I got this book for a few reasons: 1) the cover is cool, 2) it’s a true crime unsolved mystery, and 3) the words “The Case Conan Doyle Couldn’t Solve” was printed prominently on the cover. Put all three together and I basically had to read the book.

The Mile End Murder covers the murder of Mrs Mary Emsley, an old woman who owned a lot of property, and the trial of the man accusing her, James Mullins. Mrs Emsley was found murdered in pretty horrific circumstances and because of the amount of attention her case had (plus some unsolved elements), the police were under a lot of pressure to find the culprit. The man they eventually accused was James Mullins, a former member of the police force but who, after a very bad time as a spy in Ireland and some horrific injuries back in London, was pensioned off on a sum too small for his and his family to live on.

By the way, though Conan Doyle’s name appears on the cover, he barely appears in the book. Doyle’s connection to the case comes from the fact that he wrote about it once, after Mullins’ trial. If you’re looking for a mystery where Doyle actually played an active part, The Man Who Would Be Sherlock covers those cases in detail.

For most of the book, The Mile End Murder is focused on telling the story of how Mrs Emsley’s corpse was discovered and the subsequent investigation and trial. Although there is a lot of information about the time period, especially about how Mrs Emsley managed to become so wealthy and how James Mullins went from a promising police officer to murder suspect, the book remains easy to understand, if a little melodramatic.

Now for the most important question: did Mullins murder Mrs Emsley? I don’t think so, and that may be because McKay doesn’t think so. The argument for Mullins as the murderer doesn’t sound very plausible – especially since there wasn’t much in terms of forensic technology back then. The most I think Mullins is guilty of is trying to frame someone (the argument for that is much stronger), but I don’t think he did it. McKay does give us his theory of who he thinks the murderer is at the end of the book, but apart from a nice motive, there isn’t much evidence pointing to that person either. Given the amount of time that has passed since the murder, I don’t think we’ll ever know who really killed Mrs Emsley.

Overall, this was a very easy to read true crime book about a mysterious murder that, although technically solved in the eyes of the law, still has a lot of questions about it.