Peter John Cooper
The Death of the Hurdy Gurdy Boy
language
(Spyway Projects June 18, 2013)
, 1 edition
Christmas 1882: A Melancholy Occurrence in Stepney:. Early yester morning at about 2 o’clock a constable on his beat in Barbados Lane, Stepney happened upon what he took to be a bundle of rags in a shop doorway. On investigation he found it to be the body of a young lad of fourteen or fifteen years. On procuring a light the constable ascertained that he was quite dead and cold; the cause of death likely to be a heavy blow on the back of his head. The boy was known in the neighbourhood as a street musician and was generally liked. Whether this sorry crime was committed for robbery or no cannot be divined for the unfortunate boy had no possessions about him. The police are calling for witnesses and several neighbours who knew the boy as an amiable and harmless type are calling for the perpetrator to be brought to justice at the earliest juncture.” – The Stepney Siren. December 14th 1882
Tommy was a street musician, hungry and cold sleeping rough in shop doorways and outhouses of Stepney, East London of 1882 when he is beaten to death and his hurdy gurdy stolen. . A harmless, anonymous boy with no friends and no possessions apart from the ancient musical instrument given to him by an old refugee furniture shop owner. But somehow his spirit cannot rest. Who hated him enough to kill him and why? In a desperate attempt to find peace he must first find someone in the living world to help him solve the mystery. A hundred and thirty years after the gruesome deed he makes himself known to someone he thinks is a fellow street musician. But Tamara is anything but the sort of person he expected. She is a talented violinist busking for charity and she has troubles of her own. Together they team up into an unlikely partnership to solve the mystery of the murder and also to bring a resolution to her own problems.
The story is vibrant and funny showing contemporary London life through the eyes of a Victorian street urchin. This is the London of refugees and immigrants just as it was in the days when Tommy was alive But it also touches on the more sinister world of Victorian London where the streets and people were anything but the jolly costermongers of fiction or the pantomime characters of Dickens.
The book is accessible to readers from twelve upwards but can equally be enjoyed by adult readers. The book is an dramatic, emotional zig zag journey from the hilarious events surrounding a christmas pantomime when Tommy cannot resist joining in, to the heartbreak of Tamara’s bullying by school mates and challenging relationship with her aunt whilst her Father is abroad. It is the first in a series of novels about Tommy and Tamara called “The Ghost Detective.”
Peter John Cooper is a well respected British playwright with over forty plays performed by companies throughout the UK. His plays are published online and one of them “She Opened the Door” which deals with Thomas Hardy’s tempestuous relationship with his first wife Emma is available in paperback from Roving press.
“I loved it – couldn’t put it down” - one of our young readers.
Tommy was a street musician, hungry and cold sleeping rough in shop doorways and outhouses of Stepney, East London of 1882 when he is beaten to death and his hurdy gurdy stolen. . A harmless, anonymous boy with no friends and no possessions apart from the ancient musical instrument given to him by an old refugee furniture shop owner. But somehow his spirit cannot rest. Who hated him enough to kill him and why? In a desperate attempt to find peace he must first find someone in the living world to help him solve the mystery. A hundred and thirty years after the gruesome deed he makes himself known to someone he thinks is a fellow street musician. But Tamara is anything but the sort of person he expected. She is a talented violinist busking for charity and she has troubles of her own. Together they team up into an unlikely partnership to solve the mystery of the murder and also to bring a resolution to her own problems.
The story is vibrant and funny showing contemporary London life through the eyes of a Victorian street urchin. This is the London of refugees and immigrants just as it was in the days when Tommy was alive But it also touches on the more sinister world of Victorian London where the streets and people were anything but the jolly costermongers of fiction or the pantomime characters of Dickens.
The book is accessible to readers from twelve upwards but can equally be enjoyed by adult readers. The book is an dramatic, emotional zig zag journey from the hilarious events surrounding a christmas pantomime when Tommy cannot resist joining in, to the heartbreak of Tamara’s bullying by school mates and challenging relationship with her aunt whilst her Father is abroad. It is the first in a series of novels about Tommy and Tamara called “The Ghost Detective.”
Peter John Cooper is a well respected British playwright with over forty plays performed by companies throughout the UK. His plays are published online and one of them “She Opened the Door” which deals with Thomas Hardy’s tempestuous relationship with his first wife Emma is available in paperback from Roving press.
“I loved it – couldn’t put it down” - one of our young readers.
- Pages
- 119
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