Over a year has passed since the Jack the Ripper murders and Dr. Thomas Bond finds himself still trying to recover from the events. Though life in London continues on; Bond, as well as the other investigators on the case continue to grapple with the dark legacies left behind – those seen and unseen.

While Bond tries to make some kind of sense of the events of that horrible time, he finds himself tied to a nightmare inducing enemy.

Murder is the sequel to Sarah Pinborough’s tale of Jack the Ripper Mayhem, which I reviewed earlier on this site. It picks up slightly over a year since the original murders and shows us how the characters continue to try to pick up the pieces of their lives. Some are successful and some…not so much.

The characters in Murder are all based on real people, Dr. Bond included. He was a real gentleman who did assist with the original Ripper case. Reading his story, as well as the story of the other characters, it is quite obvious Ms. Pinborough did her research. Each one comes to life on the page, each one just one small part of a tightly woven web.

The way Ms. Pinborough writes Dr. Bond’s slow descent in to madness is both brilliant and heartbreaking. How he justifies his actions is handles in a quite believable manner, as well as the eventual realization of what his actions have done.

It is advisable that readers read the first book before digging in to this second tale. Characters and events overlap and one needs to know the back story to enjoy the eventual ending – sad as it may be.

I personally enjoyed reading Murder and look forward to new stories from Ms. Pinborough in the future.