The Maul and the Pear Tree

Notes

The Maul and the Pear Tree by P.D. James was her only foray into true crime. She wrote it with the civil servant and police historian T.A. Critchley.

It is a grimly compelling examination of slaughter in Regency London. In December 1811, seven people were murdered in the East End of London, near the Ratcliffe Highway. Until Jack the Ripper appeared eighty years later, this was the most infamous murder case in London.

James and Critchley allow the story to unfold without sensationalism or exaggeration and suggest who the real culprit was. They also show how poor policing was at the time. The Metropolitan police force wasn’t established for another eighteen years later.

Publisher’s Synopsis

In 1811 John Williams was buried with a stake in his heart. Was he the notorious East End killer or his eighth victim in the bizarre and shocking Ratcliffe Highway Murders?

In this vivid and gripping reconstruction, P. D. James and police historian T. A. Critchley draw on forensics, public records, newspaper clippings and hitherto unpublished sources, expertly sifting the evidence to shed new light on this infamous Wapping mystery.

P. D. James, the bestselling author of Death Comes to Pemberley and Children of Men, here explores the mysterious and intense emotions responsible for the unique crime of murder, with authority and sensitivity. Her only work of true crime, this novel uses forensics, unpublished sources and forgotten documents to create a vivid image of early-nineteenth-century London and a gripping reconstruction of the Ratcliffe Highway Murders.

Read a full review of The Maul and the Pear Tree by P.D. James and T.A. Critchley at Danny Yee’s Book Reviews.