The Case of the Limehouse Warehouse Fire

A small Limehouse import warehouse burns to the ground. The broker reports a complete loss. The insurer is sceptical. The family is destitute by morning.

Section I

The Scene

Victorian newspaper-style illustration for The Case of the Limehouse Warehouse Fire, set at A burnt warehouse on the Limehouse Cut, by the Regent's Canal Dock.

Hand-drawn case map for The Case of the Limehouse Warehouse Fire, showing A burnt warehouse on the Limehouse Cut, by the Regent's Canal Dock. — The ground in question.

Setting: A burnt warehouse on the Limehouse Cut, by the Regent's Canal Dock
Time: Saturday morning, second Saturday of January 1894
Weather: Thin yellow fog; the smell of wet ash and pitch on the cold air
Atmosphere: Blackened brick walls without their roof; charred bales upturned in the yard; the canal-water dark and oily at the wharf-end.

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