continuously frustrated with Grice's narcissism in regards to the central case of this novel. The prime suspect displays all the indications of innocence while Grice refuses to budge from his position that the suspect is guilty. If you can't handle descriptions of gore then you might find certain passages of The Mangle Street Murders quite difficult to read. However, if you think the idea of a fussy detective who treats everyone with as little consideration as he can get away with sounds like a good time then this is the book for you. I plan on continuing this series (at least through the second book) so I guess we'll find out together what kind of trouble Grice will find himself in next. For this one, I give it an 8/10.
    • 5/5
      Orphaned March Middleton makes her way to London, leaving her estate in Lancashire for the final time, to become the ward of Sidney Grice, the famous personal detective. Shortly after her arrival, a prospective client, Mrs Dillinger, entreats the detective to take on the case of William Ashby, who is accused of stabbing his wife – who is Mrs Dillinger's daughter – to death in their house. At the intervention of March, Sidney Grice takes on the case, but in the course of his investigations the suspect's guilt seems to be confirmed – except March believes him to be innocent, and surely it is a fact of life that women lack the intelligence to solve crimes?The first volume in the Gower Street Detective series of historical crime fiction novels is a very enjoyable and often wryly humorous foray into Victorian London, bringing the hustle and bustle of the capital to life, along with its sounds and (often unpleasant) smells. The mystery and the eventual resolution are cleverly executed and though I already knew the identity of the killer, having read the second volume in the series, The Curse of the House of Foskett, before the first, I could not conceive how the deadly deed(s) had been committed, until Sidney Grice reveals all near the end of the book. M.R.C. Kasasian writes with a twinkle in his eye and a nod to the classic Victorian crime novels of, for example, Arthur Conan Doyle, and the personal interplay between March Middleton and her guardian is just as well portrayed as the grisly details of the crimes and the gritty reality of life in the East End. Both Sidney Grice and March Middleton are keeping secrets close their chests, and it is the combination of crimes being solved and personal backgrounds being slowly revealed that makes the reading of this series so rewarding; the third volume, Death Descends on Saturn Villa, is already lined up on the shelf. The only minor point of criticism is that there are several inconsistencies in the plot in terms of dates that marred the enjoyment a little, hence not the full five stars.
    • 4/5
      This is the story of a Homes and Watson style detective examination of what appears to be an obvious murder.
      Grice is a private detective and one of the most unpleasant, egotistical characters you could expect to meet. His "Watson" is a young woman, March Middleton, who is strong and intelligent and eager to participate in the investigation despite him. Set in late Victorian London.
    • 4/5
      March Middleton, a young, sensible, smart woman, is sent to live with her guardian when she is orphaned. As it turns out, her guardian is the famous detective, Sidney Grice. As she arrives at her new home, a series of grisly murders have begun. Questions of guilt and innocence, love and loyalty, class and status, and masculinity and femininity, are explored within a clever mystery with lots of twists and turns.Kasasian is highly aware of the homage he is creating to another detective duo, Holmes and Watson, and he plays around with this very cleverly. There are even references to Grice needing a "Boswell", and March's visit to a certain famous doctor. Kasasian depicts Grice as a Holmes who never had a Watson. Grice seemingly lacks humanity and takes delight in other's misfortunes as they offer him chances to earn money by solving their crimes. But as March inches more and more into Grice's life, a tender side does start to emerge, which I felt was highly necessary to keep Grice from being a character impossible to like.Something tragic is hinted at in March's past, and by the end of the novel, there are still many mysteries surrounding what happened to her. I definitely want to read the next book in the series to find out the answers.
    • 5/5
      In this parody of the traditional whodunit, Sidney Grice is the premier "personal" investigator in London, so when his new, penniless ward, March Middleton arrives, she finds herself drawn into a case of a murdered woman with the primary suspect being the husband. Although a fun murder mystery, the true value in here is the tension between Grice, a misogynist and misanthrope, and Middleton as well as the atmospheric descriptions of Victorian London. I already have the second requested at my library.
    • 4/5
      This is the first in a new series (the Gower Street Detective) featuring personal detective Sidney Grice & his ward, 21 year old March Middleton. After the death of her father, an army doctor, March has little choice but to accept his offer to come stay with him in London.
      Her mother died young & March spent her childhood following her father in his travels, assisting with medical care on the battlefields. This unconventional upbringing has turned March into an intelligent, "modern" woman who is quietly rebellious with a penchant for sneaking cigarettes & sips of gin. She's all too aware of the glass ceiling for women in 19th century England but is initially overwhelmed by the hustle, smell & grinding poverty of Victorian London.
      And by Grice. Where to begin....odd, eccentric, socially inept, fastidious, clever, brutally blunt, condescending, vegetarian, addicted to tea....they all apply. He's also rather small with a deformed leg & a glass eye that tends to fall out when he's upset. He has become the preeminent detective in the city, famous for cases he's solved. (At some point, all readers will draw the inevitable comparisons to Holmes & the author doesn't shy away from this, adding a cheeky passage between March & Dr. Conan Doyle where he muses about writing a book using her guardian as inspiration for a clever, crime solving character.)
      As March tries to get her bearings, a woman comes to Grice pleading for his help. Her son-in-law has been arrested for the horrific murder of her daughter but she believes him innocent. She has no money....will he take the case? Absolutely not. Grice doesn't believe in pro bono work but March feels compassion & offers to pay. Game on.
      What follows is a story that unfolds on two fronts. First, a convoluted murder mystery that finds Grice & March traipsing through filthy back alleys & dealing with unfortunate souls & dead bodies as they hunt for clues. There are plenty of red herrings & the author does a good job of slowly doling out information that changes the trajectory of the case. Even though I figured out who the "bad guy" was early on, I had no idea of the scope of their crimes or motivation 'til all was revealed in the final few pages. They'd end up paying for their sins but in an unconventional way.
      Second, it's also the story of our two main protagonists as the ground work for their relationship is developed. March is no spineless, swooning woman, thank God. Her intelligence & progressive beliefs frequently ruffle the feathers of the conservative Grice, a man who is very comfortable with the status quo where women play a decidedly lesser role. Their continuous verbal sparring provides moments of comic relief as well as comments about women that while true to the period, will no doubt have some readers grinding their teeth.
      We are also given hints about March's past in passages form her diary & the mysterious letters she keeps hidden away. There was a fiance, a great love who has died & we know March feels grief & remorse but we never learn why. Perhaps in book #2?
      London is portrayed as a glittering city with a dark side. The ruthless class system keeps everyone in their proper place: the haves in their stately homes, the have nots in their dank, smelly rooming houses & abandoned buildings swimming in rats & sewage.
      There are colourful peripheral characters that flit in & out of the investigation, notably Inspector Pound from the police service. He doesn't exactly like Grice but is in awe of his abilities & gradually develops a grudging respect for March ("It is a pity you are so poor & plain. And a shame you have such intelligence & spirit, Miss Middleton. You might otherwise make a man an acceptable spouse"). High praise indeed. Their encounters hint at a possible future romance if he can let go of some of his stuffy notions.
      All in all, an entertaining & atmospheric Victorian detective story. The murder investigations will keep you turning the pages but it's the characters who will have you waiting impatiently for the next book.
    • 3/5
      If you enjoy Sherlock Holmes stories this is the book for you. A classic 19th century murder mystery with some tongue in cheek humor. I'd expect to see more of March Middleton and Mr. Sidney Grice in the future.
    • 4/5
      I'm loving this delightful parody of the Victorian murder mystery.The author clearly finds the while genre ridiculous (as do I, though perhaps to a lesser extent), and sets out to expose the nonsense. This is done with wry - and readable - verve.Great stuff!
    • 4/5
      Absolutely enjoyed this Victorian who done it starring the irascible SIDNEY Grice and his young ward, March Middleton. A successful personal detective Sidney has few redeeming qualities. He is rude, lacks compassion and is sure he is always right. What makes this novel so different is the wonderfully witty dialogue between he and March and the fact that March more than holds her own.Fun, different, interesting cases, I look forward to the next outing of this mismatched but amusing duo.
    • 5/5
      Brilliant Debut Novel Welcome to a new Victorian detective duo in the famous London detective Sidney Grice ably assisted by his ward March Middleton. This is a wonderful debut historical crime novel written by M.R.C. Kasasian who has good eye for correct historical detail an easy reading style with a use of language that gives off perfect imagery of the scenes that they confront. This is a cleverly written crime novel with all the twists and turns you come to expect set at a pace which makes reading this book a complete pleasure. This looks like it is going to be the first in a series of “The Gower Street Detective” and I look forward to the next instalment.Sidney Grice is famous throughout England as the best personal detective that there is, who is a rabid tea drinker, without milk, very fussy extremely abrupt and the biggest crime of all a vegetarian! He has a great success rate works only for the money, has an encyclopaedic knowledge of crimes that have been committed and solved, interested in forensics and an inveterate inventor.Sidney Grice and March Middleton try to find the killer of Sarah Ashby and when her husband is convicted and hung for the crime, March thinks him innocent, whereas Sidney believes the right man has been put to death. From this start we delve in to the seedier side of London life back and forth to the East End and the docks. Grice wants to prove to March that the Ashby was guilty of a crime and at the same time uncovers more dead bodies, the red herrings and the eventually the killer.This is a wonderfully easy and enjoyable book to read for lovers of crime and historical crime fiction. Please welcome Sidney Grice!