The Legend of Spring Heeled Jack: The Terror of Old London Tow...

19th century London, Robert Peel’s Metropolitan Police force is in its infancy, training a force that will one day set the standard for urban law enforcement, Scotland Yard. Led by Inspector Duke, a devoted taskmaster, faces a rising crime rate as the search for new recruits intensifies.But a new threat presents itself, one the city of London has not seen the likes of before. Spring Heeled Jack. A serial killer that bounces along the rooftops, leaping inhuman distances to evade capture, even spitting blue flames through a horrible mask.Duke and his dutiful Sergeant Clark, struggle to keep the burgeoning myth under wraps but are undermined by the tabloid press.While Spring Heeled Jack strikes again and again, their investigation only flounders and Duke displays an increasingly suspicious behaviour. Help and possibly sanity arrives from an unlikely source. A woman. Elizabeth Grainger. a twentysomething with an aristocratic background. In a man’s world, she seeks to stake her claim and become one of London’s finest. Rejected solely due to her sex, she disguises herself as a man. Her talents in the realms of deduction make her stand out from the crowd and Inspector Duke gives her the job. She joins the team and she may just solve the case and prove herself as one of London’s finest.Nominated in the best unpublished category of the 2019 Wilber Smith & Niso Foundation Adventure writing prize.

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