December
1950 - fog and smog. Rationing and austerity. Fractured lives from the
aftermath of war. Steam trains, trams and trolley buses.
Scotland Yard
detective, Inspector Ryga is sent to the port of Newhaven,
East Sussex, to unravel the mystery of why an ordinary police constable
was murdered and his wife has gone missing.
DEATH IN THE HARBOUR, is the second in the Inspector Ryga 1950s set mystery series.
Newhaven,
on the East Sussex coast, lies at the mouth of the River Ouse between
Brighton to the west (nine miles) and the stunning Severn Sister Cliffs
to the East (ten miles). A busy port with steamers, cargo ships and
fishing boats. Life in Inspector Ryga's day - Bobbies on bicycles. Police boxes and telephone exchanges.
Bread,
milk and coal delivered to your door. Tinned baths in front of the fire
once a week. A privy out the back! Children playing in the street, or
on a bombsite, prams outside the shop. Capital punishment.
An interesting and fascinating era to set down my new detective, Inspector Alun Ryga.
Myra
Swinley is convinced that her police constable husband’s death was no
accident, and that he would never have lost his footing on a dark, foggy
November night on the quayside of Newhaven Harbour while on his beat.
Determined to get to the truth she visits Scotland Yard to ask his
former friend, Detective Superintendent Street, to investigate. Street
says they have no basis to do so, but when Myra fails to return home
from her visit to the Yard, Inspector Ryga is sent down to the Sussex
coast to investigate. Accompanied by former war photographer, Eva
Paisley, who has been airlifted back to England after suffering a wound
incurred in Korea, Ryga’s investigation soon begins to uncover some
puzzling facts. Painstakingly, and with Eva’s assistance, Ryga begins to
unravel the mystery of why an ordinary police constable was murdered
and his sensible law-abiding wife has gone missing.
