Old Scores

August 7, 2017
At the start of Thomas’s solid ninth Victorian historical (after 2016’s Hell Bay), private detective Cyrus Barker and his sidekick, Thomas Llewelyn, meet the members of a Japanese diplomatic delegation who are in London to consider establishing an embassy there. Since the diplomats are also interested in horticulture, they come to view Barker’s private garden one morning. That night, Llewelyn discovers that his colleague is missing. He later learns that representatives of the Foreign Office have taken Barker into custody on suspicion of assassinating the Japanese ambassador, Toda Ichigo. The circumstantial evidence is certainly convincing: that afternoon, Ichigo was standing at an open window at the home of Lord Arthur Diosy, the wealthy Orientalist hosting the delegation, when he was shot to death. Barker was found outside the Diosy residence facing the building and in possession of a revolver with one spent casing. The path toward the truth reveals some startling secrets about Barker’s past, but the mystery’s solution isn’t the author’s cleverest. Agent: Maria Carvainis, Maria Carvainis Agency.

August 1, 2017
A 19th-century case of murder casts a detective as both hunter and hunted.As Japan slowly evolves from a feudal society whose samurai control everything to a modern nation whose new military class is bent on territorial expansion, a Japanese delegation visiting England stops at private detective Cyrus Barker's exquisite Japanese garden. Their numbers include Ambassador Toda Ichigo, Gen. Mononobe, Adm. Edami, and their bodyguards, along with Trelawney Campbell-Ffinch of the Foreign Office, no friend to Barker. Barker is an enigmatic Scot whose past is mostly hidden even from those closest to him, like Thomas Llewelyn, his Welsh assistant, and his loyal Jewish butler, Jacob "Mac" Maccabee. When the ambassador is shot dead, Barker, found nearby with a pistol minus one bullet, is arrested and badly beaten by minions of the Foreign Office. Released, he is immediately hired by the general, who claims not to trust the authorities, to figure out who really killed the ambassador. Barker has spent time in China and Japan and speaks both languages. His Chinese ward, Bok Fu Ying, who was sent to England by the empress as a slave to Barker's Pekingese, Harm, is now married to Mr. K'ing, an addict who owns a gambling establishment and opium house and has his fingers in many pies, including importing/exporting items to Japan. The Japanese delegates are busy buying everything from works of art to battleships and arms, and the government doesn't want any of the deals upset. So Barker must step carefully as he investigates. As Thomas struggles to understand a culture so unlike his own, Barker, who understands it all too well, finds his task both easier and more dangerous than it appears. The latest of Thomas' Victorian gems (Hell Bay, 2016, etc.) is a shocker, cleverly weaving historical tidbits about Japan into Barker's slowly revealed past.

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Starred review from September 1, 2017
Cyrus Barker is back in form, in this ninth series mystery, after his disastrous trial as a bodyguard in Hell Bay (2016). This time a Japanese delegation arrives in 1890 London, ostensibly to open an embassy. After the death of the ambassador, however, Barker suspects ulterior motives on the part of the diplomat's replacement and his strangely militaristic security team. Unfortunately, Cyrus is accused of the murder and imprisoned, leaving his assistant, Thomas Llewelyn, afloat in suspicions and directionless. One of the most intricately plotted of the entire series, this puzzler is both obvious (the title) and obscure (the politics, subtlety, and story lines). Series fans will rejoice to learn more about Barker, whose past life has thus far been murky. As always, the author draws out personalities to enlighten and entertain: even the dog, Harm, comes to life, along with inimitable servant Mac, the short-lived victim, and the series leads, who change with experience. Collusion is under scrutiny herea particularly timely topicand old scores run deep. Those who enjoy Victorian mysteries with a gruff, brilliant detective-and-sidekick team should also try Oscar de Muriel's Frey and McGray series and Alex Grecian's Walter Day novels.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

May 15, 2017

In 1890 London, when Japan's first ambassador to Great Britain is assassinated, private enquiry agent Cyrus Barker is found watching the crime site and is accused of murder. He must join forces with assistant Thomas Llewelyn to find the real killer. Next in a series that opened with the Shamus and Barry Award-nominated Some Danger Involved.

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