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| Independently Published 14 January 2025 My thanks to the author for my copy of this book |
Newcastle upon Tyne 1956
Cross-dressers are being murdered in the seedy Pink Lane area.
DI Michael Metcalf and his sidekick, DS Al Hughes, are stumped while rookie WPC Betty Morgan has ideas of her own. Her boss is a sexist slob, her mother’s a drunk, and Morgan is the lowest of the low.
When she faces the ultimate challenge, can Morgan prove she’s not just a ‘chit of a girl’?
Some of the characters from Dog Leap Stairs also appear in Pink Lane but both books are standalones and can be read independently.
*WARNING*The speech and attitudes of the characters in Pink Lane reflect those of the time in which the novel is set and not the author’s views. If you are over-sensitive to such things, please don’t read it.
In Pink Lane we return to Newcastle in the 1950s which the author described so vividly in her previous book Dog Leap Stairs and whilst there is a slight crossover of characters this is very much a separate story but the actions, speech and behaviour of the characters still reflect a very different era which some readers may find difficult to absorb.
In the seedy area of Pink Lane there appears to be a vendetta against cross-dressers and when one victim is found violently murdered the local police have problems discovering who is responsible because as with any close knit community there is a pact of silence with secrets being kept and doors firmly closed.. Detective Inspector Michael Metcalf is in charge of the investigation who together with his DS Al Hughes and WPC Betty Morgan do whatever they can to find out who is responsible and as the deaths escalate so the investigation tightens its grip on the local community.
I thought Pink Lane was really interesting crime fiction and whilst the behaviour of all the characters is not what we consider acceptable today the story is very much of it’s time and the writing reflects this really well. The area around Pink Lane comes alive, from the seedy boarding house of ex-brothel keeper, Lily Frogmore, to the closed confines of a private drinking establishment and the belligerence of local rent collectors there is never a moment when the story doesn’t pull you in. It’s difficult now to imagine a time without computers or mobile phones but without these technological advances the detectives back in the 1950s very much had to rely on good old policing methods, walking the streets, speaking to locals and relying on gut instinct to lead them in the right direction.
Pink Lane is a fascinating and gritty crime novel which gets right into the heart of a community which holds its secrets close and where danger is never very far away. I hope that we get a chance to meet again with DI Metcalf, DS Hughes and WPC Morgan as these novels, such the author oblige, have the potential to develop into a fascinating historical crime series.
About the Author
After many years away, Barbara Scott Emmett is now back living in her home town of Newcastle upon Tyne. She has been writing for many years and has five novels, a book of short stories and a selection of quirky poetry to show for it. She lives in a house overlooking the river with her husband, the writer Jimmy Bain, and their cat, Kitty.
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