London Review of Crooks

We know about the five London murders attributed to Jack the Ripper. We’ve heard of the Thames Torso killings. We’ve seen films about the Hammersmith Nude crimes. We’ve streamed the London Kills police procedural. And, of course, we’ve read about the slayings solved by Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. But for all that, few have ever heard of the murders of Harry Distleman, Phyllis Newberry, William Raven, and Irene Manton.

These four are among the many London murder victims unearthed — brought to life, if you will forgive the phrase — in one of the most unusual tales yet of Great Britain’s ordeal during the Second World War. Adding to histories of blackouts, ration cards, buzz bombs, mounds of destruction, Tube encampments, unexploded munitions, massive relocations, and general privation, Amy Helen Bell has assembled a collection of — with apologies to Shakespeare and, more recently, Bob Dylan — murders most foul. They reveal the black underbelly of...