Thanks for the ARC! The story itself is fascinating and one I had never heard of before, which always makes me more excited to read. I really enjoyed reading about Flannelfoot’s story - however, I do think this was disjointed at times and confusing (I found myself flipping back and forth to reread) which tainted the experience for me.

Harry Edward Vickers aka Henry Williams(1888–Dec 1942) was a cat-burglar who was active in the 1920s and 1930s.His ability to avoid detection and capture by the Metropolitan Police was the subject of media sensation.Vickers used rags or cloth taken from the houses he burgled to muffle his footsteps. He stole and discarded a bicycle as part of his getaway. Vickers also opened windows by drilling a single hole close to the latch.Vickers served as a rifleman in the Rifle Brigade from July 1916-July 1918 on active service in France and Flanders.He sustained a serious leg injury that prevented him from serving, and was awarded the Silver War Badge along with the Victory Medal and British War Medal and postwar he became a butcher.By 1921, Vickers had become a criminal, breaking into houses and stealing various items, usually insignificant and of little value.He helped himself to sums of cash to bet on horse and greyhound racing,and his London flat. He also helped himself to food and alcohol in the victims' kitchens.A newspaper reported that he had raided the home of a well-known singer and stolen the man’s false teeth! He also took socks, which he wore over his boots, and gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints.Vickers broke into another house and took cash but left a child's money box unopened despite moving it.This time,Vickers padded his feet with napkins.This practice of softening his footfall with any available material led to the Press naming him Flannelfoot.He did, however, feel shame for robbing a war veteran's watch and shortly returned it. His ability to avoid being caught so embarrassed Scotland Yard that they put together a team of elite murder detectives to identify him.Their breakthrough came when an experienced officer studied Flannelfoot's crimes and said they had caught someone with an identical method back in 1910.Vickers, who served a short prison spell in 1911, was finally snared in the act 26 years on after a major surveillance operation.They tracked down his family and girlfriend and followed Vickers and caught him in the act.In December 1937, Vickers was arrested and sentenced to 5 years in prison.

An indepth look into the crimes of Fannelfoot and gow he was finally caught..
There was a lot of information bout his crimes. The writer did try to give a bit of information about the man behind the crimes. . Sadly the majority of this is about revisiting and listing numerous crimes. It's top heavy on crime scene information occasionally it goes into details about the victims. It is an interesting factual read about someone i didn't know a great deal about .
I loved learning about the true identity and how the police caught him. It makes you appreciate how the world has changed and how we take advancements in policing for granted and only focus on the negative.
Its diffucult to rate this . For me i wanted less crime info and a bit more about rhe pwople involved so its a solid 4.5 stars.
Recommended to anyone who wants to know about this fascinating man and how he operated and was caught.
Thank you netgallery and publisher and author

.A very interesting book on the most notorious burglar in 19th-century Britain. Full of historical background and the method of investigations available at that time. The author meticulously researched the topic. Some parts of the book are quite repetitive but it doesn't make it unreadable. Recommended for all readers interested in true crime books.

Whilst the premise appealled to me greatly, the narrative seemed to take as long as Flannelfoot's career of crime. Much could have been left out and thus condensed to make it a more "readable" story. Less is best in this instance.

This one is a tough one to rate. There’s no denying that the Flannelfoot story should be told. It’s unbelievable how long he was able to get away with multiple break-ins per night for decades!

However, the narrative is disjointed and rambling, and it’s a bit of a slog to get through. When I finished, I looked to see how long it actually was, and I was shocked that it was only 224 pages. It felt *much* longer. I can appreciate the work and sheer amount of research that went into this, but ultimately, I think there’s just not enough material to flesh out an entire book, and the attempts to lengthen it show pretty clearly.

My thanks to NetGalley and Pen & Sword for the advance copy. All opinions are my own.

An historic account of a one man crime spree over a number of years. Looking at both the criminal and polices actions. How he was eventually caught, his home life and those of his children.
Not a victimless crime but hitting middle class people hard.
Interesting and informative

Reading like an Ealing Comedy, which patently these crimes were far from humorous for the burgular's victims. (I should know in the early 70s our newly built house was burgled - along with dozens in our road that night). This meticulously researched story, is one of Flannelfoot, who between the wars was Britain's most prolific burglar. His modus operandi was to target the new estates springing up mostly around London, gaining entry into these modest properties by way of piercing the wooden window surround and lifting the catch. He would wrap his shoes in cloth to deaden any sound (hence his moniker), and make his excape using a stolen bike to cycle to a railway station.
To give some indication as to the status this small-time thief had attained, when he appeared in a special Saturday court after decades of police detection, 35 detectives were present from all over London, in addition to a chief constable and the assistant commissioner of the Met.
What could have been a prosaic list of historic failed police procedures the author has written a page turner the equal of any crime novel. He also includes data from between the wars with those of today, the results are a shameful evidence of today's rise in crime rates.