So many elements I researched to make The Dark Malevolence a real treat, although a scary one!
It took months of research to learn about the habits, the idiosyncrasies, the locations well-described, and the jargon of Dickensian London. Here are just some of the unique elements you’ll find in THE DARK MALEVOLENCE. It is a highly touted mystery with four simultaneous mysteries going on.
1. The Smithfield stockyards which was directly adjacent to downtown London. Filled with all sorts of animals and wild, out of control humans. Wait until you read about it. A new major character emerges from there.
2. Porters who ran messages from one person to another address and person. Most of these were small, fast, ragtag boys.
3. London Bridge as it really was. There’s a battle that takes place there.
4. Jacob’s Island, which really is not an island, but one of the major slum areas of London filled with sordid individuals and criminals. The entire shopping scene where our heroes are followed by a murderer is based entirely on actual descriptions of the locale.
5. Omnibuses. London streets, unlike in most movies set In old London, were incredibly crowded with carts, carriages, crowds of people walking, and omnibuses. It was usually mayhem most days, save Sundays.
6. Somnambulism – the human condition of some who fall asleep at the drop of a hat.
7. Diddiko – a fortune teller with a lot to share.
8. Resurrectionists – actually grave robbers. This was a major pastime for nefarious persons who robbed bodies to sell to universities and artists.
9. Chancery Lane – where the white-wigged lawyers lived and worked.
10. Baby-selling. – poor families would sell their babies and young children to certain women who promised to give the children to deserving middle-class families wanting a child. The often did more horrid things too.
11. Dr. John Snow – who would one day solve the epidemic crisis in London.
12. Pudlehund – the original German poodle.
13. Ludgate Circus which was never a circus, but a round of streets connected. Considerable action takes place there.
14. Bobbies – the London new city police established by Prime Minister Robert Peel. They were also called Peelers and Metropolitans. Along with Scrooge, Cratchit, and Lockie, the bobbies will have their hands full.
15. Rats were a major bane in the city.
16. I found out why women in London wore bonnets on the street. You’ll be surprised.
17. What were the pubs like. Lots of action in one.
FURTHER, I included a glossary of old Victorian jargon used at the time that I also used in the book. They had a lot of slang terms.
The Dark Malevolence is a fast, action-packed “who dunnit” with lots of criminals and a myriad of twists and turns. Can you solve all four mysteries before Scrooge, Cratchit, and Lockie do? Will they solve them in time to save London from Civil War in the streets?
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