Tag: Will Thomas

Hell Bay by Will Thomas

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Victorian Era (1837-1901)Leave a comment

Hell Bay (Barker & Llewelyn #8)Barbara’s rating: 2 of 5 stars

Series: Barker & Llewelyn #8
Publication Date: 10/25/16
Number of Pages: 301
** Maybe 2.5 Stars **

The first book I read in this series was book #10, Blood Is Blood, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought I’d go back and catch some of the earlier books in the series to see if it was consistent, and, I have to say, I was disappointed. I always start off thinking a book is at least a 4-star read, and then it is up to the author to keep that rating, add to that rating or – detract from that rating. When I read Blood is Blood, I just enjoyed the read, but with this one, while it started out well, I soon started thinking that this author had to be an American and that perhaps he hadn’t done a lot of research. Add to that – misused homonyms such as bare rather than bear, and spelling and punctuation – not to mention all of the inconsistencies. For instance, was the cook a good one or a poor one – it depends on which paragraph you are reading.

In the previous book I read, I had come to appreciate Barker and Llewelyn’s abilities and was looking forward to adding to their legend. This book sure didn’t add to my admiration for the two. Llewellyn, who is basically the narrator in the story, comes across as a twit and Barker – well – I just didn’t like Barker and he came across as sorely incompetent in most of the book. Barker was hired to protect a French Ambassador (who was also an idiot) during treaty negotiations on a remote island. Barker shows up on the island acting more like a guest than someone providing security – he didn’t even carry his weapons. Barker and Llewelyn were certainly inept and ineffectual in this outing.

I did like the IDEA of the story, but I liked it better when Agatha Christie did it in And Then There Were None. The gist is: France and England are going to negotiate a treaty regarding their respective colonies in Africa. It needs to be hush-hush, so they decide to hold the negotiations between only two people on a remote island and they’ll cover that by having a house party under the guise of trying to marry off the son of the English negotiator. Almost immediately, the English negotiator, Lord Hargrave, was shot. After him, the bodies started to stack up – and most were murdered in different ways with different weapons. Was there more than one killer? Or, was that one killer deadly efficient and thoroughly enjoying what he was doing?

I didn’t like that Barker was so cavalier with Llewelyn’s life while he sat back and basically, did nothing but think. In general, Barker treated Llewelyn abominably and had this been the first book I read in the series, I wouldn’t even look at another one. Don’t get me wrong – Llewelyn was a putz and certainly didn’t endear himself to me, but there was no call for Barker to treat him as he did. No wonder Barker’s last assistant was killed in the line of duty!

Bottom line is – I loved Blood is Blood and didn’t care for this one, so I’ll wait for the next book, Lethal Pursuit, and see if I like it before I continue with the series. I will read the couple of other books I’ve already bought, but won’t be in any hurry to do so. Maybe the series has gotten better as it has aged.

Blood is Blood by Will Thomas

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Historical Mystery, Victorian Era (1837-1901)1 Comment

Blood Is Blood: A Barker Llewelyn NovelBlood Is Blood: A Barker Llewelyn Novel by Will Thomas

Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Barker and Llewelyn #9
Publication Date: 11/14/18

How in the world have I managed to miss this author and this series? This is basically the tenth book in the series because I think one of the others was a .5 book. I loved the characters of Barker and Llewelyn as well as the other members of the ensemble cast. The book is well plotted and well written and even has a bit of humor.

Cyrus Barker is a self-made man whose parents were missionaries. They died during a cholera epidemic in China when Cyrus was still young. This book didn’t spell out all of his history, but he made his fortune from captaining a merchant vessel that ran from Hokkaido to Singapore. Afterward, he started the Barker Enquiry Agency and has done remarkable well – often solving cases that Scotland Yard can’t. He’s a gruff bear of a man that most folks walk on tiptoes around. Six years ago, his assistant was killed during an investigation and after winnowing through many applicants, he hired Thomas Llewelyn. That was a shock to everyone because Thomas definitely appeared to be the least qualified applicant.

I didn’t learn as much about Thomas Llewelyn in this book. Evidently, he had been a scholar and had a number of dead-end jobs and finally served eight months in prison for theft. This book doesn’t actually say, but I think he was convicted on a false accusation by a peer. Thomas seems to be a very good investigator who works on intuition and methodical investigation.

I liked the secondary characters in the series and would be interested in reading more about them. There is Jenkins, the alcoholic slacker who is their clerk; Mac who is their majordomo at their residence; Rebecca, a lovely widow, who is Llewelyn’s betrothed and Philippa, also a widow and in a relationship with Barker. Other recurring characters seem to be from Scotland Yard and a lawyer turned enquiry agent who works directly across from Barker’s agency.

The book begins with Llewelyn telling us – “I detest Mondays with all my soul. I always have.” That is a portent for his day! As he and Barker have settled into their shared office for the day’s work, Llewelyn hears something and feels a bit of a jolt. There had been an explosion at a nearby building a while back that had shaken their offices, and this felt much the same. Then, he is shocked to see Barker sink through the floor – followed by his desk, the file cabinet and ending with Llewelyn’s desk, chair and finally Llewellyn. The entire office floor and all of its contents had fallen down into the basement. Llewellyn had enough time to recognize what was happening and managed to get into his roll-top desk and pull the thing closed, so he wasn’t seriously injured. The same was not true for Barker. He was buried under six feet of all sorts of rubble, including his huge heavy desk. Barker’s worst injury seemed to be a shattered leg that would put him out of commission for quite some time. Thus, the investigation into the explosion falls directly and solely onto Llewellyn’s shoulders.

Obviously, someone wants to bring Barker and by association Llewelyn down. They don’t want to just cause problems, they want serious physical injury – maybe even death. So Llewelyn begins going over old cases where the perpetrators had threatened Barker and there were several of them. As Llewelyn investigates each of those cases, more and more things happen – not just to Llewelyn, but to those they hold dear. There are red herrings, twists, turns, and revelations before the final solution. It is a great mystery.

An additional wrench-in-the-works is the appearance of Barker’s estranged brother. Each had actually thought the other had died. Caleb Barker had gone to America (from China) when he was very young – maybe eighteen or so. He is Cyrus’ older brother. In his first appearance, Llewelyn thinks he has found a full-sized, living, breathing American cowboy. He was a full head taller than Llewelyn and was wearing a brown slicker, wide-brimmed hat, long mustache and he had a gun belt on his hip. It turns out that Caleb works for the Pinkerton Detective Agency in America. Even though he is Barker’s brother, neither Barker nor Llewelyn trusts him. Actually, I liked him and can’t wait to see what happened to him when he returned to America.

I love historical mysteries – they are my absolute favorite – but – I like romance in them as well. Is there a genre called historical romantic mysteries? Anyway, this book actually had Llewelyn and Rebecca’s wedding in it. I wonder how that will work out with future stories. I’d love to see both Rebecca and Philippa take roles in investigations in the future.

Some of Llewelyn’s thoughts that I thought were witty:
–“It is necessary to moderate the intake of sunlight between one’s lashes after imbibing freely the night before.”
–“One can sulk for an hour or so, but brooding can take days.”
–“It was the sound of a woman’s boots clicking in fury. Every man on earth is acquainted with the sound;”
–“Pie cannot fix everything, of course, but it has never ruined anything either.”
–“Could you translate that from American to English?”

I certainly recommend this book, but you should be aware that it is written in the first person.

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“I requested and received this e-book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher.”