London, 1878. One April morning, a small boat bearing a young woman’s corpse floats down the murky waters of the Thames. When the victim is identified as Rose Albert, daughter of a prominent judge, the Scotland Yard director gives the case to Michael Corravan, one of the only Senior Inspectors remaining after a corruption scandal the previous autumn left the division in ruins. Reluctantly, Corravan abandons his ongoing case, a search for the missing wife of a shipping magnate, handing it over to his young colleague, Mr. Stiles.
An Irish former bare-knuckles boxer and dockworker from London’s seedy East End, Corravan has good street sense and an inspector’s knack for digging up clues. But he’s confounded when, a week later, a second woman is found dead in a rowboat, and then a third. The dead women seem to have no connection whatsoever. Meanwhile, Mr. Stiles makes an alarming discovery: the shipping magnate’s missing wife, Mrs. Beckford, may not have fled her house because she was insane, as her husband claims, and Mr. Beckford may not be the successful man of business that he appears to be.
Slowly, it becomes clear that the river murders and the case of Mrs. Beckford may be linked through some terrible act of injustice in the past — for which someone has vowed a brutal vengeance. Now, with the newspapers once again trumpeting the Yard’s failures, Corravan must dredge up the truth — before London devolves into a state of panic and before the killer claims another innocent victim.
Normally I save I'll Sleep When I've Read... posts for those I fly through in a weekend sitting or two (including the hours of missed sleep). I started Karen Odden's Down a Dark River on Wednesday morning thinking that it would be my Book Beginnings & Friday 56 post for the week. Luckily I had another book that I could throw something together for because this just needed more than usual two blips. Even the handful that I usually cram into an ISWIR graphic really doesn't feel like it's going to give the book the justice it deserves. Several pages of my notebook can attest to that ... and 336 pages according to Amazon for the hardcover ... and the fact that I had to stop pulling quotes for the graphic because at 42% it was full. It's just a teaser post anyway so 42% is a good place to stop pulling, right? Still, even if I went all the way to the end for it, one square full of random blips wouldn't give it justice
Justice. It's a big deal in the book -- a Victorian mystery featuring Scotland Yard Inspector Michael Corravan. He's seeking justice for the victims of the present, trying to prevent victims needing justice in the future, and trying to correct injustices done in the past. It's a big undertaking, especially when the Yard itself is trying to recover from a bribery scandal. Few seem to trust them as a whole in spite of the fact that only three were found guilty.
I'm not going to bother going in to great detail about the plot since you can get the general description from, well, the description. I will tell you, though, that if you have any interest at all in historical mysteries you need to read this book. Corravan may easily become one of my favorite characters, and Odden one of my favorite historical authors, if the second book in the series (which is currently sitting on my NetGalley shelf calling to me like a Siren) is even half as excellent as this one.
I knew from reading the Acknowledgements at the very beginning that Odden had put a great deal of time and research into the writing and it certainly shows. The descriptions and the language really pulled one out of the present and dropped them right into 1878 London. The sights and the smells and even the thickness of the air before a pending storm -- she nails it all ... or so I would assume, you know, never having the actual opportunity to travel back in time to cross the pond.
Long story short, read this book ... and expect to not be able to sleep until you've made it through at least one more chapter once you've picked it up. I lucked out with a couple of quietish nights at work that allowed me to read more than usual. Even then, though, I could not bring myself to stop reading once I got home in the morning until my eyes literally gave up. And then came the task narrowing down what to use for the ISWIR graphic. Even with only using the first 42%, that was a task even the Yard wouldn't want to be faced with.
If you want to share whatever has kept you up past your bedtime because you just needed one more chapter ... or the entire book ... please comment! My TBR pile is already toppling, but I can always add more.
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