The Thief Taker

Janet Gleeson's The Thief Taker offers a bit of a twist on the typical 18th-century London historical mystery, as Gleeson chooses as her protagonist/detective Agnes Meadowes, a middle-aged cook. At the behest of her employer, silvermaker Theodore Blanchard, Agnes undertakes an investigation into the theft of a silver wine cooler, stolen the night before it was scheduled for delivery to its buyer.

To get the wine cooler back, Agnes must consort with Marcus Pitt, the titular thief taker. These guys make good characters for books like this, and Pitt's no exception. Naturally, the usual twists and turns occur as the investigation proceeds; suspects come, go (and occasionally die) as Agnes goes about her search (while still returning home in show more time to cook all the meals).

Well researched and nicely written, this is a worthwhile book if you like the type. While the use of Agnes as detective does seem a little unlikely, just settle in and enjoy the ride.

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Marvelous! Great story, vivid setting, and characters both endearing and realistically nasty. I particularly loved the process of the protagonist thinking through the mystery while she jellied her knuckle of mutton and strung her cardoons- but then I'm a foodie and interested in historical food details. Well done!

Marvelous! Great story, vivid setting, and characters both endearing and realistically nasty. I particularly loved the process of the protagonist thinking through the mystery while she jellied her knuckle of mutton and strung her cardoons- but then I'm a foodie and interested in historical food details. Well done!

This was a pretty meh historical fiction mystery. Agnes is a young cook for a middlingly wealthy family and she gets recruited by the master of the house to assist with finding a large silver wine cooler that's been stolen from their shop. They explain why she was picked, but I still found it rather unlikely they'd recruit their chef to help solve a crime, even if they wanted it done without the help of the local police. There were also some murders that happened, so Agnes takes it upon herself to solve those, as the family she works for could care less about the loss of a few servants.

Nothing really grabbed me, though. Agnes was likable enough - your standard, headstrong, independent, forward-thinking woman who struggles between show more wanting to do what's right and wanting to keep her job because she has a child to support. There's the dichotomy between the upper and lower classes and of course, the guessing game of who-dun-it. It was well-written but not stand-out. show less

I really wanted to like this book. I'm a fan of historical fiction, and had hopes this might be the beginning of a series I could explore and enjoy. It may be the start of a series, and did, indeed, have some luscious details about life below stairs, particularly in the kitchen, but I just never connected with the main character, or any others. The mystery, itself, kept me paging through til the end, but it was with a great sense of relief when I finally finished, and realized I could pass it along via a BookCrossing release. I do love the cover art on the book, though.

Very authentic to the time & place its set in - 1750s London. A gripping historiacl murder mystery. I loved the cooking & recipes of this period. Fascinating!

I picked this book up at the bookstore because it was on sale and I wanted to read something different. I definitely got a good book for my money. This is not the time period I typically read but I enjoyed the entire book. I found myself full of emotions as I finished the book. I have passed the book on to my mother-in-law because I know it is a book she will thoroughly enjoy!