The Hellfire Conspiracy
A
Barker and Llewelyn Mystery
Will
Thomas
Simon & Schuster (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-406-54805-X (141654805X)
ISBN-13: 978-1-406-54805-8 (9781406548058)
Publication Date: July 2007
List Price: $24.00
Synopsis (from
the publisher): 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.
Review:
Private enquiry agent Cyrus Barker and his assistant Thomas Llewelyn
take on assignment to find a missing upper class twelve year girl in The Hellfire Conspiracy,
the fourth mystery in this series by Will Thomas.
The girl was abducted from the East End, a low class, seedy part of
London. Barker and Llewelyn had heard that the white slavers were back
who may have taken her to sell her to someone who would whisk her out
of the country and concentrate their efforts there. During their
intense search, however, they come upon knowledge that five other girls
between the ages of eleven and fourteen had been found murdered and
tossed in the river. They were nude, raped, their faces painted like
some satanic ritual, and one finger cut off at the first knuckle. This
was definitely not the work of the white slavers. They finally find the
missing girl in the River Thames, nude, raped and strangled, with her
face painted and one finger cut off at the knuckle. Though convinced
the white slavers were not responsible for this crime, there are other
sinister secret cults at work. Their search goes on in the darkest,
most barbaric, desolate, and uncivilized parts of London. When another
child, age eleven, disappears, Barker pledges to the parents that they
will find her before she, too, is killed.
Though the crimes here are against children, the author doesn't dwell
on the murders but instead focuses on the investigation by Barker and
Llewelyn. When they discover who the malicious murderer is, Llewelyn
professes surprise though Barker claims he knew it all along; most
readers will as well.
Set in late 1880s London, the period and location details add a
mysterious atmospheric layer to a well-paced plot. Despite the horrific
nature of the crimes, The
Hellfire Conspiracy is a pleasure to read.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of The Hellfire Conspiracy and to Touchstone Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, for providing a copy of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Mysteries in this series ...
Some Danger
Involved
Touchstone Books (Hardcover), June 2004
ISBN-10: 0-7432-5618-2 (0743256182)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-5618-6 (9780743256186)
To Kingdom Come
Touchstone Books (Hardcover), June 2005
ISBN-10: 0-7432-5622-0 (0743256220)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-5622-3 (9780743256223)
The Limehouse
Text
Touchstone Books (Hardcover), July 2006
ISBN-10: 0-7432-7334-6 (0743273346)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-7334-3 (9780743273343)
The
Hellfire Conspiracy
Touchstone Books (Hardcover), July 2007
ISBN-10: 1-4165-4805-X (141654805X)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-4805-8 (9781416548058)
The
Black Hand
Touchstone Books (Trade Paperback), July 2008
ISBN-10: 1-4165-5895-0 (1416558950)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-5895-8 (9781416558958)
Omnimystery keywords for The Hellfire Conspiracy
...
Location(s) referenced: London.