The Hellfire Conspiracy

The fourth Barker and Llewellyn novel explores the dark side of the Victorian era in a search for a serial killer. A sub-plot has Llewellyn achieving a measure of justice against his personal nemesis. I loved the portrayal of Beatrice Potter, by the way.

Will Thomas lives in Oklahoma, but you'd never guess that reading his Barker & Llewelyn novels, which are set in a London during Victorian times and seem to reflect very well that time and place.
In "The Hellfire Conspiracy," the fourth novel in the series published in 2007, Cyrus Barker is hired to locate a 12-year-old girl who has disappeared in the city's East End while her mother had been doing volunteer work for an agency that serves the poor. She is but one of a number of girls who disappear each year in London, mostly to be forced into prostitution. But lately girls have been turning up dead. Soon the body of this girl is found.

For Barker and his assistant, Thomas Llewelyn, that doesn't mean the case is over. They redouble their show more efforts to try to save the lives of other girls.

As usual, Thomas sprinkles actual historical persons into his story, which conforms with events that were actually taking place in England at that time. Those with an interest in British history will have fun separating fact from fiction. Most of us won't care but will just enjoy the action. And there is plenty of that. show less

The 4th in a series about private enquiry agent Cyrus Barker and his assistant Thomas Llewellyn. As with the first three books, this one was thoroughly enjoyable. Will Thomas has created a fantastic set of characters and a view of London circa 1885 that's much more compelling (and honest) than other more famous detectives in that era.

If you haven;t read the previous ones, start with the first, Some Danger Involved. Half the fun is in the unveiling of the characters and their history.

The Hellfire Conspiracy is set in London in 1885, and features the detective (more precisely "private enquiry agents") team of Cyrus Barker and Thomas Llewelyn; the story is narrated by Llewelyn. Their latest case begins when a distraught father makes his way into Barker's office to engage the two to find his missing daughter. The man is worried that his daughter may have become the victim of "white slavers," and wants Barker to find her before it's too late. As Barker begins his search, he discovers that other young girls have turned up dead in the area, all the victim of a child molester with a bizarre need to take a trophy after the girls have died. It isn't long before the killer reveals himself: he calls himself Mr. Miacca, a name show more that Barker realizes is from an English fairy tale. Mr. Miacca taunts Barker & Llewelyn into finding him -- leading the two into a race against time.

Fun, as always, but I wasn't quite sure what the "conspiracy" was exactly, and I can't discuss it here or I will give away the show. I really enjoy these books for a few hours of leisurely reading.

I'd recommend these to people interested in the Victorian period (there is enough fact to keep you entertained and interested), people who are following the series, and those who just may want something different for a change. I will caution you that if you have not read the three books previous to this one, you may be lost; references are constantly made that you would only get had you read the earlier novels in the series.

Overall -- a fun read, well written and a well-plotted mystery. show less

Each book gets better. This was one heck of a good story twists and turns all through the story to keep the reader engrossed. This was a toughly believable story that could have happened. I can't wait to find out more about Barker and Llewelyn.

Barker & Llewelyn are asked to find the missing your teen daughter of a middle class family. What the discover is there have been more missing girls than just this one. Unfortunately none have been found alive and now the killer is taunting Barker by sending him poems after each girl is found dead. Can the two enquiry agents stop this serial killer before more bodies are found?

3.5 stars