Person or Persons Unknown (Sir John Fielding)

The place: London; the time: 1770, when the wealthy denizens of the city walked through London's streets with scented handkerchiefs over their noses to disguise the stench of the poor. As if filthy streets, impoverished beggars, pickpockets, thieves, and prostitutes everywhere weren't enough of an eyesore, the mutilated bodies of young women start turning up around Covent Garden.To Sir John Fielding, a blind magistrate, the crimes are an abomination; he sets out to trap the killer with the help of his assistant, young Jeremy Proctor.

In addition to a fine mystery, author Bruce Alexander offers up a fascinating guided tour of 18th-century London, from the precincts of the Bow Street Runners to the shadowy haunts of criminals. In the characters of Sir John and Jeremy, we are gifted with the voices of experience and innocence--a potent combination in so murky a venue.