ISBN (trade paperback): 978-1-250-06850-7
The 6th Barker & Llewelyn book, and a reasonable entry
in the series. Unlike the previous
books, though, there is essentially no mystery to unravel.
Sebastian Nightwine, with whom Cyrus Baker’s live has been
entwined for more than 20 years (and who appeared in (as I recall, the first
book in the series, Some Danger Involved), is returning to London, and has
apparently proposed an audacious scheme to the Foreign Office—he is to lead a
small (private) army in an attempt to take control of Tibet and make it yet
another country under the control of the British Empire. And while he expects this make himself rich,
he also hoped ti discover, and plunder, the perhaps mythical city of Shambhala. Braker, of course, has his own reasons for
trying to prevent Nightwine from doing whatever he plans to do.
In the course of the story, we discover a great deal about
Barker’s past (especially his years in China).
He is also framed for murder, pursued through the streets of London by
the police (and by perhaps hundreds of men seeking the ₤250 reward for his
capture that has been offered by Nightwine.
[And just how much is that, you ask?
At the exchange rate in 1890, about $1,200 (or considerably more than
twice the average income for a working-class man in England at the time); in
today’s prices, around $30,000.]
Also, in the course of events, Thomas Llewelyn, Barker’s
young assistant, meets and becomes enamored of a young woman named Sophia
Ilyanova (who is not what she seems).
And nearly a dozen people die.
I enjoyed the book a great deal. Thomas writes well, and his descriptions of
late-19th-century London are evocative (and apparently quite accurate). [And there is a little nod to a 20th century
English author—one of the secondary characters is named Psmith (the “P” is
silent). And you should be able to name
that author.] A number of historical
personages appear, one of whom might be familiar to mystery readers, Israel
Zangwill, a Jewish intellectual/journalist, who wrote one quite good mystery
novel, The Big Bow Mystery.
The problem is this:
There is no mystery involved. The
plot is based on the conflict between Barker and Nightwine, so we know, from
the beginning, that there will be a confrontation between them. We can also infer that Barker will survive
the confrontation—because he is the main character in the series (think of
Llewelyn as his Archie Goodwin). The
story has to be strong enough to get us to that end, and it, in general, is. And there is, I think, at least some
ambiguity about the ending.
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