Blood is blood

Tenth in the Barker and Llewelyn series, set in Victorian London's East End, this intense entry starts with a bombing at Barker's office, propelling readers into a maelstrom of criminal conundrums and further attacks. More of a sidekick than a leader, and prone to wry self-deprecation (he calls himself God's whipping boy ), Thomas Llewelyn must now prove his mettle without the help of Cyrus Barker, his gruff and ingenious mentor in private enquiry. A hospitalized Barker creates space in the story to develop other characters, including Barker's brother, Pinkerton agent Caleb, and to introduce juicy details about Llewelyn's past and pose the question of whether Thomas' fiancée, Rebecca, will go through with the wedding, given what she learns about his propensity for violence. Fans of the popular series will love this one, but newbies should start at the beginning. This is similar to Oscar de Muriel's Frey and McGray series, set in Edinburgh, with its dark humor and Holmesian detective duo. Fans of Alex Grecian's Walter Day mysteries may also enjoy Barker and Llewelyn for their grim tenacity and creative problem-solving.--Jen Baker Copyright 2018 Booklist

Thomas's first-rate 10th Victorian historical (after 2017's Old Scores) boasts plenty of detection, derring-do, and emotional drama. Private detective Cyrus Barker and his assistant, Thomas Llewelyn, are in their London offices when the floor collapses from a dynamite blast. Llewelyn is largely unharmed, but shattered bones confine Barker to the hospital. Reconstructing their scattered files, Llewelyn identifies five men with deadly grudges against the duo. He gets unexpected assistance when Cyrus's Pinkerton agent brother, Caleb, arrives without warning from America. Barker greets his brother, whom he has rarely seen since adolescence, with distrust, but Llewelyn welcomes Caleb's skills while hunting the five targets: a French anarchist, a corrupt financier, a gang leader, and two murderers. In the ensuing mayhem, Caleb's troubled past catches up with him. Always a witty narrator, Llewelyn comes into sharper focus with his boss temporarily sidelined. But the story's star is Caleb, whose vividly drawn presence brings the grit of the Wild West into the series' English milieu. Agent: Maria Carvainis, Maria Carvainis Agency. (Nov.) c Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

An assistant detective in Victorian London finally makes his mark.Thomas Llewelyn, a Welshman with a checkered past, must put aside his plans to marry Jewish widow Rebecca Cowan when the office of his boss, Cyrus Barker, is blown up and Barker winds up in the hospital with a badly broken leg. Llewelyn pores through the ruins, gathering the case files he hopes will pinpoint which of the many criminals Barker has put away may have taken revenge. The dust has hardly settled when Llewelyn is visited by Camille Archer, who claims her husband has gone missing. Suspicious of her story, he follows her, but she gives him the slip. His next surprise visitor is Caleb Barker, Cyrus' long-lost brother, who works for the Chicago-based Pinkerton Detective Agency. Their meeting begins with a fistfight that leaves each with respect but no love for each other. As Caleb settles into Cyrus' house and spends most of his time working on his brother's caseload, even though Cyrus never asked for his help, Llewelyn doggedly tracks down all the people from their past cases who are still alive to seek revenge. He hires a female detective to track down Camille Archer, who's now visited Rebecca claiming to be Llewelyn's sister. The American Embassy wants to get Caleb out of the country, but he evades them and joins Llewelyn as he interviews the suspects in the bombing. Llewelyn's dreams of marriage are seriously threatened when he's forced to shoot two people who've invaded Rebecca's home right in front of her and her Aunt Lydia, possibly the only relative who approves of the upcoming nuptials.As Thomas shifts the focus of his period franchise (Old Scores, 2017, etc.) to a second-fiddle investigator, his hero gathers confidence through every step of a dangerous case. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.