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    The Yard
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    The Yard
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    The Yard
    Audiobook14 hours

    The Yard

    Written by Alex Grecian

    Narrated by Toby Leonard Moore

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Victorian London is a cesspool of crime, and Scotland Yard has only twelve detectives -- known as "The Murder Squad" -- to investigate thousands of murders every month. Created after the Metropolitan Police's spectacular failure to capture Jack the Ripper, The Murder Squad suffers rampant public contempt. They have failed their citizens. But no one can anticipate the brutal murder of one of their own . . . one of the twelve . . .

    When Walter Day, the squad's newest hire, is assigned the case of the murdered detective, he finds a strange ally in the Yard's first forensic pathologist, Dr. Bernard Kingsley. Together they track the killer, who clearly is not finished with The Murder Squad . . . but why?

    Filled with fascinating period detail, and real historical figures, this spectacular debut in a new series showcases the depravity of late Victorian London, the advent of criminology, and introduces a stunning new cast of characters sure to appeal to fans of The Sherlockian and The Alienist.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMay 29, 2012
    ISBN9781101564660
    Unavailable
    The Yard
    Author

    Alex Grecian

    ALEX GRECIAN is the national bestselling author of Red Rabbit, The Yard, The Black Country, The Devil’s Workshop, The Harvest Man, Lost and Gone Forever, and The Saint of Wolves and Butchers, as well as the critically acclaimed graphic novels Proof and Rasputin, and the novellas The Blue Girl and One Eye Open. He lives in the Midwest with his wife, his son, their dog, and a tarantula named Rosie.

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    Reviews for The Yard

    4/5

    438 ratings68 reviews

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    • 3/5
      After reading some of the reviews on this book I was a little worried that I might not enjoy it but I was pleasantly surprised. It was very well written and I think captures the essence of the late 1800's London. It really makes me glad that I didn't live back then. All the people dying of consumption, people thrown into workhouses, parents dying and kids turning into street urchins and being snatched to do dangerous jobs. It's a good read, fast paced and enjoyable. I would recommend it.
    • 4/5
      Grecian has written a quick, page-turning read (yes, even at 583 pages, it is a rather fast read). Of course, I love the whole Victorian England time period – a wonderful setting for such murderous activities! – and I thoroughly enjoyed following the newly minted Murder Squad of Scotland Yard while they race to try and solve the brutal murder of one of their own, while facing public scorn and ridicule for being unable to catch Jack (the Ripper) the previous year. Grecian has depicted his characters beautifully, from the intelligent if somewhat naïve Inspector Day (fresh to London from Devon, with a delightful young wife Claire in tow), perpetually inquisitive Dr. Kingsley (self-appointed forensic pathologist for Scotland Yard and father to the wonderful Fiona) to the willing and able-bodied young Constable Nevil Hammersmith. While some stories work best if told strictly from one point of view, Grecian opens the story up to the reader, making them privy, rather early on, to the identity and through processes of the perpetrator, while also providing some back story “interludes” for some of the main characters. Even with this “bird’s eye” view of events and thought processes, Grecian still manages to pull a few surprises, and managed to keep me wondering what was going to happen next. Overall, a wonderfully atmospheric first book in Grecian's Murder Squad series - aptly quoted by one reviewer as “CSI: Victorian England” - that would probably best appeal to historical murder mystery fans that are more interested in the science and the setting than the whodunit bit.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. I would put it in the realm of books like The Alienist by Caleb Carr and other investigative types of novels. It's a good murder mystery and I'm looking forward to reading the next of the series (I need to catch up because it seems that books keep being released!).
    • 4/5
      Loved this book. Started reading it on kindle then realized I had previously read a hard copy. Continued to read it for the second time and enjoyed it all over again. Likeable characters; not a fast paced read. Interesting how crimes were solved before fingerprints etc.
    • 4/5
      The Yard is Alex Grecian's debut novel. Unlike many Victorian Scotland Yard crime stories, this one is neither a thriller nor a mystery; however, it has elements of suspense and the author knows how to hold the readers' attention and interest from beginning to end.

      The Yard is a historical crime fiction with vivid scenes, interesting characters and an atmosphere that reaches the senses and places readers' firmly in grimy 1889 East London where electricity and water closets were in their infancy. Women still wore their laced corsets, carriages were drawn by horses and police resources,and communications and transportation were limited by the historical setting.

      Just when the last thing Scotland Yard needs is more killings that could panic the city, a gruesome discovery is made at the train station. Solving the crime becomes the squad's first priority, and Inspector Walter Day, newly arrived in London from Devon, is appointed as the lead investigator.

      Inspector Day will work with the young, eager and relentlessly hardworking Constable Hammersmith, and the first forensic pathologist in England, Dr. Bernard Kingsley. These three, together with other members of the Murder Squad, juggle the murder case with several other cases, including one involving a bizarre series of throat-cuttings.

      The officers who will undoubtedly be the lead characters in subsequent books in the series are often flawed, but always sympathetic. One is a newlywed who sometimes longs for the clear air of his home in Devon. Another is a scrapper who fought to leave the mines where he worked as a child. A forward-thinking medical examiner adds interest, especially when he begins experimenting with an early form of fingerprinting.

      Surprisingly, in all this grubby reality are some unexpected flashes of humor. I actually found myself laughing out loud at the welcome comic relief. However, these moments are few and far between, and the reader is soon immersed once again in the scary, overcrowded London of the 1800s. I look forward to the next in this series.
    • 3/5
      In 1889 London, the morale of the Metropolitan Police is at a low ebb. They were never able to catch Jack the Ripper and are not much respected by the city's citizenry. They're underpaid, called "bluebottles" or worse, and their status in society is at a critical point. Colonel Sir Edward Bradford, police commissioner, is determined to turn the department around and build a professional Murder Squad that uses inventive methods to track down killers.Just when the last thing Scotland Yard needs is more killings that could panic the city, a gruesome discovery is made at the Euston Square train station. The body of Inspector Little of the Murder Squad is found there, his corpse stuffed in a trunk with his legs broken to cram them in and, horrifically, his lips and eyes sewn shut. Sir Edward makes solving the murder his squad's first priority, appointing Inspector Walter Day, newly arrived in London from Devon, as the lead investigator.Inspector Day will work with the young, eager and relentlessly hardworking Constable Hammersmith, and the first forensic pathologist in England, Dr. Bernard Kingsley. These three, together with other members of the Murder Squad, juggle the Little murder case with several other cases, including one involving a bizarre series of throat-cuttings.When I began reading the book, I didn't much like it. The writing in the Prologue and the first part of the book is rough, with a lot of unclear descriptions, odd statements (like saying that there was no hierarchy at Scotland Yard), and non sequiturs. It soon became clear that the murder plots involve psychologically deranged killers, which is frequently a lazy and derivative choice. There is a subplot involving crimes against children; a topic I can't stand reading about and that is all too often cynically used for shock value, but at least I can say there are no graphic descriptions.Despite my misgivings, I kept reading and got caught up in the story, which became increasingly tense and involving. So much so that I wanted to overlook the fact that the murder methods and, to some extent, the choices of victims, don't bear close examination. They just don't make any kind of sense, and there is far too much coincidence involved in the murders and in other circumstances in the book. (I can't say more without spoilers, but I would be happy to discuss the plot issues in comments if anyone would like.) There are quite a few distractingly anachronistic expressions along the way as well, and scenes that seem disjointed and inconsistent with other parts of the book.With such serious criticisms, why do I give the book three stars? It's the characters. Author Alex Grecian develops Sir Edward, Inspector Day, Constable Hammersmith and Dr. Kingsley into lively, appealing personalities I became attached to and wanted to know more about. Even second-tier characters, like Day's wife, Kingsley's daughter, the "dancing man" Henry Mayhew, Blackleg, and the other members of the Murder Squad were well drawn and compelling. Grecian based many of them, including Sir Edward, Inspector Day and Dr. Kingsley, on real people. He also clearly did extensive research on the Murder Squad and the history of police investigative methods; for example, showing us Dr. Kingsley's first experiments with fingerprinting and Sir Edward's directive for detectives to begin working in pairs. I enjoyed these historical insights and the atmosphere of Victorian London.With his talent for creating strong characters and atmosphere, I hope that Grecian can develop equally strong skills in plotting. He plans future books featuring the Murder Squad and, if he can overcome his considerable plotting problems, I will look forward to reading them.
    • 4/5
      Picturesque.This seems to be the best word to describe the way the author provides more detail about the seamy underside of Victorian London than anyone could ever possibly want to know. If you prefer stories about happy puppies and kittens you will probably want to avoid this one. Nevertheless, the characters are strong and the writing is compelling, leaving me wanting to hear more about the world that they live in. It's really more historical fiction than a true mystery, even though the scene is Scotland Yard. The identity of the murderer is given away fairly early in the book, and the rest is focused on the characters' lives with a small bit concerning catching the killer.
    • 5/5
      Excellent depiction of the era and how The Yard was affected by the unsolved murder spree of Jack the Ripper, especially when faced with another string of murders. Details the range of cops - those who do the job for prestige (and to impress girls), those dedicated to justice (often to the detriment of their personal lives), and those in between. Also creates an interesting team of non-law enforcement who help with the case. Clever plotting with people ending up in the wrong place (or the right place?) by chance, but in believable ways. Small amount of graphic/gruesome detail.Readalikes: The Alienist by Caleb Carr
    • 4/5
      An engrossing read with interesting characters. Well worth your time.
    • 4/5
      Very enjoyable. I particularly like Grecian's deft hand with comings and goings -- the rate at which people almost put the pieces together is almost a Shakespearian comedy of manners. That and I like characters I can get behind -- compassionate, driven and thoughtful, he's assembled a great crew.
    • 5/5
      If you love historical fiction crime novels from Victorian Era London, you will love this book
    • 4/5
      An excellent Victorian suspense novel, featuring the very early days of forensic detection at Scotland Yard. It's a page turner, with great characters and fine period detail, although at times it felt just a bit too "modern" in a way I can't quite put my finger on. Very enjoyable, nonetheless. Reviewed in June 2013
    • 4/5
      Alex Grecian's The Yard is a highly enjoyable and clever work of historical fiction/mystery which takes the reader to Victorian London and the aftermath of Jack the Ripper, the mistrust of the public, and the emergence of The Murder Squad.
    • 4/5
      It's London, 1889, less than one year since Jack the Ripper's unsolved attacks on five street women. Public opinion of Scotland Yard is at an all time low and there are new murders to solve. And a new organization within the Yard to focus on such crimes, and a new guy, Walter Day, to replace a well respected vet recently retired. A cop has been killed and so the story begins. Lots of atmosphere, and the book "feels" late 19th century London. Rough characters, misty nights, horse drawn carriages, and some new crime solving techniques, like fingerpinting. Quickly it is realized that plunging one's finger into a bottle of ink will not produce a clear image. How about a pad, someone suggests. An engaging story, not a great deal of clever deduction. Detectives seem to be rushing hither and yon in their carriages yet getting nowhere. We know early on who the bad guy is and it's difficult to believe that the Yard takkes as long as it does. So not a great deal of tension and I was easily able to put it down from time to time. I had a slight preference for "Gods of Gotham", mid 19th century and the forming of New York City's police force. I suspect "The Yard" is a bit over-rated but let's see how the next entries in the series are.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed The Yard by Alex Grecian, an engaging debut mystery set in Victorian London. Scotland Yard is dealing with a distrusting public after its failure to capture Jack the Ripper, and now one of its own has been killed and crammed into a steamer trunk. Grecian successfully creates a grimy, atmospheric, and often odor-ific (see excerpt below) London. He also gives us some great characters to follow as this series unfolds. Inspector Walter Day, new to the city from Devon, is the pup who's asked to solve the case, having been mysteriously anointed by another revered and now-retired inspector. He's an open-faced, compassionate fellow who doesn't lack for wit or bravery, and has married well above himself to the devoted but previously pampered Claire. He's assisted by the clever Dr. Kingsley, who's keen on forensics in a world where most have no idea what he's talking about. Fingerprinting? Looking for a pattern among crimes? Analyzing threads and puncture wounds? For some, he might as well be from Mars. Part of the enjoyment is seeing many now-accepted practices at their outset.There's also Constable Hammersmith, who is indefatigable and inspired by childhood memories of the mine-working he has now avoided. The Yard is run by Colonel Sir Edward Bradford, who is hampered by the loss of an arm, but is a stand-up guy concerned about his men, and nobody's fool.Here's the non-spoilery excerpt, involving "Hobgate", the worst of the "workhouses" for the mentally ill ("just a step away from the asylum") and for vagrants "unable or unwilling to work and possibly violent":"The ground floor of the workhouse was one huge room, partitioned off into smaller chambers. The walls on both sides of the makeshift hallway had been hastily thrown up and were rough, so close that splinters snagged at the sleeves of their overcoats. Day inhaled thought his mouth to avoid the odors of human waste and body odor. Every six feet there was a hole cut in each wall. A doorway without a door, so small that a grown man would have to crawl through it.Day and Kingsley divided the hall, each of them taking a side, and stooped to peer into each room that they passed. The lantern light cast long moving shadows, but there was little else to see inside the chambers. They were all identical, two long platforms fastened to the walls and covered with straw, a walkway between them that ended at a second door-hole. Each platform was deep enough to sleep three men, and the snores echoing throughout the hall were evidence that Hobgate had few vacancies. At the far end of each room was a chamber pot. A single sniff was enough to confirm that the pots were rarely emptied."Day and Kingsley hope to rescue someone from this rat warren, and the killer may be loose in it, too. There are other threads - child kidnapping and exploitation, revenge killings involving men with beards, witnesses who have their own background stories connected to the crimes - and those threads may be tied together too neatly for some in the end. But the detailed projection of life in London at that time, the many well-drawn characters, and the engaging story that keeps the pages turning, make this one a winner.
    • 4/5
      In 1889 London is still reeling from the murders done by Jack the Ripper and the inability of the police to catch the killer. The confidence in the police is at such a low point that noone in the police expects respect from anyone in London. And this is the time when the novel opens - with a body found in a trunk. And when the body is identified as that of a police inspector, the investigation becomes a lot more important for everyone in the Murder Squad. While Jack was making his way through the prostitutes of London, the separation of police inspectors into divisions did not exist. In the aftermath of the grizzly murders, this had been one of the changes - a team of 12 detectives, called the Murder Squad, had been appointed as the only detectives that should investigate homicides (and they had also been supposed to stop investigating other things but that had been very slow at happening and by the time we meet the squad, they are still buried under a lot of non-homicide cases). 12 detectives investigating murder in London could never be enough and the fact that one of them is just starting, one turns up dead and one had moved on from his job without notifying anyone does not help. And the newbie, Walter Day, end up investigating the murder of his colleague. Grecian chose to write his novel by showing the reader the killers long before the inspectors had had a chance to even start suspecting them. In some cases this works nicely, in some cases it makes me want to scream at a detective for missing a small clue that will solve his case even if realistically noone would have picked up on it unless if they are called Hercule Poirot or if they are the killer. In this case the style suits the novel and works better than I expected it to work when I realized that this is the case. Of course the dead inspector is not the only murder at that time; nor Day is investigating only one murder. By the end there will be another dead policeman, a few non-related deaths (and the whole subplot with Esme and Liza was so pointless in that book that it seemed as if it is there for only two reasons - to connect the story to Jack the Ripper and to provide some danger for the policemen; I wish Grecian had spent more time with the inspectors instead but...), an abducted child, a dead child and one of the better descriptions of Victorian London that I had read in a long time. The focus of the novel is on the crimes but behind all it emerges London - the two faced city of the poor and the rich; the huge residences and the workhouses, the city becoming a character in the novel in the way that only the old cities can. And while the inspectors work the same way they always had, the medical examiner Dr. Kingsley is making huge strides in his craft - including introducing finger printing for example. I suspect that in the next books in the series we will see more and more forensics that we recognize from today - the time is right to introduce it and even if it was not one person that did all of it in the real world, in the world of The Yard, it most likely will be. And if that is not enough, the author builds a gallery of characters, giving them enough backstory and motivation to make them believable - Day and his wife, the doctor and his daughter, the other inspectors, the constable Hammersmith and sergeant Kett. He does not manage to escape all the stereotypes and in some cases the dialogue and the descriptions feel almost as if he was checking off a checklist but by the end of the novel you care about the characters enough to forgive some of these cases. Overall a great start of a series and I plan to read the rest of the books in it.
    • 3/5
      Enjoyed this book. Victorian crime is so different to modern day, and this book introduces the way evidence is important in solving crimes. I did get a bit confused at the beginning but it cleverly all came together at the end.
    • 5/5
      First Line: London, 1889. Nobody noticed when Inspector Christian Little of Scotland Yard disappeared and nobody was looking for him when he was found.Just months after Scotland Yard spectacularly failed to catch Jack the Ripper, Colonel Sir Edward Bradford has created the Murder Squad-- twelve men put in sole charge of solving all the violent crimes committed in the largest city in the world. Morale has never been lower at the Yard, for their failure to catch the Ripper has turned the population of London against them-- and now someone is killing them, sewing the police officers' eyes and mouths shut and stuffing their bodies in steamer trunks. Detective Inspector Walter Day, the newest member of the Murder Squad, will need all the help he can get from Dr. Bernard Kingsley (the Yard's first forensic pathologist) and Detective Constable Nevil Hammersmith if these murders of their colleagues are to stop.Even before I finished this book, I wanted to have copies of it magically appear in the hands of all historical mystery fans. When I did finish it, I had to restrain myself from dancing around the house in delight. What a marvelous book!Alex Grecian's descriptive powers would have Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins clapping him on the back in approval. In The Yard, Victorian London comes to life in all its smelly, crowded and depraved glory. Some readers may glance at the book's almost 600-page bulk and walk away, but this story reads like a house afire. The murders of the policemen aren't the only crimes Day, Kingsley and Hammersmith wind up investigating either. When the story begins, Day has only been at the Yard a week. As he becomes more accustomed to the men with whom he's working and with workplace routine, he and the other two men begin to pick out similarities in other crimes... and sometimes things just fall into his lap.Grecian does not leave his villains under cloaks of invisibility until it's time for the ending reveal. No, one by one they raise their masks, pull back their hoods, and show themselves to us. What's brilliant about this is that there's absolutely no reason to despair. This book is about so much more than identifying a few criminals. Knowing their identities and watching them follow the good guys around during their investigations really ratchets up the suspense-- especially when the chase leads Day and Hammersmith through narrow streets in the dead of night or in the creepiest asylum you'll ever have the "pleasure" of exploring. But more than lush descriptions and an intricate plot, The Yard is about people. We learn the backgrounds of Day, Kingsley and Hammersmith. We come to know them, to like them, and to care about their safety. We see the way they interact with people from every level of society. We learn what they believe to be important. I know that one of the basic tenets of crime fiction is justice-- to right wrongs, to speak for the dead. The Yard does all this and much more, but it's been a long, long time since I've read a book that was filled with so much compassion and humanity. Not only do Day, Kingsley and Hammersmith see the absolute worst that we humans can do-- they still believe we're worth fighting for, and worth saving. This book spoke to me on so many levels. I can't recommend it highly enough.
    • 1/5
      40 pages. That's all I could do. The narrative is sparse and unoriginal. The dialogue aimless and fit for 7 year-olds. Absolutely nothing interesting to see here. It made me ask myself once again, can a good story still be good if written poorly? My answer is on its way to a big fat NO. Because most stories have been told, it seems the only indication or requisite of a modern "good" work of fiction is that it's written well, written with peculiar insight, written with a modicum of fucking talent. I never thought we'd live in a time where Stephen King is the literary genius of the age, but he has become so because the crap that has come out in the past ten years has made him appear our generation's Nabokov. Nothing against Mr. King, of course. He writes well. He's just not a genius. We're talking relativism here.

      If you have a discerning mind, this ain't gonna cut it. If you're into airport reads, give a whirl and go kill yourself when you're done.

      Listen, I didn't expect Mr. Grecian to floor me with his literary prowess, but I did expect him to deliver, at the very least, a solid Victorian prose, or at least put me in the heads of the characters with a unique perspective on their psychology. Nope. Maybe he researched the era and he gives us a good, accurate history, but part of the fun of reading a period piece is that you put us there with your language, with your depth of understanding of the people of the time. If one does not begin with this the history of it falls apart, for we are not convinced, nor are we even moderately entertained. For we do not believe you.

      Congratulations, Mr. Grecian, on getting your work published, but it's not good. You've got the platform, now put some effort into your prose and don't get cute with the dialogue, it's transparent and juvenile. Do this, or stick to comic books. There are talented writers out there that are dying for the shelf space at Barnes and Noble.
    • 3/5
      Lots of potential in this Victorian Age mystery but the story seems to come out in fits and starts. Not a series that I will rush to read.
    • 2/5
      Rather disappointing. This could have been an excellent novel, but somehow Alex Grecian never really seemed to get hold of it, and the plot and characters just slipped away.It is set in 1889, when London is still bruised by the unsolved 'Jack the Ripper' murders. As the novel opens, newly promoted Inspector Day is summoned to Euston Square Station where an abandoned trunk has been found. The trunk contains a body, and not just any body but that of Inspector Little. He has been murdered and his lips have been sewn together. Day's investigations anre helped by Dr Kingsley, perhaps the earliest forensic scientist. This could all have been so good! Sadly, the writer seemed to lack the ability to pull this all together in any convincing manner. There seems to be a prevailing fascination with crime stories set in bygone ages, but I worry that while the writers make huge efforts to ensure historic verisimilitude, researching their context fully, they forget the basics such as having a robust, credible plot, or creating characters who behave like people!
    • 4/5
      Slow at first but about halfway through it picks up and gets good. Great book, interesting characters.
    • 3/5
      Most enjoyable tale of the early days of Scotland Yard. The main character is Inspector Day, new to the yard, and Dr Kingsley, the mortician. Both are developing new procedures that become a part of their respective professions. They are trying to discover the identity of a serial killer. The cast of supporting characters and the life of London are both realistically portrayed.I look forward to more books from this author.
    • 4/5
      An interesting look at The Yard attempting to rebuild itself and regain a city's trust in the wake of its failure to capture Jack the Ripper. It also depicts the rise of forensic science and the first movement toward modern policing and murder investigations.It's gory and gritty and depicts the miseries of the poor in London, but I found it fascinating.
    • 5/5
      This is one damn good mystery novel. I could barely put it down and when I got close to the end I had to finish it. I can't wait to read the next one.
    • 3/5
      Since you find out who-done-it pretty early on in the book, I was surprised how tense and thrilling this book was. Enjoyable read.
    • 4/5
      Great book!
    • 5/5
      This book draws you in on the 1st page. It is interesting as this is the year after the Ripper murders and the Ripper has affected how crime is investigated as well as the pressure the police are under by the public. There are 2 serial killers in London and it is not the Ripper. I read the last 255 pages in one sitting,it was a page turner.Even the parts that are not page turners,keep you interested. I was not going to bed until this book was finished.This is the author's first nvoel and it is well done, excellent character development and his knowledge of London and landmarks is incredible! This was intense, a nail biter. Excellent! A MUST READ
      I loved the "dancing man".

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This story is like the streets of Victorian London, tight, full of life, winding in many directions, leading to a final destination that may be exciting, fun, or full of mystery.We find all these qualities in this superlative tale of the early days of Scotland Yard, including the founding of it’s Murder Squad. This is a hand picked group of detectives who are assigned to investigate only the most heinous of crimes, murder. The author fills the pages with fully fleshed characters who jump to life from the pages of the book. This is definitely worth the read and I look forward to the further episodes.
    • 4/5
      Shortly after the reign of terror by Jack the Ripper the London police form a “murder squad”. Twelve men picked for their proven investigative skills to solve murders in 19th century London. When one of the officers is found stuffed into a steamer trunk with his eyes and mouth sewn shut the whole squad is in shock. How could such a heinous crime happen to one of their own? Walter Day, the newest member of the squad is assigned to the case. Insp. Day suspects that this murder is only the beginning and the whole squad is being targeted. He forms an unusual alliance with Dr. Kingsley who performs autopsies for the department. Between the two of them CSI type investigative skills slowly begin to form.

      Being a fan of murder mysteries and historical fiction I was looking forward to reading this book when I heard about. I was not disappointed. The characters are interesting and the author brings the backdrop of 1890’s London to life for the reader. I find it particularly interesting to read the author’s perspective on how fingerprint analysis and trace evidence gathering could have been born. If you are a fan of the genre, this book is a must read.

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