Member Review
Review by
Anne O, Reviewer
I don’t often choose true crime but what I do read has a tough act to follow – the original and perhaps best of the genre in Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. I fancied this as a chance to get a glimpse into life in Dublin in the 1850s and it really delivers. It has elements of a locked room mystery and provides an insight into the capabilities (and shortcomings) of the establishment in a period of huge change. The railways were big business at the time, and where there’s money, trouble isn’t too far behind.
The Dublin Railway Murder is a work of proper scholarship by Thomas Morris using primary sources but it’s also a ripsnorter of a story told in a straightforward, readable way. I loved his description of the railway timetable as ruling the terminus with the ‘arbitrary whim of a tyrant, dictating the actions of its subjects while regularly confounding their plans’. I was daunted by the long list of dramatis personae at the beginning but I needn’t have worried – once you start reading, it’s easy to keep track of who’s who in a rich and varied cast.
And who doesn’t like a juicy court case? If you want to read a whodunnit with plenty of twists and turns, this is for you. And the sooner the better – the murder took place on 13 November 1856 so it’s easy to imagine the scene on these damp and murky evenings. Lock your doors!
The Dublin Railway Murder is a work of proper scholarship by Thomas Morris using primary sources but it’s also a ripsnorter of a story told in a straightforward, readable way. I loved his description of the railway timetable as ruling the terminus with the ‘arbitrary whim of a tyrant, dictating the actions of its subjects while regularly confounding their plans’. I was daunted by the long list of dramatis personae at the beginning but I needn’t have worried – once you start reading, it’s easy to keep track of who’s who in a rich and varied cast.
And who doesn’t like a juicy court case? If you want to read a whodunnit with plenty of twists and turns, this is for you. And the sooner the better – the murder took place on 13 November 1856 so it’s easy to imagine the scene on these damp and murky evenings. Lock your doors!
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