by David Field
Little wonder that there was panic in Establishment circles when the reading public began to learn of a network of gay men and boys, some of them being paid for their services, and the existence of bordellos that catered for ‘deviant’ tastes, as they were considered to be in those days. This panic was not simply a reaction to the bad image of Her Majesty’s Empire that such practices created; it was in response to a growing realisation that such ‘perverted’ behaviour could be found at the very highest levels of society, not excepting the royal family, some of whose princes were beginning to investigate what might be on offer as a refreshing change from the ‘norm’.
Given that Percy Enright was heading up a new department within Scotland Yard euphemistically labelled ‘The Political Branch’, dedicated to wiping highly placed noses when their behaviour threatened to blot the copybook of the rich and privileged, he was the obvious choice when it came to finding out how far up the social scale the moral stain had spread. And since his nephew Jack owed his very continued existence within the police force, and his new Sergeant rank, to Percy, it was also par for the course for Percy to call in the favour when someone was required to work undercover and learn what was to be learned about the seedy underworld of ‘rent boys’, ‘molly houses’ and blackmail at the highest levels of society.
The higher they come, the larger the price that blackmailers could demand, so from the very start it seemed that the mysterious disappearance of Lord Stranmillis during a train journey, along with the private railway carriage in which he was travelling, might somehow be connected with a blackmail attempt against a peer of the realm who had social connections with Oscar Wilde. But since Wilde’s world was the theatre, of which Percy had no experience, he had no qualms about dragging in Jack’s amateur dramatics sister Lucy, who he’d shamelessly exploited on a previous occasion when her talents matched his investigative needs. And since Lucy’s undercover role required someone skilled with needle and thread, why not complete the family circle by making further demands on Jack’s wife Esther, ignoring her excuse that she now had responsibility for three children?
I was able to incorporate into this latest novel extracts from the trial transcript of Wilde v Queensberry, but of course the remainder of the story is fictitious. However, I like to think that it accurately relives what must have been the shock to the nation when it was revealed that one of the darlings of its theatre wasn’t quite what he should have been. He was certainly what he seemed, but not what he should have been.
As well as writing these novels, I enjoy the feedback from readers, some of whom have now become social media friends. Feel free to review this latest one on Amazon or Goodreads, and perhaps send me a ‘hi’ on my Facebook page: DavidFieldAuthor.
David
davidfieldauthor.com
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I take this opportunity to acknowledge the invaluable contribution of my lifelong friend, former co-author, career railwayman and keen historian, Alan Dance towards the technical aspects of the plot of The Posing Playwright that involve the disappearance of an entire railway carriage during its journey from London to Holyhead.
MORE BOOKS BY DAVID FIELD
Esther & Jack Enright Series:
The Gaslight Stalker
The Night Caller
The Prodigal Sister
The Slum Reaper
The Mercy Killings
The Jubilee Plot
The Lost Boys
The Tudor Saga Series:
Tudor Dawn
The King's Commoner
Justice For The Cardinal
Published by Sapere Books.
11 Bank Chambers, Hornsey, London, N8 7NN,
United Kingdom
saperebooks.com
Copyright © David Field, 2018
David Field has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organisations, places and events, other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously.
Any resemblances to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales are purely coincidental.
eBook ISBN: 9781912786268