Hell Bay

August 8, 2016
Godolphin Island, one of the Scilly isles off the tip of Cornwall, provides the isolated setting for Thomas’s uneven eighth Victorian mystery (after 2015’s Anatomy of Evil). Private detective Cyrus Barker and his sidekick, Thomas Llewelyn, set out for the island at the request of Lord Hargrave, who works for the Royal United Service Institution, which monitors other countries both politically and militarily. Hargrave is to meet with the French ambassador on Godolphin Island to try to resolve tensions between Britain and France over their respective African colonies. To keep the meeting secret, Hargrave has arranged a house party at his estate, and he retains Barker and Llewelyn to provide security for the ambassador. But soon after the detectives’ arrival, a sniper fatally shoots Hargrave, and more shooting deaths follow at regular intervals. Despite the dramatic setup, Thomas fails to build much suspense, largely because there are numerous victims with only sketchy personalities. Many readers will identify the culprit early on. Agent: Maria Carvainis, Maria Carvainis Agency.

A Victorian mystery that rewrites And Then There Were None with a very different ending.Lord Hargrave hires detective Cyrus Barker and his assistant, Thomas Llewelyn, to provide security for his secret meeting with French Ambassador Michel Gascoigne to discuss a new treaty. The meeting will be disguised as a house party at Hargrave's home on Godolphin Island in the Isles of Scilly. Barker's cover will be provided by his lady friend, Philippa Ashleigh, a close friend of Lady Barker. The island has no telephone, only a red flag to run up a pole when help is required. Aside from the two detectives, the Hargraves, their daughter and two sons, and the ambassador, the party includes his lordship's doctor and his two daughters; Delacroix, the ambassador's bodyguard; the Honorable Algernon Kerry, an unpleasant old family friend recently returned from South America; Lady Alicia Travers; Colonel and Mrs. Fraser; and some 15 servants. On the first night, Hargrave is shot dead by an expert marksman, the ferry that brought the ambassador is sent away by a faked note, and Delacroix is found stabbed. Although the assassin has many opportunities to kill at will, he seems to be highly selective. A search of the island reveals only that the flag to call for help has been destroyed and the rifle used to kill Hargrave was stolen from his gun cabinet, suggesting an inside connection. Blamed for not protecting Hargrave, Barker and Llewelyn are frozen out but continue to hunt for clues to the killer. The preferred targets, members of the Hargrave family, lead Barker to suspect that the motive may be personal rather than an international conspiracy to stop the treaty. Thomas (Anatomy of Evil, 2015, etc.) supplies plenty of suspects and red herrings, ratcheting up the tension steadily as he winnows the targets to make this period adventure one of his best. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 1, 2016

Cyrus Barker and Thomas Llewelyn travel to the Scilly Islands, off the tip of Cornwall, at the behest of the Royal United Service Institution, a think tank for Her Majesty's government. Representatives from France and England are meeting under the guise of a house party and protection is needed. But the bodies start falling, and Barker and Llewellyn are hard-pressed to keep everyone safe. This eighth in the series follows Anatomy of Evil. Great period writing.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2016
Thomas tries his hand at a manor-house mysteryin which characters are menaced by a killer in an isolated setting, usually at a country mansionwith mixed results. In the eighth in the Barker & Llewelyn series, a clandestine conference between English and French government officials takes place on a remote island off Cornwall. Cyrus Barker and his hapless partner, Thomas Llewelyn, agree to act as security. A weeklong house party will theoretically provide smokescreen for the meeting. Lord Hargrave, host of the party, is killed by a sniper's bullet, which is just the beginning, as guests and members of the host family die suddenly and in surprising ways, for no apparent reason. Barker is stumpeda situation unusual in the extremeand is peremptorily dismissed, although, of course, he never stops working the case. For fans, this somewhat predictable historical mystery assuredly builds on Barker's character and the partners' relationship, but it may prove disappointing for those who expect a more creative, intricate plot. Compares to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None and P. D. James' The Lighthouse, both also set on secluded islands.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)