Hardcastle's Soldiers

July, 1917. DI Ernest Hardcastle and his assistant, DS Charles Marriott, investigate the murder of a cashier operating in London's Victoria Station. An army officer claims to have seen the murderer running away, and an army cap left behind appears to identify the criminal. Hardcastle believes that it will be a simple matter to go to Aldershot and arrest him, but things are never as easy as they seem. Soon Hardcastle and Marriott find themselves investigating a frustrating and seemingly unsolvable case. Has Hardcastle finally met his match? . . .From BooklistIt’s 1914, and the Great War is up and running. Food rationing, blackouts, air raids, and the deaths of thousands of soldiers are hitting the usually stiff-upper-lipped British particularly hard. But crime doesn’t stop, even with a war on, and DDI Ernest Hardcastle and his long-suffering sidekick, DS Charles Marriott, must solve the murder of a cashier at Victoria railway station. Left at the crime scene are an army-issue revolver and cap, but the owner of the cap claims it was stolen and the revoler isn’t his, leaving Hardcastle and Marriott faced with doing the slogging police work they’d hoped to avoid. The Hardcastle novels are consistently well constructed, thoroughly researched, and historically accurate, and this one is no exception. But readers beware: the period idiom and rhyming cockney slang are a struggle to interpret, even with the aid of the glossary at the end of the book. --Emily Melton ReviewIt's 1914, and the Great War is up and running. Food rationing, blackouts, air raids, and the deaths of thousands of soldiers are hitting the usually stiff-upper-lipped British particularly hard. But crime doesn't stop, even with a war on, and DDI Ernest Hardcastle and his long-suffering sidekick, DS Charles Marriott, must solve the murder of a cashier at Victoria railway station. Left at the crime scene are an army-issue revolver and cap, but the owner of the cap claims it was stolen and the revoler isn't his, leaving Hardcastle and Marriott faced with doing the slogging police work they'd hoped to avoid. The Hardcastle novels are consistently well constructed, thoroughly researched, and historically accurate, and this one is no exception. But readers beware: the period idiom and rhyming cockney slang are a struggle to interpret, even with the aid of the glossary at the end of the book. --Booklist, 15th February 2010