Person
of Interest? Sherlock? NCSI? Today, everyone’s got their favorite
criminal mystery show, but did you know that crime investigation has
its roots planted deeply back in the late eighteenth century in
England? The Bow Street Runners were the first organized detective
force of the era. But even they couldn’t solve some mysteries . . .
An
Unusual Tale
Elizabeth
Canning was a maidservant who disappeared for four weeks in 1753. Her
story of what happened ultimately divided the nation.
She
claims she was abducted—not by aliens, but thugs—and taken to a
brothel in Enfield, a town just outside London. She refused to be
forced into prostitution, so they locked her in an attic, where they
stole her corset and fed her stale bread. Somehow, she managed to
escape out a window.
When
she told her employer what’d happened, he led a mob to the
establishment, a brothel run by Mother Wells. Henry Fielding—the
creator of the Bow Street Runners—acquired convictions for Mother
Wells and her gypsy accomplice, Mary Squires. Wells was branded and
Squires was sentenced to hang for the corset theft . . . but Squires
had reliable alibis that put her in a different part of England
during those four weeks. The Lord Mayor of London intervened, and
Squire’s conviction was overturned. This angered the public,
because hey, they were missing out on a hanging, which was great
entertainment back then.
So,
what really happened? Who knows? Speculation says that Canning was
likely trying to hide a pregnancy and may have run away to get an
abortion or maybe even birth an illegitimate child. Wells ended up
getting convicted of perjury and was sentenced to seven years in
America. She never came back.
An
Unusual Corpse
Recently
London archeologists excavated the graveyard of St. Pancras Old
Church in preparation for yet another rail terminal. Why were
archeologists called in instead of hard-hat wearing construction
workers? Because this site had been used for mass graves during the
first part of the nineteenth century. Care needed to be used instead
of backhoes. As expected, they found lots of coffins, but one in
particular grabbed everyone’s attention.
It
contained the remains of eight people—and a thirteen-foot walrus.
No
one knows how it got there, where it came from, or even why. In the
early 1800’s, a walrus would’ve been considered a sea monster,
and there were precious few of those roaming the London streets.
Okay, none, but obviously there was one, because they found the bones
to prove it.
An
Unusual Code
On
the grounds of an English country manor, there is a beautifully
carved monument. No big deal, right? Wrong, Watson. Not even Sherlock
could solve this one.
The
inscription on Shepherd’s Monument at Shugborough Hall is a cryptic
sequence of letters that has contemporaries and historians scratching
their heads. It reads:
DOUOSVAVVM
Those
ten letters are known as one of the world’s top uncracked
ciphertexts. From Charles Dickens to Charles Darwin, no one who’s
put his mind to it has been able to figure out what the message
means. Some speculate it might’ve been left by the Knights Templar
as a clue to the whereabouts of the Holy Grail . . . yet no one
really knows.
These
mysteries remain unsolved, but if you’d like to read an intriguing
tale that ties up all the loose threads by the end, pick up a copy of
my latest release, 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.
Available
in paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats at Amazon,
Barnes
and Noble,
and other fine booksellers.
Michelle
Griep’s been writing since she first discovered blank wall space
and Crayolas. She
seeks to glorify God in all that she writes—except for that
graffiti phase she went through as a teenager.
She
resides in the frozen tundra of Minnesota, where she teaches history
and writing classes for a local high school co-op. An Anglophile at
heart, she runs away to England every chance she gets, under the
guise of research. Really, though, she’s eating excessive amounts
of scones.
Follow
her adventures at her
blog WRITER
OFF THE LEASH
or visit michellegriep.com,
and don’t forget the usual haunts of Pinterest,
Facebook
or Twitter.
Let's get talking:
Do you love English mysteries?
Are you excited to see a Sherlock Holmes meets Dickens book like this one?
Do you have a guess at cracking that code above?
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