Review: Mick Finlay’s The Murder Pit – An Arrowood Mystery
Mick Finlay’s second novel about Sherlock Holmes’s gritty, south of the river-living rival detective William Arrowood is set in early January, 1896. Everything is cold, frozen and grey, and things aren’t looking too good for the journalist-turned-private detective and his sidekick, strongman and chronicler, Norman Barnett. After the rooms Arrowood and his sister Ettie had rented were consumed by a fire in the course the events described in the first novel, they have moved in with Lewis Schwartz, Arrowood’s best friend. Lewis’s flat serves as a sort of headquarter from which Arrowood and Barnett attempt to solve the case of Birdie Barclay, a young disabled woman who is refusing to talk to her parents after her marriage to a member of the Ockwell family. The Ockwells have a pig farm outside of London. They employ several disabled workers and seem to be struggling to survive. Nevertheless, when Arrowood and Barnett take on the Barclay’s case, they are unable to figure out what the problem might be, as Birdie clearly has no interest in returning to or seeing her parents. Any enquiry concerning the Ockwell family leads to the same answer: They are a good family that should be respected and left in peace.
But Arrowood and Barnett both feel that something is off – both the Barclays and the Ockwells seem to hide something, and Arrowood would not be London’s greatest detective if he did not trust his gut feeling. And no, Sherlock Holmes is by no means the greatest detective in London, not if Arrowood has anything to say about that toff who gets paid a fortune because he happens to accidentally find bicycle tyre imprints on a road that accidentally lead to the discovery of the young son of the 6th Duke of Holdernesse for which he is then paid a fortune. If we know one thing about Arrowood, it is that he hates Sherlock Holmes. The second thing we know is that he is secretly impressed and mostly embittered that he does not have the same career opportunities as Holmes. Yet, William Arrowood is, despite his questionable table manners, a lacking personal hygiene, general behavioural issues and his addiction to alcohol and opioids, a very good detective and a very kind man at heart.
It is because of his sixth sense concerning crime and secrets that he digs his teeth into the case of Birdie, but soon he realises that his research does not only endanger himself and Barnett, but that they have stung a knife right into a hornets’ nest and that people are being hurt and killed because of their investigation. The longer they search for answers, the more complex the case becomes, and soon Birdie is not the only puzzle piece in this case which reveals systematic abuse and human depravity. Several of the characters we meet are disabled, and Arrowood tries his best understand their disabilities, but often fails to approach them according to their needs. In that sense, the novel offers a fascinating and shocking insight into the limited understanding and often misguided research of disabilities in the late 19th century.
It is through the case, Arrowood’s research, Barnett’s slightly more humane understanding of the human condition and of coping mechanisms of abuse victims that we delve deeper into the dark places of London which the Sherlock Holmes stories never quite offer us. Because even the darkest tales of Dr. Watson have little in common with the honest, brutal, and occasionally disgusting descriptions which Barnett offers of his guvnor and their daily grind in the underbelly of London, hoping to earn a few quid while helping those in need. In that sense, Arrowood’s outspoken hatred of Holmes is understandable, because the cases that are published in the Strand usually mention the rewards Holmes receives after solving his cases. Arrowood, less respected and little known to the public, has to take on cases which offer very little monetary compensation, and frequently lead to injuries and trauma.
Despite the darkness that is pervading the Arrowood novels, and especially The Murder Pit, Mick Finlay’s writing style is absolutely wonderful. The complexity of Finlay’s characters and his descriptions of them, warts and all, draws the reader in and keeps them on the edge of their seats until the mystery has been resolved. What Lestrade is to Holmes, Detective Inspector Petleigh is to Arrowood. As a member of the Metropolitan Police, he has learned to (grudgingly) accept Arrowood’s unconventional methods and helps him investigate as often as he is able to. Ettie Arrowood is a light in the darkness of all of their lives, supporting and criticising her brother through her no-nonsense attitude and proving a gentle and openminded listener to Barnett, who is still haunted by his past and the recent death of his wife.
The Murder Pit is a complex and dark mystery novel whose style invites fast reading, but whose content makes the reader stop in their tracks, having to digest the events described. It is not a novel for the faint-hearted and it is not light reading at all. Nevertheless, it is a book which offers us insight into a realm of society that has been addressed very little in literature and which delves much deeper into the depths of human depravity than Watson’s narratives. And Barnett’s descriptions of the cold of that January, referring to the weather, his own, lonely flat (he still lives in the flat he used to share with his late wife), and the cold-heartedness of some individuals involved in the case, make The Murder Pit perfect winter reading.
The Murder Pit, published by HQ, an imprint of HarperCollins, will go on sale on January 10, 2019 in the UK, and February 5, 2019 in the US.
Maria teaches English Literature at Leipzig University, Germany, published a German introduction to Sherlock Holmes and is a fan of all things Holmes – but especially of the Canon stories and Sherlock BBC. Contact her at @stuffasdreams
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