Trumpets Sound No More by Jon Redfern Blog By Josh Blake

Trumpets Sound No More By Jon Redfern
Blog By Josh Blake


In the novel Trumpets Sound No More by Jon Redfern it is clear that it is well thought out and a well written novel. John Redfern’s novel was not a huge page-turner for me but I can see some similarities to Charles Dickens writing style. Trumpets Sound No More is a murder detective novel written by Jon Redfern, with the leading fictional character being Inspecter Owen Endersby. This murder case is the first that Endersby is attempting to solve the murder victim being Mr. Cake.

The killing of Mr. Samuel Cake in 1840 London just pages in was a shocker. His death was definitively set to be a great mystery with lots of lies and disseat. With few leads at the beginning of the novel other than mud in his home which Endersby thought was suspicious. I thought that the neighbors were completely useless in helping Inspector Endersby solve this murder. Inspector Owen Endersby is given only six days to find out whom the villain is. He must resort to different leads that lead him into the heart of 1840’s London anybody that can be a help to Endersby he interrogated. In London 1840’s the time was not peaceful in the city with lots of crimes going on and Endersby finds many things that he wishes he could forget.

Living in London in the 1840's often meant that you were living in a very poor quality of residence. In both Great Expectations and Trumpets Sound No More portrayal of the Victorian Era they say that life is bad and that the housing conditions are terrible. The characters are not directly reflected by their home in either novel because most of the characters had a decent amount of money to afford good homes. A great example of a description on the city of London and the city of London’s homes was on page 10. This was the description of Mr. Cake's house. "The cab pulled up to a wide, handsomely-kept three storey brick house. An iron railing guarded the area staircase leading down to the kitchen below street level. Over the polished front door was a half-moon window. Two stout chimneys capped the stout roof." I thought that this was a very good description of a Victorian Era home. In London many of these houses are still around with residents living in them.

Three main comparisons that I found in the Trumpets Sound No More characters and Great Expectations characters was Betty to Biddy, Owen Endersby to Mr. Jaggers, and Mr. Ratcliff to the Aged Parent. Betty and Biddy are similar as they are female, they both have a nice and friendly personality but this can change quickly if they get upset. Owen Endersby and Mr. Jaggers are similar because they both involve in solving crime. However they are different because Jaggers is a lawyer who represents criminals, while Endersby is a detective and he tries to find them and bring them into the lawyers. Mr. Ratcliff and the Aged Parent are similar because they both are old men who do not have very much to do but hang around and pay attention to their homes and surroundings. They are different because Mr. Ratcliff lives alone and does not have his son looking after him like the Aged Parent does with Wemick.

The three themes that I found in the novel Trumpets Sound No More was guilt, innocence and crime, injustice, and chaos and order. Guilt, innocence, and crime was the most prominent of the three main themes because a detective murder story is all about crime and trying to find out who is guilty and who is innocent in the mass of possible suspects. This is a clear theme in Great Expectations as well in many situations such as the convicts in the graveyard with Pip and the soldiers. Injustice is also a critical theme in the novel because the Mr. Cake murder kick-started this murder detective story and most of the book is discovering if his murder was an injustice one or not. Chaos and order was the third identifiable theme in the novel because when Mr. Cake died they had only six days to find out whom he was killed by. Any detective story involves a chaotic series of events in the process of discovering who actually killed the victim.

The thing that I personally was most surprised about in Jon Redfern’s depiction of the Theatre world in eighteenth century London England was the great deal of audience support and connection with the actors. I did not think that so many people would go to see a play or a theater production. That is what most surprised me about Jon Redfern’s depiction of the Theater world in London England in the 1840’s.

Two prominent symbols in this novel is the pub and the puzzle. The pub is a symbol of a meeting place where Inspector Endersby can get information on possible suspects and find out more about his case because in those days the pub was a form of entertainment. The puzzle is a symbol of consistent confusion because Endersby is trying to figure out who killed the victim.