The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins

Starred review from January 4, 2016
Set in England in the early 18th century, Hodgson’s sequel to 2014’s The Devil in the Marshalsea is as good as her stellar debut, which won the CWA’s Historical Dagger Award. A prologue depicts Thomas Hawkins, a gentleman who has spent time in debtors’ prison, on his way to the gallows for murder, hoping against hope for a last-minute pardon. The main narrative charts the twisted path that led to Hawkins’s desperate straits. He has been living with his lover, Kitty Sparks, in London, but Hawkins, who has found that he has a taste for danger, allies himself with James Fleet, “captain of the most powerful gang of thieves in St. Giles.” Hawkins soon finds himself out of his depth when Fleet gives him an assignment that enmeshes him in royal intrigue. And things only get worse when a neighbor Hawkins threatened is stabbed to death. Hodgson maintains pitch-perfect suspense, craftily constructs a fairly clued whodunit, and convincingly evokes the period. This second novel by the editor-in-chief at Little, Brown U.K. solidifies her position as a major talent in the genre. Agent: Clare Conville, Conville & Walsh Literary Agency (U.K.).

November 15, 2015

Occurring a few months after the events in the excellent tale that was The Devil in the Marshalsea, ne'er-do-well parson's son Tom Hawkins is once again in trouble in Georgian London. Recently out of debtor's prison, he is living off his girlfriend's money while translating erotica that she sells in her bookstore. First, he finds himself beholden to one of London's most notorious underworld figures. Then he gets involved in a late-night fight with the husband of King George's mistress, followed by a secret meeting with a conniving Queen Caroline. A priggish neighbor is stabbed to death in his bed, right after an inebriated Tom publicly threatens him. This all unfolds in confessional retrospect, as Hawkins is being wheeled off to the gallows for murder. VERDICT Hodgson has provided another pell-mell romp through the top and bottom of English society, as seen through the eyes of a gentleman who is both a rogue and a naif. Those who relish their historical action fast and vivid will enjoy the second installment of Hawkins's misadventures.--W. Keith McCoy, Somerset Cty. Lib. Syst., Bridgewater, NJ

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