THE BLOOD HOUND: A gruesome tragedy that became the first ever English murder to be solved by a dog. Kindle Edition
By Jan Needle (author)
A happy little girl called Emily is skipping home to have her tea. She has won a prize at school, and tonight the annual fair starts. Life is perfect.
Across the road, her neighbour calls out for her to buy him some tobacco from a local shop. Emily - just seven years old - is delighted at the grown-up errand.
But half an hour later she is dead.
The crime is savage beyond belief. The tiny little girl has been raped most viciously, then beheaded. Her limbs have been hacked off.
The year is 1876, the town is Blackburn, a place of cotton mills, steam and poverty. It is bursting at the seams for the jollities, with roustabouts, costermongers, pickpockets - and many, many Irish labourers who 'can't hardly even speak our language'. Within hours there are vigilante bands wandering the streets, and 'suspects' are being herded into jails.
And then two little girls, friends of Emily, point out the real culprit to the police. They have seen him give her money. He's a tramp they know as Smelly Bob.
The townspeople have their scapegoat. There can be no doubt at all. Except that the local detective, John Holden, refuses to believe it.
Against all the odds, and using the first bloodhound to ever hunt a murderer in England, Holden moves in to prevent a lynching.
But someone - anyone - has to hang.
Genre: Mystery
By Jan Needle (author)
A happy little girl called Emily is skipping home to have her tea. She has won a prize at school, and tonight the annual fair starts. Life is perfect.
Across the road, her neighbour calls out for her to buy him some tobacco from a local shop. Emily - just seven years old - is delighted at the grown-up errand.
But half an hour later she is dead.
The crime is savage beyond belief. The tiny little girl has been raped most viciously, then beheaded. Her limbs have been hacked off.
The year is 1876, the town is Blackburn, a place of cotton mills, steam and poverty. It is bursting at the seams for the jollities, with roustabouts, costermongers, pickpockets - and many, many Irish labourers who 'can't hardly even speak our language'. Within hours there are vigilante bands wandering the streets, and 'suspects' are being herded into jails.
And then two little girls, friends of Emily, point out the real culprit to the police. They have seen him give her money. He's a tramp they know as Smelly Bob.
The townspeople have their scapegoat. There can be no doubt at all. Except that the local detective, John Holden, refuses to believe it.
Against all the odds, and using the first bloodhound to ever hunt a murderer in England, Holden moves in to prevent a lynching.
But someone - anyone - has to hang.
Genre: Mystery
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Used availability for Jan Needle's The Blood Hound