City of Dreadful Night

Brighton #1

by Peter Guttridge

"Be prepared for a long night. Guttridge combines period mystery, police procedure and noir in a fascinating tale whose only blemish is that you'll have to wait for the next in the series in its resolution” ― Kirkus Reviews, (Starred Review) The first gripping mystery in the Brighton Trilogy.  July 1934 . A woman's torso is found in a trunk at Brighton railway station's lost luggage office. Her identity is never established, her killer never caught. But someone is keeping a diary... July 2009 . Ambitious radio journalist Kate Simpson hopes to solve the notorious Brighton Trunk Murder, and she enlists the help of ex-Chief Constable Robert Watts, whose role in the recent botched armed-police operation in Milldean, Brighton's notorious no-go area, cost him his job. But it's only a matter of time before past and present collide...

Genres: Mystery, British Literature, Police, Fiction, Crime

256 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2010

About the author

Peter Guttridge is the Royal Literary Fund writing fellow at Southampton University and teaches creative writing. Between 1998 and 2002, he was the director of the Brighton Literature Festival. Since 1998, he has been the mystery reviewer for The Observer, one of Britain's most prestigious Sunday newspapers. He lives in Sussex on the edge of the South Downs National Park.

Reviews

[Mo · Rating 3 out of 5]

disappointing ending

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not typically a genre that I would pick. I chose this book because it is set in Brighton, which I live near, it even mentions by home town of Haywards Heath. I must admit, it was really nice reading a book with so many landmarks that I recognise.

It took me quite a while to get into the book, but I did read the beginning in short spurts, so this might have something to do with it. When I was about a third of the way through it, I was on a long train journey and managed to read the rest of the book in one go. It was at this point that I started getting more invested.

One of the other reasons I was quite interested in this book was because of the famous trunk murders, but I was quite surprised that it took quite a while for it to be mentioned in the book, and it took more of a background plot role that I thought it would do. The main story didn't really interest me as much. But as I said, I did get more invested as the story went on, and I did get interested in what really happened in the Milldean area. I did think the ending was a bit meh, I can see it being set up for the next book but as I don't think I will read on to the rest of the books in the series, I wish it had been a bit more wrapped up.

The characters were ok, the most interesting to me was the female police officer - Sarah Gilchrist. She seemed quite genuine and I liked reading about what she got up to. I did find it strange that Robert Watts point of view was told in first person, when everyone else was written in third - it was quite off putting switching like that.

On the whole, I thought it was a pretty decent book, quite enjoyable to pass a train journey.

I read this as part of my 2015 Reading Challenge. This book was for the category of a book set in your home town.

[Kb · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had a real problem getting into this book. The author chose a strange narrative style, in which the least interesting character (the lead male) narrates in first person, while other narrators (the woman police officer, the young radio journalist) are written in third person. (All of them should have been third person. It would be less creepy that way.) Then part way through you get a diary as well. So, confusing narration to start with.

Back to the creepiness. The ex-SAS guy was hopelessly weird. Maybe we were supposed to find his quirkiness endearing, but that whole "rum and peppermint" thing just made my stomach churn. And, as I said in my status notes, this author seems to think that young women in general find older men attractive. (The radio journalist with the politician father whose girlfriends, as teenagers, all found her father attractive? Seriously? Oh, and the 25-year-old radio journalist herself, who supposedly came away from a meeting with the lead male character, a contemporary of her father's, thinking he was "hunky"? Ugh!)

The only character who was remotely believable was the female police officer, and there was not enough of her in the part of the book I managed to get through. I really intended to force myself to finish this book before reviewing it, but... life's too short.

[Léa · Rating 3 out of 5]

J'ai beaucoup aimé le rythme du livre, et les quatre personnages "principaux" que nous suivons tour à tour. Le fait que le décor soit posé dans Brighton ajoute également à l'appréciation de ma lecture.
En revanche, je ne sais pas si c'est un défaut de traduction (bien que je ne pense pas) mais la narration m'a semblé parfois décousue et pas toujours simple à suivre. Il m'est souvent arrivé de devoir faire une pause et de revenir en arrière et de ne toujours pas bien saisir le fil du raisonnement même après relecture. Hormis ce détail, je suis quand même très intriguée par l'histoire et vais vite trouver le tome deux pour lire la suite.

[Ant Koplowitz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Strange book. I really wanted to enjoy it, particularly as it was set-up to provide a different take and possible explanation for the 1930s Bright body-in-the-trunk murder case. But as other reviews have noted, the odd narrative structure, random viewpoints, and clumsy styling made it a chore to get through. Funnily enough, the 1930s police officer's diary about the trunk murders was one of the most engaging elements. Not many of the characters were interesting and I don't think I'll be seeking out the other two books in the Brighton series.

© Koplowitz, 2020

[William · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only reason I gave this book a one star rating is that GoodReads doesn't allow a zero star rating. I can summarize my opinion of this book by quoting part of the title - "Dreadful"! I only made it to page 30 before realizing that life is too short to waste time reading further. I did skim ahead to see if it got better and found that it didn't!

[Guillaume Dohmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating read

I found it difficult to put the book down. The characters in the book were very real and I constantly wanted to know what is going to happen next. I am certainly going to read the next volume.

[Spuddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An oddly-crafted book in which one of the main characters narrates his story in the first person, but the other protagonists use third person. It took me awhile to get used to that. A couple of the narrators I found sort of annoying, but as the book went on, I could see the necessity of their input in laying out the foundations for the mysteries.

There are two settings for the book also--one present-day Brighton, in which the police have botched a raid on a housing estate by going (apparently) into the wrong house and shooting four people dead, none of them actual criminals as far as can be established. The lead male is a higher-up on the police ladder, and it's his head that rolls when the edict comes down from above.

Thus, he's free to help investigate mystery #2, which takes place back in time to 1934, when a woman's trunk is found...in a trunk, at the left-luggage department at the Brighton railway station. The mystery was never solved, and a local journalist wants to take another look at it, and enlists Robert Watts (the fired policeman) to help her.

The transitions between present and 1930's Brighton are very well done, and although not formally announced, you always know WHEN the story is taking place. Both mysteries are very intriguing, and because this is the first of a trilogy--although I have just seen that there's a fourth book in this trilogy coming out--the mystery isn't all tied up in a neat bow and handed to you at the end. Oh no! You must read on. And read on I shall.

I was drawn to the book because of the odd title, which carries the same name as a poem written in the late 1800's by a depressed, melancholy Scot named James Thomson. Literary references will suck me in every time...but the story itself is what kept me reading.

[Nigeyb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was attracted to this book primarily because of its Brighton setting. I'd also heard it gave a credible evocation of the City - and indeed it does.

There are two stories, one is about the infamous Brighton Trunk Murders of the 1930s, the other is about a modern day police raid on a fictional Brighton estate that goes wrong and result in the end of the local Police Commissioner's career. A botched raid in which a number of people die is just about plausible, however the introduction of an ex-SAS character who can beat anyone up and has so many contacts that he can unearth some murky secrets seems to be stretching a point. Throw in other unlikely characters and coincidences and the book's relationship with the real world is quickly stretched to breaking point.

It's undemanding, if a little confusing, and - as the first book in a trilogy - doesn't reach any definitive conclusion either, which I found especially tedious. I do not feel inspired to read the other two books in the trilogy.

I don't read that many crime books however recent books by Ted Lewis, Cathi Unsworth, and David Peace are considerably better than this one.

3/5

[Michael Brescia · Rating 1 out of 5]

By page 40 I was pretty into this whodunit. I liked the author's style of building up a couple of different subplots and hinting at how they would come together. But then when they converged all the intrigue was gone and I found that I really didn't care whodunit anymore.
The characters are not that believable. For one: we're supposed to accept that the narrator, who has just suffered a crushing, career-ending/family alienating scandal is just sooo willing to help a local radio host play detective on a decades-old cold case that no one cares about.
Three-quarters into this book I felt ripped off; like the author had the ability to write a gripping, clever story, but then got lazy and just let it fizzle towards the end.
To be honest I couldn't finish it. I just lost all interest. This guy has talent but I don't know why he let this start out so well and then go flat like it did.

[Garry Stevens · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author is simply a bad writer. He has no talent for plot, character, or nuance. This book -- one in a trilogy that should have been strangled at birth -- is beyond confusing, ill-thought out, and simply inept.

He is the crime fiction critic for a UK newspaper, and should have stayed there. His ill-fated foray into fiction is a cardinal lesson that being a a critic gives you no cred as a author.

Peter: Stick with being a critic. Your novels, including your ham-fisted Carry-On comic novels, are appalling. Please. Go home, pour yourself a whisky, put your feet up, stop writing, and spare the rest of us from your mediocre drebbidge.

[Elizabeth Graf · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is odd in my opinion. One character narrates in first person and all others are in 3rd person. Then throw in a diary reading from the 1930's. The plot is a bit hard to follow in regards to how the book in written...I think that has a lot to do with it being written in 1st and 3rd person.

This story involves a cold case murder of 1930's and current day murder. At the end of the book, you are still left hanging as this is a 3-part book. I think it starts out slow picks up a bit, and then slows back down.

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was unable to finish this one. After 80 pages in, I felt myself reading whole passages without taking anything in and felt it was time to move on. The characters were bland and I felt no engagement with them. The narrative style which switched between 1st and 3rd person didn't quite work and thats a pity because it had all the hallmarks of a good police procedural based around the infamous 1930s Brighton Trunk murders. I feel with a little more effort and a change to the narrative it could have been a decent book.

[Patricia Gulley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to admit this was a very interesting read and will continue to read the trilogy. The 1934 Trunk Murder is investigated along with the shootings of four people by the police, and looks like they had the wrong address. Cleverly done with one first person POV, and several others, with many scene changes. I like complication if it isn't boring me or is poorly written, and this book was neither.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first few pages are technical British police things. Don't stop. Get to about page 10 and you won't be able to put it down. Ugly, brutal and vicious; it is the story and history of crime bosses and corrupt police in Brighton, England. It's not at all what I thought it was going to be, but it's a fabulous, intricate read. I am on to the second book and continuation of the story, The Last King of Brighton, and it's just as good as the first. It's one of those books you move into.

[J · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book has two plots which don't become intertwined.

Since it is part of a trilogy, I suspect they will do so later in the series.

I will not be reading them to find out the conclusion. Just not worth the effort. And the idea that I don't even care about either the resolution of the plots or the characters is damning evidence of a bad book.

[Bob Battle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in Brighton, England this is the first of a trilogy whose main theme is the solving of the very true life gristly 1934 Trunk Murder(s) and the fictional modern day investigation of a police action gone very wrong(or did it?)

Not the best of its genre but good enough for me to commit to the second book

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the more hard-boiled style; I like the cliffhanger; I like the bits of mystery around each character as we get to know them. but the fired/retired/demoted noble selfless cop who goes on to try and solve crimes where they were wronged steps into science fiction. Changes in perpective can be difficult as they are only noted by a line break. Going to read the other two in the series anyway.

[Kerri Northey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Despite an odd writing style, poor plotting and too much emphasis on politics for my taste I was preparing to give this 3 stars. That all went by the wayside when the book finished without a solution.
An unforgivable sin to expect the reader to obtain a second book when the first was so pedestrian. If we like your book we'll seek out more of your work. Count me out.

[Wilde Sky · Rating 2 out of 5]

Armed police raid a house and a number of people end up dead.

I thought the story started reasonably well, but then drifted into a disappointing muddle. I found the writing to be pretty sloppy / lame.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow to get going.

[Mary Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I had known at the beginning that this was first of a trilogy set in Brighton. The ending really left me hanging! The mystery concerns a cold case from the 1930s & a present day murder.

[Caroline Barr · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hard to read didn't finish

[George (Abandoned Places) · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting read, but too many coincidences strained credibility.

[Julia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just could not figure out where this book was going but I'm pretty sure it didn't get there. Whodunnit? And what did they do? And does anyone care?

[Brigid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brighton England at its worst. Fascinating and well written.

[Joan]

A good friend recommended this series.

[Reader57 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Better title might be reading a dreadful book.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent, gripping entry to new trilogy.