Dickens Meets Sherlock Holmes
What do you get
when you mix a shade of the darker side of Regency London with a quick-witted
lawman? Nicholas Brentwood—a hero who’s a little rough around the edges,
colorful as a Dickens character, and observant enough to be a forerunner of
Sherlock. But he’s not just any lawman.
He’s a Bow
Street Runner.
Traditionally,
male householders in London were expected to police the streets in their
neighborhood, and every citizen was to report anyone they witnessed committing
a crime. This changed in the eighteenth century because of increasing concerns
about the threat of dangerous criminals who were attracted by the growing
wealth of London’s middle class.
Prompted by a
post-war crime wave in 1749, Magistrate Henry Fielding hired a small group of
men to locate and arrest serious offenders. He operated out of No. 4 Bow
Street, hence the name “Bow Street Runners.”
Fielding
petitioned the government and received funding, but even so, he soon ran out of
money to pay these men a worthy salary. Still, the runners were committed to
justice, so they took on odd jobs such as watchmen or detectives for hire or
even—as in the case of Nicholas Brentwood—guarding people or treasures.
What attracted
my interest as an author was an old newspaper advertisement put out by
Fielding. It encouraged the public to send a note to Bow Street as soon as any
serious crime occurred so that “a set of
brave fellows could immediately be dispatched in pursuit of the villains.” I
wondered about those “brave fellows” and what kind of villains they might come
up against, and thus was born Nicholas Brentwood.
Despite Bow
Street’s efforts, most Londoners were opposed to the development of an
organized police force. The English tradition of local government was ingrained
deep, and they feared the loss of individual liberty. So, as gallant as the
Runners were in tracking down criminals, the general public did not always view
them in a positive light. Even the nickname given them by the public—Bow Street
Runners—was considered derogatory and was a title the officers never used to
refer to themselves.
Bow Street
eventually gave way to the Metropolitan Police, and by 1839, the Runners were
completely disbanded. But that doesn’t mean they don’t live on in the fictional
realm. See if you can match wits with an experienced lawman as he tracks down a
dangerous criminal in BRENTWOOD’S WARD.
There’s none better than NICHOLAS
BRENTWOOD at catching the felons who ravage London’s streets, and there’s
nothing he loves more than seeing justice carried out—but this time he’s met
his match. Beautiful and beguiling EMILY PAYNE is more treacherous than a city
full of miscreants and thugs, for she’s a thief of the highest order…she’s
stolen his heart.
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