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OUTLAW White chapel problem.

I feel I can’t use Whitechapel in my routine, In my view the book has flaws.
1: The font, this book would be hand written.
2: The currency for the year 1953 is wrong. £2.00 should read £2\0s.0d
3: Descriptions, all jewelry would be itemised rather than saying Jewelry.

Unless anyone can give me a way round this I feel by using this in conjunction with Homicide & Sinister would spoil the whole effect..

TC All

No one will notice.. anyone that does explain..

'' This is the copy that would have been printed up and stored in print for Tax purposes.. so that at the end of the year when they sent all the original statements and receipts off, they still had a copy..which was important when running a business and still is today in the same way that people write up their business on Excel spreadsheets.. Of course, there was a lack of PC's in the 50's.. so I guess typewriters had to do!! ''

I'm with I.D.

On both occasions I've used it so far I simply introduced it as being "a copy of the 1953 sales ledger..." and no-one questioned it at all. Simply by presenting it loosely as a "copy" rather than as the actual original article seems to cover any flaws mentioned.

Jon

I can see what you mean but that still leaves the £sd. The only thing I can try I guess is make the pawnbroker out to be a killer and that he knew where the items have come from and that the rounded numbers where a code Incase he was ever found out and blamed for a murdur he did not commit? Feezable???

Outlaw if you read this £sd in future

TC all

I gotta admit that the £sd thing hadn't even occurred to me until I read your post - and I'm just about ancient enough to vaguely remember old money.

The system changed in 1973 if I remember, so perhaps the discrepancy wouldn't occur to anyone under about 40'ish who probably won't naturally recall there ever being an old money anyway?

So if you're worried then maybe not an effect to wow with down the local OAP home (stick with Sinister, Needle Thru Arm or Gutbuster for that crowd perhaps) but for anyone else I still can't see a problem. The spec should be involved in the narrative and not concerned with the minutiae of the prop itself anyway.

I think decimilisation was February 1971, but I was very small at the time, so don't recall it!

The spelling issue shouldn't be a big problem. Maybe the pawnbroker was American, or read too many Chandler novels, or simply couldn't spell.

The money thing is a bit of a shame, but I wouldn't worry too much about it. Have an explanation ready, but if you act like there's something wrong, people are more likely to pick up on it.

Part-Timer wrote:I think decimilisation was February 1971, but I was very small at the time, so don't recall it!

Just done the Google thing and you're absolutely right.

I did say I'm getting towards ancient. Memory fading and all that...

I tested the old system used prior to 1971 and people under 45 years of age were unfamiliar with the look of the entry and quite frankly it was a bit confusing to them.

I decided it was more important for them to easily recognize the monetary amount than have an old system most people don't even remember.

You can also easily remove the date from the cover with a little sandpaper and say the book is almost 40 years old.