The Black Hand

May 26, 2008
In Thomas's lively fifth Victorian historical to feature “enquiry agents” Cyrus “Guv” Barker and Thomas Llewelyn (after 2007's The Hellfire Conspiracy
), Barker and Llewelyn investigate Sicilian immigrants, led by mob boss Victor Gigliotti, who are trying to gain control of London's lucrative dock trade. Rumors abound that underworld chief Marco Faldo is in town after several throats are slit, each body accompanied by a threatening note. Barker seeks help from a local Chinese gang and other colorful hooligans eager for both action and profit. A diverting trip to the south of England takes the pair to the estate of Barker's secret girlfriend, Philippa Ashleigh, who reveals startling if incongruous truths about Barker's swashbuckling past. Following this respite by the sea, the valiant sleuths steel themselves for a final, if slightly anticlimactic, battle to save London's waterfront.

July 15, 2008
In an attempt to take over London's criminal underworld, the Sicilian Mafia murders an Italian assassin and continues killing until Barker and Llewelyn ("Some Danger Involved") are hired to stop them. Full of Victorian ambience, this will appeal to discerning patrons who want plenty of historical detail, nonstop action, and engaging characters.

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2008
In this fifth adventure for Cyrus Barker and Thomas Llewelyn, the Victorian detecting duo pulls out all the stops to squelch an Italian incursion into local organized crime. Characters worthy of Dickens London cross paths with mafiosi as creatively brutal as Mario Puzos Corleones. The secretive Barker, with his dark glasses, squat dog, and Buddhist leanings, is pushed to his psychological limit when he is called to the scene of a particularly gruesome murder and is later threatened with a black handnote and physical attacks on his household. Challenging cases are Barkers forte, but sorting out gangland vendettas tips the balance toward a less-than-legal solution. Despite the unrelenting violence and burgeoning paranoia, Llewelyns first-person narrative infuses the story with his trademark humorwry, self-deprecating, and sometimes macabre (think Madame LaFarges knitting). After a particularly personal attack, Barker lands on a unique solution to rid the East End of the unwelcome Sicilians. In an underground meeting readers wont soon forget, the pugnacious Barker foments a gang war guaranteed to leave fans with clenched fists.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)