58 pages • 1 hour read
The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels: A Novel
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Chapter 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “Correspondence, Background Reading, and General Prep”
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, graphic violence, and death by suicide.
The novel opens with a challenge. The reader has received a key to a safe deposit box containing research materials for a book. After reviewing them, they must either replace the documents and throw away the key or take everything to the police.
Chapter 1 begins in May 2021 with WhatsApp and email messages between true-crime author Amanda Bailey and her agent, Nita Cawley. The publisher Kronos is launching “Eclipse,” a series examining old crimes from new angles. The editor, Pippa Deacon, wants Amanda to write a book on the Alperton Angels, a case involving the death and mutilation of several male cult members. The baby at the center of the case will soon turn 18, and Pippa wants Amanda to locate them. Pippa describes the other series titles. Craig Turner is presenting Dennis Nilsen’s murders as an omen of the 1980s AIDS crisis, and Minnie Davis has discovered eerie similarities between Myra Hindley and Rose West.
Before she begins researching, Amanda ends her relationship with her boyfriend, Keiron. Amanda makes a list of people to interview, including “The Angels,” police officers, health and social care workers, and people who have produced creative work based on the case.
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