“This atmospheric historical thriller is as good as it gets” (Julia Spencer-Fleming, author of I Shall Not Want) in the evocative Barker and Llewelyn series as mysterious murders hint at a dark conspiracy in the heart of London.When an Italian assassin’s body is found floating in a barrel in Victorian London’s East End, enquiry agent Cyrus Barker and his assistant Thomas Llewelyn are called in to investigate. Soon corpses begin to appear all over London, each accompanied by a Mafia Black Hand note. As Barker and Llewelyn dig deeper, they become entangled in the vendettas of rival Italian syndicates—and it is no longer clear who is a friend or foe.
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The Black Hand A Barker & Llewelyn Novel
By Will Thomas
“This atmospheric historical thriller is as good as it gets” (Julia Spencer-Fleming, author of I Shall Not Want) in the evocative Barker and Llewelyn series as mysterious murders hint at a dark conspiracy in the heart of London.When an Italian assassin’s body is found floating in a barrel in Victorian London’s East End, enquiry agent Cyrus Barker and his assistant Thomas Llewelyn are called in to investigate. Soon corpses begin to appear all over London, each accompanied by a Mafia Black Hand note. As Barker and Llewelyn dig deeper, they become entangled in the vendettas of rival Italian syndicates—and it is no longer clear who is a friend or foe.
Popular Reviews(1)
Reviewed by RaymondThis book was okay. Not as good as the books which preceded it in the series. The story starts off well with Barker and Llewelyn investigating three murders which are unique in the way they were carried out but the story then starts to come apart a bit. Nothing much happens for a good portion of the tale, with meetings between the characters and general build up to an ending which falls flat. I like the Barker & Llewelyn novels and wanted to like this book more than I did, but it feels the author ran out of ideas near the start and padded out the story until there was sufficient pages to call it a novel. Most of the way things were solved and explained seemed very convenient for the main characters to have solved. There's even a "getting out of London" passage that just didn't need to be in the novel at all. It gives me the feeling it was just to introduce Barkers "secret" lady friend and deepen the mystery surrounding him more. Maybe she appears in the next installment. I'll continue to read this series. They are a quick read. But I'm really hoping this isn't a sign that the ideas have run dry and that the series is being used as a way of cadging a quick buck.