Corpse Thief: Joshua Hawke Thrillers #1

by Michael Arnold

To uncover a killer, he must dig up his past...

PART ONE of the searing new thriller featuring Joshua Hawke; Criminal, Informant, Body Snatcher, Liar.

MURDER AND BETRAYAL, SECRETS AND SPELLS, DEATH AND REDEMPTION IN GEORGIAN LONDON

It is 1821. A young girl has been brutally murdered.

With the gruesome circumstances of her death pointing to the supernatural, the authorities are desperate to identify the killer before panic and hysteria bring anarchy to the streets. The Bow Street Runners cannot penetrate the wall of silence shielding the thieves and cutthroats infesting London's squalid rookeries. In desperation, they must seek help from less traditional quarters.

Joshua Hawke is a body snatcher; one of the notorious Resurrection Men. Haunting the shallow graves of crowded and putrefying cemeteries, he makes his living through the supply of fresh corpses to the city’s anatomy schools. Hated and feared by common folk and threatened by rival gangs, he must battle to survive the dark alleys, smoke-filled gin palaces and notorious slums through which the rotten underworld is woven.

When the Runners come calling, Hawke has no choice but to investigate the girl's mysterious death, and it is not long before he begins to suspect that he has stumbled upon something reaching much further than the isolated murder of a street urchin.

Soon it is his own life that is threatened. His quest takes him from the deadly rookeries of St Giles, to the Portsmouth docks, all the way up to the Palace of Westminster, where great and powerful enemies lay in wait. And with each step, the demons from Hawke’s own past are closing in.

Because Joshua Hawke is not all he seems

Genres: Thriller

217 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 25, 2019

About the author

Michael lives in Hampshire with his wife and children. His childhood holidays were spent visiting castles and battlefields, but his fascination with the civil wars was piqued partly by the fact that his hometown and region of Hampshire are steeped in Civil War history.

Reviews

[Kevin Gardner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great start to a new series

I have been a big fan of Michael Arnold's stryker's English civil war series as well as his Highway man series set in the same period. This new series is of a later period in British history and is set a few years after the battle of Waterloo. The story centres on our hero, one Mr Joshua hawke who is a body snatcher who supplies body's to the capitals medical schools. No spoilers but the story centres around the murder of a young girl found floating in the sewers of London and hawkes somewhat reluctant involvement in catching her killers. This is a good read and I will certainly be reading the rest of this exciting new series. Highly recommended. Here's hoping we don't have to wait to long for book no two.

[Michael Arnold · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well I thought it was jolly wonderful.

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

London 1821, and a young girl is found brutally murdered. Joshua Hawke, a bodysnatcher with a dark past - a past that he'd rather forget - has been forced into investigating the crime by a Bow Street Runner who knows Hawke's secret.
This is a dark descriptive read, you'll believe you're with Hawke as he visits the Gin dens and cemeteries of olde London town.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember reading Michael Arnold's seemingly-abandoned Captain Stryker Civil War Chronicles books when they first came out, and quite enjoying them.

I wasn't so sure about the setting of his new series, of which this is the first (and currently only) entry.

None-the-less, I thought I would give it a chance anyway: after all, a gin-sodden opium addicted grave robber ex-policeman who previously participated in the Peterloo massacre is hardly, shall we say, your standard protagonist!

Set in and around London's seedy underground of the 1820s, I got a strong flavour of Jack the Ripper when reading this; of a murderer who strikes at his (or her?) victims before disappearing again, and of whom the authorities seemingly have little interest in apprehending until he - or she! - jeopardises their own interests.

It's interesting, therefore, seeing the life and time from the 'other side', as it were, from the points of view of the downtrodden masses rather than from the rich and powerful.

Be aware, however, that this is NOT a self-contained novel in its own right (well, it is and it isn't), in that some major plot threads are purposefully left hanging for the inevitable sequel.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not fancy reading this book. The subject didn't not appeal. But after reading it is a great story with such strong characters and ongoing investigation. I'm hooked.
I can't wait for the next book.

[Hazel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is a good read but kinda dragged in the first part. Not sure if there is a book 2 but would like to continue reading this series. Bought this in Tewkesbury and I thought it was a standalone.

[Peter Barrass · Rating 5 out of 5]

good read I will get par 2 when it comes out

[Mike · Rating 1 out of 5]

Have up as was a teenager/children’s book