Midnight Streets

Agatha Christie would have us believe that inter-War murder was cosy, taking place in a picturesque village or on a mode of transport whilst taking in the sites of the Grand Tour. Whilst Marple was eating muffins and Poirot was drinking Prosecco, most of us would have been thrown into the daily grind. An era of widespread poverty, of men never returning from the war, of the growing threat of extreme politics. On the rough streets of Shoreditch, it was not tea parties and jazz recitals, in the case of Phil Lecomber’s Midnight Streets it is a duo of hideous murders the likes London has not seen since Jack the Ripper. 

George Harley survived the war when many of his friends did not. His speciality was to sneak into enemy trenches first in charge of a team of scouts. This work left a heavy burden on Harley, but also a set of skills. Firstly, used in a job for the government but now on his old stomping grounds in London as a Private Investigator. With respect from the streets and the authorities, Harley is in a unique position to aid the police after a body is found. Someone is murdering children and Harley may be the only person who has access to the dark underbelly of London needed to solve the case. 

Midnight is certainly no cosy crime drama. In many ways it is the opposite, playing out like a Penny Dreadful to shock the reader. However, this would be to belittle Lecomber’s work that has a depth and intelligence to it. Harley is the type of working-class hero I knew growing up. No real formal education to speak of, but a curiosity and intelligence on par with anyone else. 

Harley sits in a privileged position having been left a home and resource Library by his uncle. He can pursue a profession as PI, with some stability behind him. He has a partner who plays in an orchestra. He straddled the middle classes but also knows many characters from his youth. Lecomber paints an intriguing picture of the London underworld that Harley needs to navigate to do his work. A balance of honour among thieves and having something to blackmail them on should it all go south. 

Harley’s life alone is interesting but sat on top of this is an awful murder that needs solving. It is gruesome and cruel, suggesting that the perpetrator is mad. Harley uncovers conspiracies and coverups in a case that twists and turns. The PI relies on his smarts as much as his muscles to push the investigation on. The details of the case will not be for the faint of heart, so consider this a content warning. 

Harley is often described as a Sherlock in the book, a slang term for investigator, and the book does have Sherlock’s DNA. Set in the 20s, it is in living memory of Jack the Ripper and the streets that the fictional Holmes would have walked. Harley may have his rough edges, but he is certainly an intellectual using his vast resource library to research the case. With so many aspects to the story and the character, the book is quite long. Lecomber seems reluctant to sacrifice any element for pace. I enjoyed the move from action into slower research, but some of the deep dives felt excessive. 

Midnight is a classy crime noir novel that takes its time to introduce the characters and the world. It goes into detail on many things and this includes the crimes, making it one of the darker books that I have read recently. The crimes so gruesome that they head towards the horror category. The pace of the book ebbs and flows, and I enjoyed the journey. There are many twists and turns to entertain fans of the crime genre and a character you can get behind. Any follow ups promise to be even more gripping as events conspire to push Harley to the edge.