Old Scores

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. (Oct.)