Crooked Mile
By Ben Beazley
December 2009
Picnic Publications
Distributed By Trans-Atlantic Publications 
ISBN: 9780955861352
448 pages
$24.95 paper original
This is a thrilling suspense dealing with English, Irish and Jewish society at the turn of the 19th century. The story takes the reader on a journey from middle England, to America, to Eastern Europe and finally the slums of Whitechapel and Jack the Ripper. The story begins in 1887 in the town of Kelsford which lies between Sheffield and Derby, with the robbery of a construction payroll from the agent of a canal company by a group of Irish extremists, folowed by the murder of one of those responsible for the crime.
From here, the story line goes on to follow the course of this and other murders and the involvement with the detective in charge of the investigation with the widow of a local banker who is also involved with a Jewish organisation which smuggles refugees out of Tsarist Russia.The plot moves from Kelsford across to Russia and America before returning to the slums of Whitechapel. Culminating in an action packed ending, the story is fast moving and full to the last page with twists and turns ...While a work of fiction, great care has been taken to ensure the historical accuracy of the book in all its aspects. An alternative - and totally ficitional - solution to one of the murders attributed in 1888 to Jack the Ripper gives an additional focus to the middle part of the work. There is a mix in the storyline of murder/mystery, romance and suspence.
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