BLIND JUSTICE
by Bruce Alexander
Whenever I think of Regency novels I'm always imagining some Romance fiction with a paper back cover with lacy-clothed heroine and a bare-chested sailor or soldier on it. So I guess its good that I didn't realize the period until I was well into the book.
We were struck by the picture of a major city like London just before the time of this novel where there was no police force and wealthy people hired strong and violent men to protect them. If you had no money, you had not protection. Their were judges who would hear cases brought to them and in recent days prior to the story's beginning, 'Thief-taking' had become a paying occupation as the city struggled with a way to combat the rampant crime. It had the reverse affect as thief-takers often manufactured crime, victim, and hapless, usually innocent, criminal.
Several of the characters in the book, including the blind Sir John Fielding who establishes 'The Bow Street Runners', the first real attempt at a less corrupt police presence, were real historical figures and the author is willing to mix them right into the thick of things. Our narrator is a young orphan named Jeremy Proctor who is brought before the judge and is fortunate to find himself attached to the judge. Jeremy will play a role through the 11 books of the series and is a wonderful concuit for discovering the city of London in the early eighteen hundreds.
Several of us just couldn't get enough of Sir John Fielding and were rushing out to buy the other books in the series. Unfortunately, there were not many still in print though it was reported at our meeting that there is a possibility of re-releasing these wonderful books that follow the growth of young Jeremy.
If you like historical fiction you're bound to like this one. We all said we'd recommend it to friends though a couple of us weren't sure what all the fuss was about.
4 STARS - might have gotten a bit less then it deserved for being too easy to read.
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