Hangman's Corner (Five Star Mystery Series)

Hangman's Corner by Peter King is the first book in the Ned Parker, Hansom Cab Driver, mystery series. Ned is known by friends and colleagues alike as being unable to keep his nose out of everyone else's business. And being a hansom cab driver in Victorian England, he has a finger on the pulse of the city and a rare talent for observation. After picking up a strangely dressed passenger, Ned is brought in for questioning: the passenger has turned up dead. Another cabbie is fingered for the crime, so Ned alerts the 6000 cab drivers in London and starts the investigation himself. Ned is an extremely likable narrator: he doesn't fuss at lying or withholding evidence from the police (or cheating on his girlfriend), but he has a deep instinctual sense of right and wrong that forces him to keep searching for answers, even after his life is threatened, and then threatened again, and then again... With a girlfriend who is a wannabe actress on the fringes of society, Ned finds himself with an entrance into higher society, including brushing shoulders with the Prince of Wales. This jumping from the gritty slums of London to hobnobbing with royalty gives the book an extra charm. I certainly hope this first in the series won't be the last!