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Barker & Llewelyn #4
The Hellfire Conspiracy
Roughhewn private enquiry agent Cyrus Barker and his assistant Thomas Llewelyn must track down London's first serial killer.
When Barker and Llewelyn are hired to find a girl from the upper classes who has gone missing in the East End, they assume her kidnapping is the work of white slavers. But when they discover five girls have been murdered in Bethnal Green, taunting letters begin to arrive in Craig's Court from a killer calling himself Mr. Miacca.
Barker fears that Miacca might be part of the Hellfire Club, a group of powerful, hedonistic aristocrats performing Satanic rituals. He must track the fiend to his hideout, while Llewelyn confronts the man who put him in prison.
When Barker and Llewelyn are hired to find a girl from the upper classes who has gone missing in the East End, they assume her kidnapping is the work of white slavers. But when they discover five girls have been murdered in Bethnal Green, taunting letters begin to arrive in Craig's Court from a killer calling himself Mr. Miacca.
Barker fears that Miacca might be part of the Hellfire Club, a group of powerful, hedonistic aristocrats performing Satanic rituals. He must track the fiend to his hideout, while Llewelyn confronts the man who put him in prison.
336 pages, Paperback
First published July 10, 2007
About the author
Will Thomas
88 books1,144 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Will Thomas, born 1958 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, is a novelist who writes a Victorian mystery series featuring Cyrus Barker, a Scottish detective or "private enquiry agent," and his Welsh assistant, Thomas Llewelyn. The Barker/Llewelyn novels are set in the 1880s and often feature historical events, people, and movements. Martial combat is a recurring theme throughout this hardboiled series.
Prior to writing novels, Will Thomas wrote essays for Sherlock Holmes society publications and lectured on crime fiction of the Victorian era.
Will Thomas' first novel, Some Danger Involved, was nominated for a Barry Award and a Shamus Award, and won the 2005 Oklahoma Book Award. In 2015, he won the Oklahoma Book Award a second time for Fatal Enquiry. Will Thomas has been featured on the cover of Library Journal, and was the Toastmaster at the 2007 Great Manhattan Mystery Conclave in Manhattan, Kansas. His fifth novel, The Black Hand, was nominated for a 2009 Shamus Award. He is married to author Julia Bryan Thomas.
Series:
. Barker and Llewelyn
Will Thomas, born 1958 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, is a novelist who writes a Victorian mystery series featuring Cyrus Barker, a Scottish detective or "private enquiry agent," and his Welsh assistant, Thomas Llewelyn. The Barker/Llewelyn novels are set in the 1880s and often feature historical events, people, and movements. Martial combat is a recurring theme throughout this hardboiled series.
Prior to writing novels, Will Thomas wrote essays for Sherlock Holmes society publications and lectured on crime fiction of the Victorian era.
Will Thomas' first novel, Some Danger Involved, was nominated for a Barry Award and a Shamus Award, and won the 2005 Oklahoma Book Award. In 2015, he won the Oklahoma Book Award a second time for Fatal Enquiry. Will Thomas has been featured on the cover of Library Journal, and was the Toastmaster at the 2007 Great Manhattan Mystery Conclave in Manhattan, Kansas. His fifth novel, The Black Hand, was nominated for a 2009 Shamus Award. He is married to author Julia Bryan Thomas.
Series:
. Barker and Llewelyn
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 254 reviews
October 13, 2022
I have read the first in the series and this one. I totally enjoyed the mystery and the history surrounding it. Hard to believe the age of consent for sex was 13 in Victorian England. The book is about missing girls and the really hard lives that poor children led. This was published in 2007 and the series continues. Good mystery that deals with hard issues regarding child prostitution and how many children were just thrown away. The Salvation Army and other charities working to make societal changes. Also, what part the press can play in changing society.
October 1, 2021
This was the best book in the series thus far... and that is saying something since I guessed who the killer was immediately after they were introduced. I found the story a lot more engaging than the previous books in the series due to the fact that character growth was actually *present* in this one and I wasn't constantly scoffing at the author's normally laughably poor attempts at writing the 1.5 women in each book. Note: it is quite normal for me to want to throw my e-reader due to some of this author's choices but a) I want to stick it out to see if the series gets better and b) I do not have enough money to repurchase e-readers every time a male author can't write women well. It looks like this woman might be sticking around for more than one book BUT I have said that before so I will not be getting my hopes up.
I have been reading this series somewhat begrudgingly due to my library's mystery section being a bit of a barren wasteland with no new books to be found, but as I go onto Libby to download the 5th book I find myself... actually looking forward to it? What is this new feeling? I will let you know if the energy is sustained or if I plunge back into the depths of the dreaded rant > review.
I have been reading this series somewhat begrudgingly due to my library's mystery section being a bit of a barren wasteland with no new books to be found, but as I go onto Libby to download the 5th book I find myself... actually looking forward to it? What is this new feeling? I will let you know if the energy is sustained or if I plunge back into the depths of the dreaded rant > review.
June 1, 2018
The Hellfire Conspiracy (2007) is the fourth entry in Will Thomas's excellent historical mystery series set in Victorian London. The intellectual, yet physically strong inquiry agent Cyrus Barker and his assistant Thomas Llewelyn, a former Oxford scholar who was falsely imprisoned, are clearly cast in the Holmes and Watson and/or Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin mold. Thomas has steadily built the characters and their relationships (to each other and to other recurring characters) over the course of the series and this installment gives readers a more in-depth look at the events leading up to Llewelyn's imprisonment--ultimately bringing Llewelyn face-to-face with the man he views responsible. Barker manages to set up a way for his assistant to get his own back.
But on to the mystery. The adventure opens with a visit from a distraught major from the guardsmen. Major DeVere's twelve-year old daughter Gwendolyn has disappeared from offices of the Charity Organization Society. Mrs. DeVere did volunteer work there and would bring Gwendolyn along to expose her to life outside their upper middle-class ways. As Barker and Llewelyn investigate, they discover that while Gwendolyn is the first middle class child to disappear there have been several lower-class girls who went missing and were later found dead--strangled and violated. Though the detectives work as fast as they can, they do not find DeVere's daughter in time to save her from a similar fate and Barker begins to suspect that a serial killer is at work. His suspicions are confirmed when he begins receiving taunting letters from a "Mr. Miacca"--a name taken from a grisly children's fairy tale about a child-eating bogeyman.
Barker leaves his comfortable home and sets up in an empty Bethnal Green warehouse so that he and Llewelyn can keep watch over the neighborhood where "Mr. Miacca" has been at work. Their efforts lead them to a revival of the Hellfire Clubs of earlier times and they must determine if the club is behind the killings or if someone is making use of their rituals as a cover for a more deadly game.
As usual, Thomas does an excellent job immersing the reader in the world of Victorian London. He brings in pertinent social and political topics and uses them to good effect to propel the plot. What I always appreciate is the way he introduces such topics and informs the reader on them without making it seem like a lecture or an info dump. He weaves the information into the story so the reader learns what's needed (should they not be familiar with the topics), but does not feel overwhelmed. I also enjoy the development of our two detectives and the background that is gradually filled in during the course of each book. Learning the details of Llewelyn's previous difficulties makes his character far more interesting.
The mystery is not overly complicated. Seasoned mystery readers may well spot the villain of the piece before Barker and Llewlyn tracks them down, but the plot is woven so well and the is so well-written that it shouldn't dampen your pleasure much--if at all.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
But on to the mystery. The adventure opens with a visit from a distraught major from the guardsmen. Major DeVere's twelve-year old daughter Gwendolyn has disappeared from offices of the Charity Organization Society. Mrs. DeVere did volunteer work there and would bring Gwendolyn along to expose her to life outside their upper middle-class ways. As Barker and Llewelyn investigate, they discover that while Gwendolyn is the first middle class child to disappear there have been several lower-class girls who went missing and were later found dead--strangled and violated. Though the detectives work as fast as they can, they do not find DeVere's daughter in time to save her from a similar fate and Barker begins to suspect that a serial killer is at work. His suspicions are confirmed when he begins receiving taunting letters from a "Mr. Miacca"--a name taken from a grisly children's fairy tale about a child-eating bogeyman.
Barker leaves his comfortable home and sets up in an empty Bethnal Green warehouse so that he and Llewelyn can keep watch over the neighborhood where "Mr. Miacca" has been at work. Their efforts lead them to a revival of the Hellfire Clubs of earlier times and they must determine if the club is behind the killings or if someone is making use of their rituals as a cover for a more deadly game.
As usual, Thomas does an excellent job immersing the reader in the world of Victorian London. He brings in pertinent social and political topics and uses them to good effect to propel the plot. What I always appreciate is the way he introduces such topics and informs the reader on them without making it seem like a lecture or an info dump. He weaves the information into the story so the reader learns what's needed (should they not be familiar with the topics), but does not feel overwhelmed. I also enjoy the development of our two detectives and the background that is gradually filled in during the course of each book. Learning the details of Llewelyn's previous difficulties makes his character far more interesting.
The mystery is not overly complicated. Seasoned mystery readers may well spot the villain of the piece before Barker and Llewlyn tracks them down, but the plot is woven so well and the is so well-written that it shouldn't dampen your pleasure much--if at all.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
June 5, 2026
A great fan of finding new authors, I was eager to read this fourth thriller by Will Thomas. I enjoy Victorian mysteries and Thomas did well with the opening novels of the series, set on the gritty streets of London. When young girls begin to go missing, Barker and Llewelyn wonder if there is a killer with a purpose on the prowl. The case gets more gruesome as the bodies pile up, but neither man is ready to give up, with such a killer on the loose. Thomas delivers a tense thriller.
After Barker and Llewelyn are approached to locate a missing girl from London’s upper class, they presume this is a kidnapping for ransom or perhaps part of the ongoing worries of white slavers. However, a further investigation shows that five girls have gone missing and been murdered in Bethnel Green, they gravitate towards learning more. Letters followed the murders, full of taunting prose from a killer who refers to himself as Mr. Miacca. Barker cannot help but worry that their killer is part of the Hellfire Club, a group of men with significant power and whose hedonistic desires include Satanic rituals. However, whoever is driving London’s first serial killer, there is no time to wait. Llewelyn finds some key information when he encounters the man who sent him away to prison in the past. Will Thomas provides readers with a tense thriller that is as dark as it is well-paced.
The series easily puts the reader in the middle of things, offering up more strong ideas by Will Thomas. The narrative delivers a punch on the opening pages, with themes that are sure to impress the attentive reader. Short chapters help things clip along, creating a desire to find truths in the fast-paced story, fueled by momentum at every turn. The story is dark and, at times, somber, as murder of children becomes a key part of the story’s tension. With Barker and Llewelyn working like a fine-oiled machine, they are able to tackle many aspects of the story with ease at every turn.
Characters strengthen the story at every turn. Thomas has provided both Barker and Llewelyn significant drama throughout, peppering in backstories and solid development for both, enriching the reading experience while creating roots for the larger series. Neither Barker nor Llewelyn remain drab, but are also vastly different from one another, permitting a contrast that enriches the larger story at various times. Secondary characters remain poignant, filling gaps and creating subplots for all to enjoy, no matter the subject matter. I did like how Thomas depicted this first serial killer and their utter disdain for the law and the vulnerability of victims.
Plot points allow Victorian London to serve as a base and build things from there. The story offers an entertaining depiction of events, balancing surprises and twists that flavour the evolving narrative. The reader must stay attentive or they will miss key aspects of the story, all essential to understanding how the mystery pieces itself together. I am eager to see where things are headed and how Will Thomas will keep impressing me as I travel towards an ARC I have waiting for me much later in the series.
Kudos, Mr. Thomas, for tapping into dark and macabre, while still keeping the story moving along swiftly.
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
After Barker and Llewelyn are approached to locate a missing girl from London’s upper class, they presume this is a kidnapping for ransom or perhaps part of the ongoing worries of white slavers. However, a further investigation shows that five girls have gone missing and been murdered in Bethnel Green, they gravitate towards learning more. Letters followed the murders, full of taunting prose from a killer who refers to himself as Mr. Miacca. Barker cannot help but worry that their killer is part of the Hellfire Club, a group of men with significant power and whose hedonistic desires include Satanic rituals. However, whoever is driving London’s first serial killer, there is no time to wait. Llewelyn finds some key information when he encounters the man who sent him away to prison in the past. Will Thomas provides readers with a tense thriller that is as dark as it is well-paced.
The series easily puts the reader in the middle of things, offering up more strong ideas by Will Thomas. The narrative delivers a punch on the opening pages, with themes that are sure to impress the attentive reader. Short chapters help things clip along, creating a desire to find truths in the fast-paced story, fueled by momentum at every turn. The story is dark and, at times, somber, as murder of children becomes a key part of the story’s tension. With Barker and Llewelyn working like a fine-oiled machine, they are able to tackle many aspects of the story with ease at every turn.
Characters strengthen the story at every turn. Thomas has provided both Barker and Llewelyn significant drama throughout, peppering in backstories and solid development for both, enriching the reading experience while creating roots for the larger series. Neither Barker nor Llewelyn remain drab, but are also vastly different from one another, permitting a contrast that enriches the larger story at various times. Secondary characters remain poignant, filling gaps and creating subplots for all to enjoy, no matter the subject matter. I did like how Thomas depicted this first serial killer and their utter disdain for the law and the vulnerability of victims.
Plot points allow Victorian London to serve as a base and build things from there. The story offers an entertaining depiction of events, balancing surprises and twists that flavour the evolving narrative. The reader must stay attentive or they will miss key aspects of the story, all essential to understanding how the mystery pieces itself together. I am eager to see where things are headed and how Will Thomas will keep impressing me as I travel towards an ARC I have waiting for me much later in the series.
Kudos, Mr. Thomas, for tapping into dark and macabre, while still keeping the story moving along swiftly.
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
July 24, 2016
London in the reign of Queen Victoria was a magical place in many respects.
It was, for example, a city of great wealth, of cultural significance, and the seat of a vast empire.
It was also, however, a place where hundreds of thousands of people lived in dirty, dangerous, unhealthy conditions; where politicians and the police turned a blind eye to corruption and even murder when the victims were poor and uneducated.
In this city of such great contrasts, little girls are being kidnapped, violated, and then murdered.
No one save the parents of these missing children seems to care very much because the children are poor and female.
However, when the upper-middle-class daughter of a cavalry officer goes missing the police are finally roused up enough to begin an investigation. The reason: Unlike the other parents, the cavalry officer is a man of substance and, therefore, is considered to be more important than the poor fathers and mothers who have already suffered the loss of their daughters.
Private enquiry agent Cyrus Barker, accompanied - as always - by his diminutive assistant Thomas Llewelyn enter the case at about the same time as the police. Hired by the missing girl's distraught father to rescue his child, Barker and Llewelyn must try to track down a mysterious murderer who taunts them and the police with crude rhymes and styles himself after a mythical London monster who, according to legend, kidnaps and eats children who have misbehaved.
It's a puzzling case made even more so by rivalries between police departments, the existence of secret societies with their own agendas, and reformers who are out to lighten the burden of the poor and protect children from the outrages that routinely befall them.
"The Hellfire Conspiracy" is the fourth book in the Barker-and-Llewelyn saga and it may well be the best of the series. As he has done in the past, author Will Thomas has used this detective novel to highlight social ills, weave into the narrative historical figures, and wrap them both inside an intriguing mystery. His characters are well drawn and his writing is crisp and clear without a lot of unnecessary detail to slow down the pace of the story. Simply put: If Thomas includes it in the narrative then it has a purpose.
An excellent addition to the adventures of Barker and Llewelyn.
It was, for example, a city of great wealth, of cultural significance, and the seat of a vast empire.
It was also, however, a place where hundreds of thousands of people lived in dirty, dangerous, unhealthy conditions; where politicians and the police turned a blind eye to corruption and even murder when the victims were poor and uneducated.
In this city of such great contrasts, little girls are being kidnapped, violated, and then murdered.
No one save the parents of these missing children seems to care very much because the children are poor and female.
However, when the upper-middle-class daughter of a cavalry officer goes missing the police are finally roused up enough to begin an investigation. The reason: Unlike the other parents, the cavalry officer is a man of substance and, therefore, is considered to be more important than the poor fathers and mothers who have already suffered the loss of their daughters.
Private enquiry agent Cyrus Barker, accompanied - as always - by his diminutive assistant Thomas Llewelyn enter the case at about the same time as the police. Hired by the missing girl's distraught father to rescue his child, Barker and Llewelyn must try to track down a mysterious murderer who taunts them and the police with crude rhymes and styles himself after a mythical London monster who, according to legend, kidnaps and eats children who have misbehaved.
It's a puzzling case made even more so by rivalries between police departments, the existence of secret societies with their own agendas, and reformers who are out to lighten the burden of the poor and protect children from the outrages that routinely befall them.
"The Hellfire Conspiracy" is the fourth book in the Barker-and-Llewelyn saga and it may well be the best of the series. As he has done in the past, author Will Thomas has used this detective novel to highlight social ills, weave into the narrative historical figures, and wrap them both inside an intriguing mystery. His characters are well drawn and his writing is crisp and clear without a lot of unnecessary detail to slow down the pace of the story. Simply put: If Thomas includes it in the narrative then it has a purpose.
An excellent addition to the adventures of Barker and Llewelyn.
December 4, 2019
Each book is better than the last
This one is really dark, very scary, especially considering how accurate the history is of the times in question. My admiration for these characters grows. It’s well written, though not typical, but even the unconventional style grows on me. Starting the next right now.
This one is really dark, very scary, especially considering how accurate the history is of the times in question. My admiration for these characters grows. It’s well written, though not typical, but even the unconventional style grows on me. Starting the next right now.
August 8, 2022
Author Will Thomas easily transports the reader into 19th century London alongside his characters Cyrus Barker, a private inquiry agent, and his assistant Thomas Llewelyn. I can feel the grit of the streets these two often frequent as they work their investigations.
All of the books in the series are fine examples of historical fiction, mystery, and storytelling.
All of the books in the series are fine examples of historical fiction, mystery, and storytelling.
August 25, 2025
3.5. I am so invested in this series … great audio.. Barker is such a great character and I love how history is woven around the mysteries!
June 17, 2024
In Book 4, of a wonderful literary series binge, Llewelyn and Barker are embroiled with a serial killer of young girls in the seedier districts of London. Connected to this is Llewelyn's nemesis who sent him to prison as his wife died. By the end of the book, both have been resolved satisfactorily. Along the way there are so many red herrings, a reader will need to pay close attention. Wonderful characterizations and plotting. Disregard the title, it has nothing to do with what happens. You won't be disappointed.
March 31, 2024
This fourth entry in the marvelously absorbing Barker & Llewelyn historical mystery (after The Limehouse Text) will grab the reader by the throat and not let go until the end – even as one’s gorge rises more than a bit at the nature of the crimes committed.
A young girl has been kidnapped in Bethnal Green, a down-at-heels neighborhood that seems to be on the cusp between gentrifying and falling straight down into hell alongside its infamous neighbor, Whitechapel.
But the girl is not a resident of the area, she’s just a bored little visitor forced to tag along with her do-gooding mother as she volunteers at one of the many charitable institutions in the area. If Gwendolyn DeVere had been a local girl, it’s sad to say that no one would have cared and the police would have paid no attention whatsoever. Girls and women come to bad ends in Bethnal Green every single day.
Middle and upper class children are an entirely different matter. The police ARE interested in the disappearance of the child of one of the Queen’s elite Life Guards. Howsomever, as Cyrus Barker and his assistant Thomas Llewelyn do their best to bring the girl’s abductor to justice, it seems as if the police are not merely one step ahead of them, but actively hindering their investigation.
Whether because they resent Barker working on their patch, whether it’s merely inter-agency warfare between Scotland Yard and the Thames River Police or even if they are protecting a potentially guilty party out of respect or loyalty is just one of many things that stick in Barker’s craw.
The case, as heinous as it is, looks to be the work of a serial killer. But Barker’s investigation turns up an even more disgusting angle – albeit one not quite as gruesome. Because the death of one well-to-do child has kicked off a hornet’s nest in the middle of the internecine war between privilege and reform.
The reformers want to raise the age of legal consent to 16, because too many young girls are forced in prostitution at much too early an age. The nobility want to retain their privilege to ‘buy’ 13 year old girls and ‘keep’ them until the girls are no longer young and fresh faced, and then have the right to get another – and another.
And it’s a privilege that some of them, at least, are willing to kill for. Including Llewelyn’s old nemesis.
More than one reckoning is due, and Barker and Llewelyn intend to deliver. Whatever it might cost them.
Escape Rating A+: I just wasn’t getting into the book I planned to read, I flailed, I bailed, and found myself back in Victorian England with Barker & Llewelyn, and fell right into The Hellfire Conspiracy.
Which, now that I think about it, is a bit of a pun of a title – although not a funny one. The original club operated about a century before this one, but it’s all in the family. Literally, as the most infamous earlier incarnation was organized by the current reprobate’s grandfather, took place in the same location, and was just as disgusting as this one. And there certainly is a conspiracy of silence regarding their membership and the depraved practices those members engage in, but it’s not the actual conspiracy at the heart of the actual crime spree. Although in a way, it sorta/kinda is.
That the Hellfire Club in either version is not the actual murderer is a bit of a surprise twist, because they are utterly disgusting, and so are their aims and practices. Yet they are able to operate pretty much in plain sight because of their immense privilege.
Part of what makes this series so fascinating is that it takes place at around the same time as the Sherlock Holmes stories, but it operates in an entirely different sphere. Barker and Llewelyn are both middle-class at best, are able to blend in with ‘the quality’ when necessary, but their hearts and their sensibilities are with people of their own class and further down the economic scale.
What made this particular case so absorbing was that it happens at the intersection of so many things, both historical and fictional.
Fictionally, we get a bit more information about both Barker’s and Llewelyn’s still obscure pasts, which is being revealed in tiny bites in each book. HIstorically the political infighting between the Reform Movement and the aristocracy, along with the somewhat exaggerated but real fears of so-called ‘White Slavery’ made the reform cause that much more urgent even as the nobility dug in their heels and the muckraking newspapers of the day breathlessly reported on both sides adds even more hair-raising facets to a case that was already sensational.
But it’s the characters of Cyrus Barker and Thomas Llewelyn themselves that keep the reader turning pages. Especially in a case like this one, where they go in knowing that the odds of a happy ending are very much against them, but determined to bring as much justice as can be had to all the victims of this atrocity; the living and the dead.
This series has turned out to be THE BEST comfort/go to series, in spite of, or perhaps because of, the dark and terrible places that they have to go to in order to find some measure of justice. Even though, very much like in the Sebastian St. Cyr series, that measure is seldom as full as one would like it to be because some of the perpetrators are above the investigator’s touch.
But that means I will certainly be back for the next book in this series, The Black Hand, the next time I flail, need to bail, and have to find a compelling story to take refuge in.
Originally published at Reading Reality
A young girl has been kidnapped in Bethnal Green, a down-at-heels neighborhood that seems to be on the cusp between gentrifying and falling straight down into hell alongside its infamous neighbor, Whitechapel.
But the girl is not a resident of the area, she’s just a bored little visitor forced to tag along with her do-gooding mother as she volunteers at one of the many charitable institutions in the area. If Gwendolyn DeVere had been a local girl, it’s sad to say that no one would have cared and the police would have paid no attention whatsoever. Girls and women come to bad ends in Bethnal Green every single day.
Middle and upper class children are an entirely different matter. The police ARE interested in the disappearance of the child of one of the Queen’s elite Life Guards. Howsomever, as Cyrus Barker and his assistant Thomas Llewelyn do their best to bring the girl’s abductor to justice, it seems as if the police are not merely one step ahead of them, but actively hindering their investigation.
Whether because they resent Barker working on their patch, whether it’s merely inter-agency warfare between Scotland Yard and the Thames River Police or even if they are protecting a potentially guilty party out of respect or loyalty is just one of many things that stick in Barker’s craw.
The case, as heinous as it is, looks to be the work of a serial killer. But Barker’s investigation turns up an even more disgusting angle – albeit one not quite as gruesome. Because the death of one well-to-do child has kicked off a hornet’s nest in the middle of the internecine war between privilege and reform.
The reformers want to raise the age of legal consent to 16, because too many young girls are forced in prostitution at much too early an age. The nobility want to retain their privilege to ‘buy’ 13 year old girls and ‘keep’ them until the girls are no longer young and fresh faced, and then have the right to get another – and another.
And it’s a privilege that some of them, at least, are willing to kill for. Including Llewelyn’s old nemesis.
More than one reckoning is due, and Barker and Llewelyn intend to deliver. Whatever it might cost them.
Escape Rating A+: I just wasn’t getting into the book I planned to read, I flailed, I bailed, and found myself back in Victorian England with Barker & Llewelyn, and fell right into The Hellfire Conspiracy.
Which, now that I think about it, is a bit of a pun of a title – although not a funny one. The original club operated about a century before this one, but it’s all in the family. Literally, as the most infamous earlier incarnation was organized by the current reprobate’s grandfather, took place in the same location, and was just as disgusting as this one. And there certainly is a conspiracy of silence regarding their membership and the depraved practices those members engage in, but it’s not the actual conspiracy at the heart of the actual crime spree. Although in a way, it sorta/kinda is.
That the Hellfire Club in either version is not the actual murderer is a bit of a surprise twist, because they are utterly disgusting, and so are their aims and practices. Yet they are able to operate pretty much in plain sight because of their immense privilege.
Part of what makes this series so fascinating is that it takes place at around the same time as the Sherlock Holmes stories, but it operates in an entirely different sphere. Barker and Llewelyn are both middle-class at best, are able to blend in with ‘the quality’ when necessary, but their hearts and their sensibilities are with people of their own class and further down the economic scale.
What made this particular case so absorbing was that it happens at the intersection of so many things, both historical and fictional.
Fictionally, we get a bit more information about both Barker’s and Llewelyn’s still obscure pasts, which is being revealed in tiny bites in each book. HIstorically the political infighting between the Reform Movement and the aristocracy, along with the somewhat exaggerated but real fears of so-called ‘White Slavery’ made the reform cause that much more urgent even as the nobility dug in their heels and the muckraking newspapers of the day breathlessly reported on both sides adds even more hair-raising facets to a case that was already sensational.
But it’s the characters of Cyrus Barker and Thomas Llewelyn themselves that keep the reader turning pages. Especially in a case like this one, where they go in knowing that the odds of a happy ending are very much against them, but determined to bring as much justice as can be had to all the victims of this atrocity; the living and the dead.
This series has turned out to be THE BEST comfort/go to series, in spite of, or perhaps because of, the dark and terrible places that they have to go to in order to find some measure of justice. Even though, very much like in the Sebastian St. Cyr series, that measure is seldom as full as one would like it to be because some of the perpetrators are above the investigator’s touch.
But that means I will certainly be back for the next book in this series, The Black Hand, the next time I flail, need to bail, and have to find a compelling story to take refuge in.
Originally published at Reading Reality
July 6, 2025
Three and a half stars, really. Not as strong an outing as first three.
April 13, 2024
The fourth in the Barker and Llewelyn series and the high standard continues.
The private investigator Barker with his assistant Llewelyn continue their work through the seamier side of early 20th century London.
The author's way of telling the story through the eyes of his protege/assistant works well for me. I could well imagine this excon-but-really-nice lad's character and his desciptions of London of the time. Mr Thomas isn't above a bit if name dropping, although I nearly missed one of them, in the telling of this story.
After books about the Jewish problem,the Irish problem and the Chinese in the previous tales, this time the spotlight is turned on London's problem with some of the unsavory practices of those from a class of whom one should expect better and its multi sectioned police force.
As a who-done-it it doesn't really work but as a good story it definitely does for me.
Bring on the next.
The private investigator Barker with his assistant Llewelyn continue their work through the seamier side of early 20th century London.
The author's way of telling the story through the eyes of his protege/assistant works well for me. I could well imagine this excon-but-really-nice lad's character and his desciptions of London of the time. Mr Thomas isn't above a bit if name dropping, although I nearly missed one of them, in the telling of this story.
After books about the Jewish problem,the Irish problem and the Chinese in the previous tales, this time the spotlight is turned on London's problem with some of the unsavory practices of those from a class of whom one should expect better and its multi sectioned police force.
As a who-done-it it doesn't really work but as a good story it definitely does for me.
Bring on the next.
March 11, 2026
These stories have more grit than the Charles Lenox series set in the same time period. But they are really great stories with so much Victorian detail that I find fascinating. When Barker is hired to find a missing girl, he & his assistant, Thomas, stumble on a series of similar killings in the East End. As influential men try to hamper their investigation, they begin to wonder how high up the cover-up goes & who is involved. All while they race to prevent another killing.
January 3, 2020
Wow!
The 4th Barker and Llewelyn mystery finds our heroes in search of a criminal who preys on children. While a fantastic mystery, I think what I took away from this novel is how well-written prose can illumine the plight of London’s disadvantaged. Superior writing and plot made this one I could not put down. Highly recommended.
The 4th Barker and Llewelyn mystery finds our heroes in search of a criminal who preys on children. While a fantastic mystery, I think what I took away from this novel is how well-written prose can illumine the plight of London’s disadvantaged. Superior writing and plot made this one I could not put down. Highly recommended.
June 22, 2020
I liked the young woman who took a class at the University of Chicago and was awesome!
March 22, 2024
Enjoying this series. Easy read.
January 22, 2024
Great series.
September 2, 2017
An enjoyable romp through 19th century gritty London. Don't think too hard and don't take it too seriously.
July 14, 2018
This one is easily the best one of the series to date... as Barker and Llewelyn go to the East End to solve a string of child murders. It does a fantastic job of showing the class issues in England at the time, right down to bickering between police.
He also added real historical figures into this one , actually discussing the issues of the time in raising the age of consent from 13-16, and making William Thomas Stead a central figure in the story.
As far as I can see, the fiction story was weaved around these historical events quite seamlessly, and while I would have appreciated a bit of a 'notes' section from the author describing his research, and where he took liberties, my own quick study seems as though few were beyond the required placing of ones fictional characters into the narrative.
There was also quite a bit of development in the characters of Barker and Llewelyn, including a tease of having Llewelyn having a relationship with Beatrice Potter (not to be confused with Beatrix Potter).. which would be interesting to say the least, both just to have a fictional character and a real one mixed, and for the continued exploration of the Socialist movement in England at the time, which has been a recurring them and took center stage in the book.
He also added real historical figures into this one , actually discussing the issues of the time in raising the age of consent from 13-16, and making William Thomas Stead a central figure in the story.
As far as I can see, the fiction story was weaved around these historical events quite seamlessly, and while I would have appreciated a bit of a 'notes' section from the author describing his research, and where he took liberties, my own quick study seems as though few were beyond the required placing of ones fictional characters into the narrative.
There was also quite a bit of development in the characters of Barker and Llewelyn, including a tease of having Llewelyn having a relationship with Beatrice Potter (not to be confused with Beatrix Potter).. which would be interesting to say the least, both just to have a fictional character and a real one mixed, and for the continued exploration of the Socialist movement in England at the time, which has been a recurring them and took center stage in the book.
January 26, 2022
Quick enjoyable read but for me not as good as The Limehouse Text. I like these characters, but the unfolding of their backstories over four books is very slow and this begins to get tedious. It also seems to hold them back from further development, so initially good character ideas end up being rather static with little growth. The mysteries themselves are not particularly well or intricately plotted and solutions are abrupt and too often involve information hidden from the reader. The sense of 1880s London is decent, but here are other authors who create much richer settings that you actually feel immersed in. Therefore, for me, the characters are the only real draw. Again, they’re very good ideas but not enough is revealed or changed in them so they’re in danger of becoming cardboard cutouts with no soul. The author has the talent, just needs a good editor who can point out the holes and missing elements he doesn’t see because he created the world and cannot see it through the eyes of the reader. There’s great potential here for a very long lasting series if the author will just get a new editor/ reader without inside knowledge who can show him his world from the readers’ perspective.
September 5, 2007
THE HELLFIRE CONSPIRACY (Private Invest-Barker and Llewelyn-England-Victorian) – Ex
Thomas, Will – 4th in series
Touchstone, 2007, UK Hardcover – ISBN: 9781416548058
First Sentence: I recognized the sound, though I had never heard it before.
*** Private Equity Agent Cyrus Barker and his assistant Thomas Llewelyn are hired to find the young daughter of a Queen’s guardsman. The fear is of white slavers. The police find the body of another young girl who had been abused, strangled and maimed and the hunt is on for a serial killer who is taunting Barker with bad poetry.
*** The biggest problem I had with this book is that I couldn’t put it down until I’d finished it. But who needs sleep when you’ve a book this good. The story is told by Llewelyn; a young man with a painful past. Barker is fascinating and because you learn about him as Thomas does, and it’s interesting to watch bits of his past unfold. I love the historical detail both of life in that period and police procedures. The style is one of a traditional mystery but it takes to the dark side of Victorian London. The story has emotion, danger, politics, humor and I wanted more.
Thomas, Will – 4th in series
Touchstone, 2007, UK Hardcover – ISBN: 9781416548058
First Sentence: I recognized the sound, though I had never heard it before.
*** Private Equity Agent Cyrus Barker and his assistant Thomas Llewelyn are hired to find the young daughter of a Queen’s guardsman. The fear is of white slavers. The police find the body of another young girl who had been abused, strangled and maimed and the hunt is on for a serial killer who is taunting Barker with bad poetry.
*** The biggest problem I had with this book is that I couldn’t put it down until I’d finished it. But who needs sleep when you’ve a book this good. The story is told by Llewelyn; a young man with a painful past. Barker is fascinating and because you learn about him as Thomas does, and it’s interesting to watch bits of his past unfold. I love the historical detail both of life in that period and police procedures. The style is one of a traditional mystery but it takes to the dark side of Victorian London. The story has emotion, danger, politics, humor and I wanted more.
March 12, 2017
I enjoy this series featuring "private inquiry agents" Cyrus Barker and Thomas Llewelyn in Victorian England, but there is something about the books that keep them from really becoming a "favorite" and I'm not quite sure what that is. I find myself scoffing a lot during the reading of them, so perhaps it's just the utter implausibility of some of the situations and Cyrus Barker's superhuman abilities that don't ring true, I don't know. In this book, they are hired to locate the missing daughter of one of the Queen's guards and discover in the process that several other young girls had gone missing from the area as well.
I have the next book in the series and I'll probably read it--as I say, I enjoy them on some level but I'm still finding the same problem as in the last book with lack of any real character development and characters are what I thrive on. A decent story, but nothing extraordinary.
I have the next book in the series and I'll probably read it--as I say, I enjoy them on some level but I'm still finding the same problem as in the last book with lack of any real character development and characters are what I thrive on. A decent story, but nothing extraordinary.
October 4, 2019
"When Cyrus Barker and Thomas Llewelyn are hired to find a girl from the upper classes who has gone missing in the East End, they assume her kidnapping is the work of white slavers. But when they discover five girls have been murdered in Bethnal Green, taunting letters begin to arrive in Craig's Court from a killer calling himself Mr. Miacca. Barker fears that Miacca might be part of the Hellfire Club, a group of powerful, hedonistic aristocrats performing Satanic rituals. He must track the fiend to his hideout, while Llewelyn confronts the man who put him in prison. Dodging muckrakers, navigating the murky Thames under cover of darkness, and infiltrating London's most powerful secret society, The Hellfire Conspiracy is another wild ride that "brings to life a London roiling with secret leagues, deadly organizations, and hidden clubs"
March 10, 2024
Look. When the villain is caught, they furiously yell "Oh no! My trophy jar!" because it's in danger of being destroyed. That level of pulp is exactly what I expect from this series, and I'm here for it. (And atrocious portrayal of female characters ... well, I expect that. I'm not so much here for that. Shut up they're great listening for the fitness studio, OK?)
January 18, 2024
Barker & Llewelyn have been hired to find a man’s missing daughter, and their investigation quickly spirals into a cesspit of missing girls who are kidnapped, drugged, raped, mutilated, murdered, and discarded in sewers. They have to work quickly if they wish to save the latest victim from such a fate.
I found this story of interest, even though the author continues to largely keep the details hidden from the reader before unwinding it all at the very end in a lengthy explanation. I immediately knew the killer (and also noted the Stead red herring because, well, I’m acquainted with Stead from being a huge Titanic buff. He was one of the many victims).
My problems with this story are twofold. One new, one old.
The new problem: socialism. I had to eyeroll over it. Why would Barker even care if people were socialist? You’d think he’d be happy there were people willing to help others. Llewelyn takes him to task and compares his position to that of the charity’s, which was amusing, but it got irksome hearing characters bag on it constantly.
The old problem: Llewelyn. I can barely stand him at this point. This case is, to refresh your memory, about girls being kidnapped, drugged, raped, mutilated, and murdered, and all he thinks about is chasing women. That’s it. Middle of the case and he’s excited to take Beatrice Potter out on a date while using the case as an excuse to be with her. When he sees a possible suspect watching him, he decides to ignore it because there’s a woman here to captivate him!
When he goes to see the charity women about the girl, all he’s concerned about is their appearances. He muses over one woman even though she’s married. He’s baffled over a plain woman having an “Apollo” for a husband and how on earth could they possibly be together? (I don’t love that at the end of the book the conclusion is basically “he didn’t love her”). He’s suspicious of the charity doctor solely for having no interest in the women he works with.
At the end of the book, he mourns his wife and wants to find her grave. DIRECTLY after, he tries to find out Potter’s connection to another man and THEN his BEST FRIEND Israel’s girlfriend comes to confront him about Potter and he lusts over her. “How often does one find a girl at ones doorstep delivered like a parcel?” He says, he tells Mac to get her a flower, and he says “She was leaning toward me a little too close for strict chasteness, perhaps, and I noticed something; I could detect the scent of powder. Despite the fact this woman was being courted by my best friend in the world, for that one brief second, I desired her”. He has to “think it over”. And this is RIGHT after he tells her that he couldn’t be with Potter because their romance would be marred by his wife’s death. All he does is chase after women. It’s disgusting. As Mac said, he has his “nose in the air like a pointer after every woman’s scent”.
Every time a woman is introduced, I start grumbling to myself and rolling my eyes because inevitably, Llewelyn is gonna be hard as a rock and chasing after her. It’s not funny; I don’t know if the author means it to be, but it’s not. Probably because every woman inevitably wants to bang him. Even Miss Potter, who talks of celibacy and how marriage is tyranny is tethered to a politician (secretly) but still somehow charmed by Llewelyn after speaking to him…what…four times? Total? Including the time she cast him off? The women in the stories are there for Llewelyn to want to bone or to be repelled by. If they’re: 30+, ugly, and fat, then they are also smelly and of no value. If they’re: under thirty but preferably late teens to mid twenties, stunningly beautiful, and thin, then they have worth. Like…what did Beatrice Potter add to the plot? She was there to do inquiries of her own and hired on by Barker but…what did she do to help them? It seemed like she was solely there for Llewelyn to desire carnally. And, of course, there will be a new woman, or two, or three, in the next novel.
And, finally: I don’t understand Llewelyn’s beef with his former roommate. Llewelyn had Clay’s sovereign in his hand and then punched him. Clay is a scumbag, no doubt, but Llewelyn would have probably done the same if the roles were reversed. He shouldn’t have married his wife—he admitted he was tricked into it!—and it was against the university rules anyway. He also wouldn’t have cured her; it was consumption. Clay didn’t rob him of time spent with his wife—the disease did. And I don’t really buy him missing her or mourning her, because as I said above, he’s told Amy how his relationship with Beatrice wouldn’t work and an INSTANT later is about to kiss Amy! WHO IS DATING HIS BEST FRIEND! Maybe I would believe it more if he didn’t hit on every single woman that crossed his path and consider marriage even if/especially when he knows nothing about the women and their ideals are utterly different to his, like, say, an Irish nationalist anarchist, a rabbi’s daughter who is devoutly Jewish, or a staunch socialist, as if his wife hadn’t died not even TWO YEARS AGO.
I at first rated this three stars, but the way Llewelyn acts brought it down for me and I’m going two stars. I can’t stand his behaviour and it detracts from the mystery because he in fact deviates from the case in order to romance women. I wish he would tone it down and direct his attention toward the mysteries. I wish the author would place more clues in the story so I can better solve it. And I wish that there would be more of Barker’s presence in the stories with more of his story, because at this point he’s the reason I’m coming back.
I found this story of interest, even though the author continues to largely keep the details hidden from the reader before unwinding it all at the very end in a lengthy explanation. I immediately knew the killer (and also noted the Stead red herring because, well, I’m acquainted with Stead from being a huge Titanic buff. He was one of the many victims).
My problems with this story are twofold. One new, one old.
The new problem: socialism. I had to eyeroll over it. Why would Barker even care if people were socialist? You’d think he’d be happy there were people willing to help others. Llewelyn takes him to task and compares his position to that of the charity’s, which was amusing, but it got irksome hearing characters bag on it constantly.
The old problem: Llewelyn. I can barely stand him at this point. This case is, to refresh your memory, about girls being kidnapped, drugged, raped, mutilated, and murdered, and all he thinks about is chasing women. That’s it. Middle of the case and he’s excited to take Beatrice Potter out on a date while using the case as an excuse to be with her. When he sees a possible suspect watching him, he decides to ignore it because there’s a woman here to captivate him!
When he goes to see the charity women about the girl, all he’s concerned about is their appearances. He muses over one woman even though she’s married. He’s baffled over a plain woman having an “Apollo” for a husband and how on earth could they possibly be together? (I don’t love that at the end of the book the conclusion is basically “he didn’t love her”). He’s suspicious of the charity doctor solely for having no interest in the women he works with.
At the end of the book, he mourns his wife and wants to find her grave. DIRECTLY after, he tries to find out Potter’s connection to another man and THEN his BEST FRIEND Israel’s girlfriend comes to confront him about Potter and he lusts over her. “How often does one find a girl at ones doorstep delivered like a parcel?” He says, he tells Mac to get her a flower, and he says “She was leaning toward me a little too close for strict chasteness, perhaps, and I noticed something; I could detect the scent of powder. Despite the fact this woman was being courted by my best friend in the world, for that one brief second, I desired her”. He has to “think it over”. And this is RIGHT after he tells her that he couldn’t be with Potter because their romance would be marred by his wife’s death. All he does is chase after women. It’s disgusting. As Mac said, he has his “nose in the air like a pointer after every woman’s scent”.
Every time a woman is introduced, I start grumbling to myself and rolling my eyes because inevitably, Llewelyn is gonna be hard as a rock and chasing after her. It’s not funny; I don’t know if the author means it to be, but it’s not. Probably because every woman inevitably wants to bang him. Even Miss Potter, who talks of celibacy and how marriage is tyranny is tethered to a politician (secretly) but still somehow charmed by Llewelyn after speaking to him…what…four times? Total? Including the time she cast him off? The women in the stories are there for Llewelyn to want to bone or to be repelled by. If they’re: 30+, ugly, and fat, then they are also smelly and of no value. If they’re: under thirty but preferably late teens to mid twenties, stunningly beautiful, and thin, then they have worth. Like…what did Beatrice Potter add to the plot? She was there to do inquiries of her own and hired on by Barker but…what did she do to help them? It seemed like she was solely there for Llewelyn to desire carnally. And, of course, there will be a new woman, or two, or three, in the next novel.
And, finally: I don’t understand Llewelyn’s beef with his former roommate. Llewelyn had Clay’s sovereign in his hand and then punched him. Clay is a scumbag, no doubt, but Llewelyn would have probably done the same if the roles were reversed. He shouldn’t have married his wife—he admitted he was tricked into it!—and it was against the university rules anyway. He also wouldn’t have cured her; it was consumption. Clay didn’t rob him of time spent with his wife—the disease did. And I don’t really buy him missing her or mourning her, because as I said above, he’s told Amy how his relationship with Beatrice wouldn’t work and an INSTANT later is about to kiss Amy! WHO IS DATING HIS BEST FRIEND! Maybe I would believe it more if he didn’t hit on every single woman that crossed his path and consider marriage even if/especially when he knows nothing about the women and their ideals are utterly different to his, like, say, an Irish nationalist anarchist, a rabbi’s daughter who is devoutly Jewish, or a staunch socialist, as if his wife hadn’t died not even TWO YEARS AGO.
I at first rated this three stars, but the way Llewelyn acts brought it down for me and I’m going two stars. I can’t stand his behaviour and it detracts from the mystery because he in fact deviates from the case in order to romance women. I wish he would tone it down and direct his attention toward the mysteries. I wish the author would place more clues in the story so I can better solve it. And I wish that there would be more of Barker’s presence in the stories with more of his story, because at this point he’s the reason I’m coming back.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 17, 2022
A good installment in this series, although not my favourite. The crimes are so despicable in this one, and some of the the sentiments of the time in which the story is set are just disturbing. However, I enjoyed the development of the partnership of the inquiry agents, and also learning more about Mac. I'm not a fan of any of the fight scenes - not in this book nor the earlier books, and I wish that element would go away, but at least it isn't too dominant. Boxing and martial arts are not of interest to me. The mystery was a good one and the gradual reveal was well paced.
November 29, 2008
I predicted the correct bad guy by chapter 6 (which was only about 50 pages in). I missed the preface of some exciting scene from later in the book that all the other Will Thomas mysteries had but it was still a good read. More was revealed of Llewelyn's past which was interesting and there's been a lot of growth in his character from the confused assistant of the first book. Of course he still has a lot to learn from Barker and I hope there will be many more books to come.
November 2, 2021
4 Stars
Love the interaction and action of Barker & Llewelyn; it's just the topic of this story was much harder to "enjoy" as a mystery. Human trafficking and body mutilation are not easy subjects to read about (nor write about, I'm sure). Was it a good story? Yes. Did it keep me guessing until the final reveal? Yes. Would I read it again? Most likely. The final scene in the book really solidified it for me, as to how much I REALLY like Barker.
I do recommend this book.
Love the interaction and action of Barker & Llewelyn; it's just the topic of this story was much harder to "enjoy" as a mystery. Human trafficking and body mutilation are not easy subjects to read about (nor write about, I'm sure). Was it a good story? Yes. Did it keep me guessing until the final reveal? Yes. Would I read it again? Most likely. The final scene in the book really solidified it for me, as to how much I REALLY like Barker.
I do recommend this book.
January 26, 2019
This series keeps getting better and better. I love the two main characters, the rich way that the author describes the streets, the clothes, the atmosphere of this period. its like reading a multi-layered cake - there is something on each layer for the reader to taste and digest.
December 30, 2014
Fun series !
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