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The Casebook of Stamford Hawksmoor: With an introduction by Philip Pullman
With top-hat and cane in hand, Scotland Yard's DI Stamford Hawksmoor shadows the murky backstreets of London on the hunt for a sadistic serial killer.
In the dying days of the French occupation of Britain, through gaslit, cobbled streets and squalid alleyways, stalks the great eagle Detective Stamford Hawksmoor in search of the homicidal manic whose killing spree claims dozens of seemingly unconnected victims, from random murders to targeted political assassinations.
The deeper he delves, the more he puts himself in mortal danger, pitting himself against unknown antagonists whilst under the scrutiny of the feared anti-terrorist squad, and the more he is forced to resort to working outside the law.
A prequel to Talbot's pioneering Grandville series, The Casebook of Stamford Hawksmoor is also an intriguing, labyrinthine stand-alone mystery graphic novel set in a world of hansom cabs and pea-souper fogs, where explosive violence can erupt at any second - and does!
In the dying days of the French occupation of Britain, through gaslit, cobbled streets and squalid alleyways, stalks the great eagle Detective Stamford Hawksmoor in search of the homicidal manic whose killing spree claims dozens of seemingly unconnected victims, from random murders to targeted political assassinations.
The deeper he delves, the more he puts himself in mortal danger, pitting himself against unknown antagonists whilst under the scrutiny of the feared anti-terrorist squad, and the more he is forced to resort to working outside the law.
A prequel to Talbot's pioneering Grandville series, The Casebook of Stamford Hawksmoor is also an intriguing, labyrinthine stand-alone mystery graphic novel set in a world of hansom cabs and pea-souper fogs, where explosive violence can erupt at any second - and does!
- GenresGraphic NovelsComics
193 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 6, 2025
About the author
Bryan Talbot
285 books190 followersTalbot began his comics work in the underground comix scene of the late 1960s. In 1969 his first work appeared as illustrations in Mallorn, the British Tolkien Society magazine, followed in 1972 by a weekly strip in his college newspaper.
He continued in the scene after leaving college, producing Brainstorm Comix, the first three of which formed The Chester P. Hackenbush Trilogy (a character reworked by Alan Moore as Chester Williams for Swamp Thing).
He started The Adventures of Luther Arkwright in 1978. It was originally published in Near Myths and continued on over the years in other publications. It was eventually collected together into one volume by Dark Horse. Along with When the Wind Blows it is one of the first British graphic novels.
In the early to mid-eighties he provide art for some of 2000 AD's flagship serials, producing 3 series of Nemesis the Warlock, as well as strips for Judge Dredd and Sláine.
The Tale of One Bad Rat deals with recovery from childhood sexual abuse.
Talbot moved to the American market in the 1990s, principally for DC, on titles like Hellblazer, Sandman and Batman. He also produced the art for The Nazz by Tom Veitch and worked with Tom's brother Rick Veitch on Teknophage, one of a number of mini-series he drew for Tekno Comix.
Talbot has illustrated cards for the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game.
He has also illustrated Bill Willingham's Fables, as well as returning to the Luther Arkwright universe with Heart of Empire. He has also worked on The Dead Boy Detectives.
In 2006, he announced the graphic novel Metronome, an existential, textless erotically-charged visual poem,written under the pseudonym Véronique Tanaka. He admitted that he was the author in 2009.
In 2007 he released Alice in Sunderland, which documents the connections between Lewis Carroll, Alice Liddell, and the Sunderland and Wearside area. He also wrote and drew the layouts for Cherubs!, which he describes as "an irreverent fast-paced supernatural comedy-adventure."
His upcoming work includes a sequel to 2009's Grandville, which Talbot says is "a detective steampunk thriller" and Paul Gravett calls it "an inspired reimagining of some of the first French anthropomorphic caricatures". It is planned as the first in a series of four or five graphic novels.
Source: Wikipedia
He continued in the scene after leaving college, producing Brainstorm Comix, the first three of which formed The Chester P. Hackenbush Trilogy (a character reworked by Alan Moore as Chester Williams for Swamp Thing).
He started The Adventures of Luther Arkwright in 1978. It was originally published in Near Myths and continued on over the years in other publications. It was eventually collected together into one volume by Dark Horse. Along with When the Wind Blows it is one of the first British graphic novels.
In the early to mid-eighties he provide art for some of 2000 AD's flagship serials, producing 3 series of Nemesis the Warlock, as well as strips for Judge Dredd and Sláine.
The Tale of One Bad Rat deals with recovery from childhood sexual abuse.
Talbot moved to the American market in the 1990s, principally for DC, on titles like Hellblazer, Sandman and Batman. He also produced the art for The Nazz by Tom Veitch and worked with Tom's brother Rick Veitch on Teknophage, one of a number of mini-series he drew for Tekno Comix.
Talbot has illustrated cards for the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game.
He has also illustrated Bill Willingham's Fables, as well as returning to the Luther Arkwright universe with Heart of Empire. He has also worked on The Dead Boy Detectives.
In 2006, he announced the graphic novel Metronome, an existential, textless erotically-charged visual poem,written under the pseudonym Véronique Tanaka. He admitted that he was the author in 2009.
In 2007 he released Alice in Sunderland, which documents the connections between Lewis Carroll, Alice Liddell, and the Sunderland and Wearside area. He also wrote and drew the layouts for Cherubs!, which he describes as "an irreverent fast-paced supernatural comedy-adventure."
His upcoming work includes a sequel to 2009's Grandville, which Talbot says is "a detective steampunk thriller" and Paul Gravett calls it "an inspired reimagining of some of the first French anthropomorphic caricatures". It is planned as the first in a series of four or five graphic novels.
Source: Wikipedia
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 7, 2026
I Will admit that this book has been on my watch list for a while now ever since I saw an new article about Bryan Talbot working on another books from the world of Grandville.
The story is totally standalone although does connect in with the original sequence of events. As such it shares the amazing and innovative artwork and cutting storyline and if anything its a lot bleaker than I was expecting.
As with the previous Grandville books there are loads of easter eggs to find - which I wont spoil but I have to say it did add to the enjoyment of reading it - and I suspect having not found them all I will have to go back and probably read them all again to see if I can spot any more.
So if you enjoyed the adventures of Le Brok in Grandville this is most certainly worth a look and I hope we see further additions to this work as well
The story is totally standalone although does connect in with the original sequence of events. As such it shares the amazing and innovative artwork and cutting storyline and if anything its a lot bleaker than I was expecting.
As with the previous Grandville books there are loads of easter eggs to find - which I wont spoil but I have to say it did add to the enjoyment of reading it - and I suspect having not found them all I will have to go back and probably read them all again to see if I can spot any more.
So if you enjoyed the adventures of Le Brok in Grandville this is most certainly worth a look and I hope we see further additions to this work as well
December 23, 2025
Heerlijk om terug te keren naar de wereld van Grandville met deze proloog.
January 3, 2026
A sepia-toned masterpiece from the writer who is currently masquerading as both Conan Doyle and Sidney Paget. Unlike many graphic novels the text here could stand alone as an enjoyable and exciting narrative while the illustrations lift it to another visual dimension.
This is a very decent Holmesian detective story with several musings on current events, especially the false patriotism of certain elements of modern society. Set as a Grandville prequel this involves only a couple of characters who appear or are mentioned in the later-set stories and I certainly hope that there may be more Stamford Hawksmoor books to come as we move towards his first meeting with a young adjunct named Archibald LeBrock. Hopefully, the final panels which show four of the characters coming together to celebrate Independence Day hint at a new set of irregulars with future mysteries to solve.
This is a very decent Holmesian detective story with several musings on current events, especially the false patriotism of certain elements of modern society. Set as a Grandville prequel this involves only a couple of characters who appear or are mentioned in the later-set stories and I certainly hope that there may be more Stamford Hawksmoor books to come as we move towards his first meeting with a young adjunct named Archibald LeBrock. Hopefully, the final panels which show four of the characters coming together to celebrate Independence Day hint at a new set of irregulars with future mysteries to solve.
April 25, 2026
A brilliant addendum to the Grandville series. The soft homage, warm sepia styling, and actual deduction made this a wonderful read.
July 27, 2026
Nineteenth-century French illustrator Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard, working under the name Grandville, drew satirical cartoons featuring anthropomorphic animals. British comic author and illustrator Bryan Talbot stumbled across the cartoons and was inspired to create a series of graphic novels using the same concept.
In the stories, France won the Napoleonic wars and England has been under French rule ever since.
This new stand-alone book is set before the events of the previous five-book series, and doesn’t require you to have read them. Featuring a Sherlock Holmes-like detective in the eagle-headed form of Stamford Hawksmoor, it’s a story about murder, blackmail and corruption. And it’s very, very good.
Talbot has painted the entire book in sepia-tinged colours, and his eye for costumes and architecture, not to mention his adherence to the rules that constrain his world-building, make for a gripping mystery.
ut it’s not just the illustrations that sell the story to the reader. Talbot’s writing is tight and well-paced, keeping a complicated – and very adult – plot simmering nicely, but the icing on the cake is his dialogue. Stamford Hawksmoor speaks with an intelligence and vocabulary that stands him above his peers, while other characters, from Walter (a pigeon) to Oswald (Stamford’s estranged son) are more than the sum of their parts through the words they speak.
It’s a weighty hardback, running to over 180 pages, and yet once I started it I didn’t want to break away from reading. I’m a big fan of the previous Grandvile books, but this stand-alone story is the best of them all.
In the stories, France won the Napoleonic wars and England has been under French rule ever since.
This new stand-alone book is set before the events of the previous five-book series, and doesn’t require you to have read them. Featuring a Sherlock Holmes-like detective in the eagle-headed form of Stamford Hawksmoor, it’s a story about murder, blackmail and corruption. And it’s very, very good.
Talbot has painted the entire book in sepia-tinged colours, and his eye for costumes and architecture, not to mention his adherence to the rules that constrain his world-building, make for a gripping mystery.
ut it’s not just the illustrations that sell the story to the reader. Talbot’s writing is tight and well-paced, keeping a complicated – and very adult – plot simmering nicely, but the icing on the cake is his dialogue. Stamford Hawksmoor speaks with an intelligence and vocabulary that stands him above his peers, while other characters, from Walter (a pigeon) to Oswald (Stamford’s estranged son) are more than the sum of their parts through the words they speak.
It’s a weighty hardback, running to over 180 pages, and yet once I started it I didn’t want to break away from reading. I’m a big fan of the previous Grandvile books, but this stand-alone story is the best of them all.
February 5, 2026
The popular myth is that the French Revolution was the seizure of power by the common people. True, provoked by starvation and injustice, after decades of unrest, the desperate and angry citizens were driven to insurrection. But, from the beginning, they were led by a collection of lawyers, politicians, businessmen and anti-royalist aristocrats. These were the people who took control and who submitted to Napoleonic militarism. No surprise then, that the French empowered the bourgeoisie of our country, whence this abominable poverty. Hark at me. I have no right to complain. I'm one of them.
I am a huge fan of the Grandville series so when I learnt of this new standalone prequel, I had to find a copy and knew that it would gazump everything else I have to read.
In the final book of the original pentalogy, we discovered that the great Detective Inspector Archibald "Archie" LeBrock of Scotland Yard had been mentored by a Stamford Hawksmoor, who taught him the art of detection.
The story is set in the run up to the English Independence Day and sees Hawksmoor caught in a mystery involving corrupt politicians, bent coppers, police brutality, British terrorists, and a brutal murderer, which all starts with the death of his brother.
It is absolute perfection and fits perfectly within the Grandville universe whilst remaining independent enough to be a jumping off point for new readers. Actually, so much so that I am going to treat myself to re-reading them all. 5 stars.
I am a huge fan of the Grandville series so when I learnt of this new standalone prequel, I had to find a copy and knew that it would gazump everything else I have to read.
In the final book of the original pentalogy, we discovered that the great Detective Inspector Archibald "Archie" LeBrock of Scotland Yard had been mentored by a Stamford Hawksmoor, who taught him the art of detection.
The story is set in the run up to the English Independence Day and sees Hawksmoor caught in a mystery involving corrupt politicians, bent coppers, police brutality, British terrorists, and a brutal murderer, which all starts with the death of his brother.
It is absolute perfection and fits perfectly within the Grandville universe whilst remaining independent enough to be a jumping off point for new readers. Actually, so much so that I am going to treat myself to re-reading them all. 5 stars.
January 24, 2026
This Victorian-era-with-talking-animals graphic novel may be inspired by Sherlock Holmes, with an eagle-headed sleuth who narrates to us in place of a Watson, but its twisty plot about murders and subterfuge in a Britain gaining independence from the French Empire owes more to the complex storylines of Hammett and Chandler. I've never read Talbot's other works, but THE CASEBOOK does a splendid job of explaining an intricate setting while also unravelling a plot full of double-crossings and lowlifes, with some delightful worldbuilding touches that distinguish this alternate timeline (my favourite is a brief gag where two characters are talking about an upcoming match between Arsenal and Millwall...only to reveal that, presumably because of this timeline's French influence, the game they're fans of is not football but pétanque). And while THE CASEBOOK's sepia-toned artwork evokes the Victorian era, its depiction of Britain as a rebellious colony takes cues from post-colonial conflicts such as the Troubles, a witty concept that allows this graphic novel to thrive as a piece of what-if social commentary.
November 28, 2025
This is absolutely brilliant, a sepia toned delight to read from the very start; Forward & Preface to Afterword & Enlightening Further Reading.
Set many years before the first Grandville book this relays the investigation by detective Stamford Hawksmoor into an all too familiar corrupt conspiracy of elites creaming off from British public money in the run up to Britain's independence from the French Empire. Full of satirical nods to our recent history, whilst spinning out of an alternative history where Napoleon rule spread to these Sceptred Isles the story moves along at a frenetic, but not too confusing, pace, we are shown the desperate depths to the depraved heights of early 17th century London and it's not pretty, although the art by Bryan Talbot is superlative - dynamic and explosive, but also quiet & thoughtful where it needs to be.
Highly recommended.
Set many years before the first Grandville book this relays the investigation by detective Stamford Hawksmoor into an all too familiar corrupt conspiracy of elites creaming off from British public money in the run up to Britain's independence from the French Empire. Full of satirical nods to our recent history, whilst spinning out of an alternative history where Napoleon rule spread to these Sceptred Isles the story moves along at a frenetic, but not too confusing, pace, we are shown the desperate depths to the depraved heights of early 17th century London and it's not pretty, although the art by Bryan Talbot is superlative - dynamic and explosive, but also quiet & thoughtful where it needs to be.
Highly recommended.
June 25, 2026
182 pages of beautiful sepia coloured artwork and a tense thriller set in an England ruled by the French - soon to leave! If you know the world of Grandville you know what to expect - animals in human form form the head downwards. Talbot weaves a great tale of toffs, toughs, and the poor. His images - as usual - are spot on, down to details of characters in the background acting out their journeys while we concentrate on the protagonist and his pursuit of a killer and the reason for the killings. I'm a sucker for characters from old English literature appearing - a character called Drummond in his animal form is a ...bulldog! I can't mention the story in any detail as I ned to re-read it straight away to grab all those little clues I may have missed. But it's a thriller worthy of one Arthur Conan Doyle
July 19, 2026
5 Stars/
94%
Occasionally you come across one of those works of art, appearing as though from nowhere, drawing you in so entirely, that its hard not to fall head over heels in love with the world, the characters, and the ease in which the rich language is put on paper.
Gorgeously illustrated, unflinchingly gritty and complex, and an incredible representation of an alt-Victorian (Napoleonic) London.
This was one of those. I knew nothing about it, but do indeed require more of Talbot's work asap.
94%
Occasionally you come across one of those works of art, appearing as though from nowhere, drawing you in so entirely, that its hard not to fall head over heels in love with the world, the characters, and the ease in which the rich language is put on paper.
Gorgeously illustrated, unflinchingly gritty and complex, and an incredible representation of an alt-Victorian (Napoleonic) London.
This was one of those. I knew nothing about it, but do indeed require more of Talbot's work asap.
November 12, 2025
Recent Reads: The Casebook Of Stamford Hawksmoor. Bryan Talbot's prequel to his Grandville books is a political thriller hidden in an anthropomorphic Holmesian mystery. After 200 years of French rule London is soon to be free, but someone aims to profit from chaos and murder. Conspiracies run free.
December 12, 2025
A wonderful addendum to the Grandville series. This prequel is a great story in its own right. The characters are a delight and the sepia toned art gives this volume a distinct but compatible style with the LeBrok books.
February 2, 2026
Excellent story. A thriller and a pager turner. I’m not massively into the art. It’s beautiful in its own way but it’s just not to my taste so much. But what a story and world.
February 19, 2026
Just fab - story, characters, artwork, deeper ideas...loved it!! Need to persuade the library to get the Grandville ones in...or save up because I feel I may need to own this!!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews