Heart of the Nile (A Barker & Llewelyn Novel, 15)
When Elizabeth Addison braves the frigid cold of Christmas in 1893 to seek out the Barker & Llewelyn Private Enquiry Agency, she is beside herself with worry. Her husband, Phillip, went to his volunteer job at the British Museum Egyptology Department the previous evening and hasn’t been seen since. Initial enquiries reveal that, through a weight discrepancy, Addison discovered a large heart-shaped cabochon ruby inside the chest of an uncatalogued mummy. He left the museum to alert his boss and was found the following morning, floating in Limehouse Basin. Phillip Addison had indeed stumbled upon something men will kill for.
Cyrus Barker is the most dangerous person in London. He relishes danger, never smiles, is never intimidated, runs the city’s premier enquiry agency and has dubious contacts throughout the city. And he is exceedingly wealthy! During their enquiries, Barker and Thomas are threatened, hounded by the museum director, questioned by a skeptical detective, shot at and jailed. Everyone wants the ruby and the mummy (which may or may not be Cleopatra).
This isn’t just an unexplained murder―there’s a priceless jewel without provenance and a potentially significant mummy, and everyone except Cyrus and Thomas loses interest in Phillip’s death pretty quickly.
This is the fourteenth book in the series. With a sharp eye for detail, author Will Thomas adds background colour by weaving strategically placed irony through Thomas Llewelyn’s whimsical narration. The British flavour remains constant, the characters are easy to invest in, and the relationship between boss and assistant constitutes a large part of the series’ success. Although I found the unmasking of the murderer and Elizabeth Addison’s character arc a bit difficult to swallow, this is nevertheless a rewarding, fast-paced mystery where the unravelling is anything but transparent.
