The Moon’s More Feeble Fire by Allan Gaw
She was someone’s daughter.
In 1930, the killing of a Soho prostitute is hardly a priority for Scotland Yard. But when a second similar murder comes to light, and then a third, everything changes. DCI Mowbray now has a new Ripper on his hands, and he needs Dr Jack Cuthbert’s help.
Cuthbert and his team find themselves in a nightmare world of people trafficking, prostitution, and drug use amongst the upper classes. Using all his forensic skills, Cuthbert sets out to solve one of the most baffling cases of his career. But in the end, there is one final question that remains unanswered.
That is, until a faded photograph reveals its tragic secret.
About the author
Allan Gaw is a Scot who lives and works near Glasgow. He studied medicine and is a pathologist by training but a writer by inclination. Having worked in the NHS and universities in Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and the US, he now devotes his time to writing.
Most of his published work to date is non-fiction. These include textbooks and regular magazine articles on topics as diverse as the thalidomide story, the medical challenges of space travel and the medico-legal consequences of the Hillsborough disaster.
More recently, he has been writing short stories, novels and poetry. He has won the UK Classical Association Creative Writing Competition, the International Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize, the International Globe Soup 7-day Writing Challenge and was runner-up in the Glencairn Glass/Bloody Scotland Short Crime Fiction Competition. He has also had prose published in the literary journal, From Glasgow to Saturn and anthologies from the Edinburgh Literary Salon and Clan Destine Press in Australia. His poetry has been published by Dreich, Soor Ploom Press, Black Bough Poetry and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. His debut poetry collection, Love & Other Diseases, was published in 2023 by Seahorse Publications.
His debut novel, The Silent House of Sleep, was published in 2023. The Moon’s More Feeble Fire is the second novel in the Dr Jack Cuthbert series.
You can read more about the author and his work at his website: researchet.wordpress.com.
Review
This is the follow up to ‘The Silent House of Sleep’ and it is just as brilliant, packed full of historical and scientific details, a great mystery to boot and bags of tension! This is the second book in the Dr Jack Cuthbert Mysteries but it can be easily read as a stand-alone. I do recommend reading the first book though as it was a fabulous read.
In 1930 the killing of a Soho prostitute is hardly a priority for Scotland Yard but when Dr Jack Cuthbert is called to view the crime scene and the body in his role as a pathologist, he seems to think that there is more to it then is first seen. Especially when a second and third body turn up, is there a new Ripper on their hands. Cuthbert believes that the use of white drugs is associated with the killings and begins to look at drug offenders as maybe being the killer.
This book is packed full of historical details that make the story feel really authentic. But for myself it the historical scientific details that make this series as it gives it such a distinctive and focused voice. This isn’t surprising though as the author has worked as a pathologist for many years and it allows him to pass on his extensive knowledge to Cuthbert. On this outing we delve into the world of Soho and its prostitution, but also how the upper classes visited the jazz clubs in this area as part of their hedonistic lifestyles. It was a great juxtaposition between the have and have nots of society and really delved into the social issues surrounding these themes. As some who studied the social history of this period at university, I can say with authority that the details and themes really ring true and are well developed and put together!
This time round we find out a bit more about Cuthbert younger colleague Simon as the book opens with his wedding to Sarah. I liked getting to know more about him and their fears about their new lives together. But the star of the show is Cuthbert - very distinguished and educated, formidable in his intelligence but yet you can’t help but feel sympathy for him, having to hide his true nature. He is a brilliant protagonist and I can’t wait to see what happens to him next.
Let me know if you pick this one up!
