Alexander Peach
"I don't want readers simply to read a Gideon Locke mystery. I want them to step through the door at 14 Pennington Street and feel as though the case is happening around them."
Alexander Peach is the author of The Gideon Locke Mysteries, a series of historical detective novels set amid the streets, docks, factories and shadows of Victorian London.
Beginning in 1867, the series follows scientific investigator Gideon Locke and his partner Eve as they tackle unusual cases at a time when modern forensic investigation is only beginning to emerge.
What began with a mysterious abandoned tea clipper on the Thames has grown into a much larger world of investigations, recurring characters and interconnected stories, with each case exploring another corner of nineteenth-century London.
For Alexander, the appeal lies not simply in solving the mystery, but in the world surrounding it: the people, the places, the history and the idea of asking how a detective might investigate the seemingly impossible without the technology available to investigators today.
The Story So Far…
THE GIDEON LOCKE MYSTERIES
Book One • The Morrigan
A tea clipper drifts into London without a single soul aboard.
Book Two • Mortimer’s Apothecary
A series of deaths points towards an apothecary whose medicines may be killing the people they're supposed to save.
Book Three • The Black Imp
Someone is settling an old debt, and London has given him a name.
Why Victorian London?
There is something endlessly fascinating about Victorian London.
It was a city changing at extraordinary speed: railways, factories, engineering, medicine and science were transforming everyday life, while vast differences in wealth and opportunity existed sometimes only streets apart.
For a mystery writer, it is an extraordinary playground.
Gideon Locke cannot telephone Scotland Yard, search a database or wait for a laboratory result. He has observation, experimentation, deduction and the growing scientific knowledge of his age.
And around him is London itself: the Thames, Wapping docks, crowded markets, workshops, public houses, grand houses and narrow streets illuminated by gaslight.
In many ways, London isn't simply where the Gideon Locke stories take place.
It's another character.
Beyond the Case Files.
What inspired the Gideon Locke Mysteries?
I love mysteries and Victorian London, and wanted to combine the two with the idea of scientific investigation before modern forensics existed.
Why Victorian London?
It's an incredible setting. Gaslit streets, docks, factories, rapid scientific progress and enormous social change. There's a story around virtually every corner.
Why Wapping?
The Thames and docks made it the perfect home for Locke & Vale. It also gives the series somewhere that feels distinctly its own.
Who's your favourite character?
Probably Edwin Sikes. The awkward genius. Give him a complicated mechanical problem and he's completely at home. Give him a straightforward human interaction and things become considerably more difficult.
Which character surprised you most?
Eve. She's developed enormously as the series has grown and has become every bit as important to the world as Gideon.
Are Gideon and Eve going to get together?
Nice try. Next question.
Where do your story ideas come from?
Usually one strange question. What if a ship arrived with no crew? What if medicines started killing people? Then I work out how Gideon and Eve would investigate it.
How much research goes into each book?
A lot! Locations, policing, transport, medicine, engineering, clothing, social history. Sometimes a single sentence sends me down a research rabbit hole.
Which has been your favourite book to write?
I'd probably say The Black Imp. It's darker, grittier and pushes both the characters and the series further than before.
What's your favourite part of writing?
The escape. When I'm writing, I can disappear into a completely different world for a while. The stresses of everyday life fade into the background and suddenly I'm more concerned with solving a case or getting that one moment between Gideon and Eve just right.
Which character would you take to the pub?
Old Thom for the stories. Sikes for the entertainment. Definitely not Gideon if I wanted a quiet evening without being analysed! I think a night out with Barb could be fun too!
Where would you visit if you could step inside the books?
14 Pennington Street. I'd quite like to see whether it looks anything like the place that's been living in my head.
Do you know how the series ends?
No, and I'm quite happy about that. There are several more cases already planned, but I haven't decided where Gideon, Eve, Sikes, Elsie and the others will ultimately end up. I'd rather let their stories develop naturally. For now, there are still cases to solve.
What's next?
The Vanishing Hour. Book Four will take Locke & Vale onto the streets of Victorian London, where women are disappearing after stepping into hansom cabs. The next case is already waiting...
Describe the Gideon Locke Mysteries in three words.
Mystery. Science. London.
