This was the seventh book in the series and I do feel that I missed out somewhat on he dyanmics between characters because I've not read the previous novels.
The book is very well written and the plot is really good. I woul recommed especially if youve already read the others in the series

I enjoy the setting for her Sharpe and Donovan series. The characters are great, always enjoy her books.

I love mysteries that are fast-paced with ever-mounting tension and high stakes. The book blurb for Carla Neggers’ latest installment in the Sharpe and Donovan series promised all of those things, but sadly fell flat for me as I tackled my first novel by this author. While there was a lot of backstory revealed for the characters, I think that to really appreciate the information you’d need to have read the previous books in the series.

FBI agents Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan are wrapping up their honeymoon in Ireland by visiting her semi-retired art detective grandfather when they discover that his apartment has been broken into, but nothing has been stolen. As odd as that is for their grandfather, they’re called in to consult in England when an ex-art thief-turned MI5 agent is discovered with a murdered man on his doorstep, who turns out to be one of two men that had kidnapped him and murdered his parents 30 years ago. While Oliver York has run for the hills, his childhood friend and current gardener Harriet Balfour (who also happens to secretly be an ex-MI5 agent) takes control of the scene along with the butler. Thief’s Mark jumps back and forth between the English countryside, Ireland, Scotland, and the eastern coast of the United States as various agents for the FBI and MI5 try to trail the murdered man’s last week of life, as well as his last thirty years of life since kidnapping Oliver.

Thief’s Mark is heavy on character interaction through dialogue and less so on the action. It felt like this book explored the character dynamics that needed to be resolved from several books worth of encounters, and it bogged the flow down in places. I did enjoy the characters, but it felt like they sat around and talked a lot without moving the plot forward that much. This is a mystery that’s light on the romance and police procedural aspects, with little gore as well.

I give Thief’s Mark a 3.5 out of 5. The writing and characters weren’t compelling enough to catch and hold my attention for long, and it seemed like it took over 80% of the book for any real danger to the main characters to materialize. This was definitely a very slow burning book, and it’s just a personal preference on my part that I don’t enjoy slower developing stories. But once the danger hit, everything was fast and furious and the answers were flying along with a few fists. I really enjoyed the epic climax and resolution of Thief’s Mark.

A fast paced novel of romantic suspense featuring characters introduced earlier in the series - this is book 7. There were a number of quirky characters and I was intrigued by the Cotswolds setting, but it was not the strongest of this talented author's books. However, those who have followed the main characters: Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan, now on their honeymoon, and Oliver York, a former art thief, will appreciate their interaction.

The book begins with a newly married couple of FBI agents, on honeymoon in Ireland, and the wife's grandfather, and explains their connection to the main character, Oliver North. Then we switch settings to Cotswold in England where Oliver is present with an MI5 agent but he disappears from the scene before we get a chance to really observe him and instead, we are left with another elderly man, a landscape artist and other household staff. Finally, Oliver resurfaces on the telephone and explains that he's about to "go dark". He comes up for air in Ireland in another conversation with a priest in the US. As a main character, Oliver's disappearing acts made me think I was supposed to chase him instead of the criminals and I enjoyed the dual roles that the author gave him. The intersection of these two major intelligence organizations - FBI (US) and MI5 (UK) made for an internationally appealing case.
The author includes a lot of diversity in terms of character ages and background and it was an exercise to imagine what the next characters would be like. The plot had sufficient mystery and intrigue to be interesting but the author also interspersed art and historical references that increased its charm.
I enjoyed the way the author moved around the British Isles so reading the story also felt like an adventure. Although the book is part of the series, it functions as a standalone book - true, I had no idea of how some relationships came into being but I think the author did a good job of introducing me to who the characters were now, even if I didn't know their histories.
I didn't think the cover was particularly attractive and the novel might have benefitted from a prologue that explained some of the background. Instead, we had a lot of detail surrounding almost every description, so there were parts of the narrative that were excessive explanatory. There were a lot of dead characters - people who we met only through their legacy because they had died before this installment in the story began but even in their passing, were still influencing the characters and their decisions. Isn't this the way real life works though?
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book - I admired the way the author kept me engaged in a story that I was coming to late, I enjoyed the relationships and most (not all) of the plot resolutions .

As a young boy, Oliver York witnessed the murder of his wealthy parents in their London apartment. The killers kidnapped him and held him in an isolated Scottish ruin, but he escaped, thwarting their plans for ransom. Now, after thirty years on the run, one of the two men Oliver identified as his tormentors may have surfaced.

Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan are enjoying the final day of their Irish honeymoon when a break-in at the home of Emma's grandfather, private art detective Wendell Sharpe, points to Oliver. The Sharpes have a complicated relationship with the likable, reclusive Englishman, an expert in Celtic mythology and international art thief who taunted Wendell for years. Emma and Colin postpone meetings in London with their elite FBI team and head straight to Oliver. But when they arrive at York's country home, a man is dead and Oliver has vanished.

As the danger mounts, new questions arise about Oliver's account of his boyhood trauma. Do Emma and Colin dare trust him? With the trail leading beyond Oliver's small village to Ireland, Scotland and their own turf in the US, the stakes are high, and Emma and Colin must unravel the decades-old tangle of secrets and lies before a killer strikes again.



* * * * *



I love it when I stumble into a series late however the author manages to give just enough of the back story that I don't feel totally lost. That is difficult to do and I always try to give kudos to the author when they succeed. I immediately became intrigued by the characters of Emma and Colin so I will have to check out their story from the beginning.



THIEF'S MARK is mainly character driven and I very much enjoyed meeting all of the characters especially Oliver and his major domo Martin. These characters present a picture of Oliver that doesn't quite fit with the general idea of him being an international art thief.



It was quite interesting to see all the pieces come together to solve the puzzle. I very much enjoyed watching Emma and Colin work even when they are in a country where they have no juridisction.



I do recommend THIEF'S MARK to any of my readers who enjoy a well written character driven crime drama. This book is sure to please.



*** I received this book at no charge from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions expressed within are my own.

I have a tendency to job head first into a series, with whatever book I find first. This was not a 100% of a good idea with this series, as the lives of most of the characters are pretty complicated. However it didn't take me long to get into the story, which I loved, even though the pacing was very slow.

I loved the setting and more than that I loved Emma and Colin. I like stories with established relationships. The book opens as Emma and Colin are finishing up their honeymoon. Even better, as the story goes along, I learned Emma was once a nun! I really have to go back and read the earlier books, just to learn how she came to marry Colin. This is the seventh installment of the Sharpe and Donovan series.

There are so many characters in this intricate mystery, that involves a thirty year old murder and a child, who was kidnapped and is now a grown man, turned art thief, turned MI5 informant. Oliver reminds me a bit of Neal Caffery from White Collar. He's a criminal but he's lovable. You can definitely understand why Henrietta has feelings she's trying to hide from him.

Most of the action takes place in the last quarter of the book. Its a slow buildup, kind of like a children's toy that you wind up and then let it loose. Once the action starts, it doesn't stop and the end results definitely aren't what you are likely expecting.

I liked the complexity of the secondary characters that really felt more like main characters; Martin, Ruthie, Henrietta, and Finian to name but a few and of course the dog, Alfred, named after Batman's butler.

The setting is fabulous. I really hope to get the other books so that this series will pull together for me.

I have read all of the books in this series and this one was not my favorite. It just seem to drag a lot. I think it is time to end this series and start something new. I have had several customers say that they too thought it was slow

Oh boy Thief's Mark is probably not the story to have started with in the series. Yep, I giant head to desk moment. Don't get me wrong it wasn't a bad book, but definitely not one to start where I did. Yes, these characters are way established. Come on they are on their honeymoon by the time I'm starting. However, I was intrigued by the cover. Okay, totally love the cover. Yes, this is one of my downfalls. Second downfall would be starting a book that is not the beginning of a series. By the way, definitely recommend don't do that for this series. Seriously, a big fat don't.

Yes, I was extremely slow on the uptake here. Yes, I did have a little trouble keeping up on all the things going on in the story. Like in the blurb they were pretty much everywhere in the story trying to solve the case. Totally sucked for Emma and Collin, because they were on their honeymoon, but they needed to help Oliver before he got into more trouble.

Overall, not a bad story. Again, I probably should have read the previous books in the series to see how Emma and Collin worked together, as we know I didn't. Who knows, I might checkout the previous books from the library to see if I like the series. As a team I think I like Emma and Collin, they seem like they work well together.

Copy provided by Harlequin via NetGalley

Emma and Colin Donovan are heading home after a superb honeymoon in Ireland when a meeting with her grandfather worries Emma enough to persuade her and Colin to stop in England on their way home. A murder with the dead body and the disappearance of Oliver York lead Emma and Donovan to Oliver's estate in the English countryside.
Oliver York's kidnapping and subsequent trauma that transformed Oliver into a renowned art thief now consultant to the British Secret Service have dominated the series. Now finally readers have a chance to find out what truly happened on that traumatic night that left Oliver an orphan and killed his parents.
The secrets that are revealed and the great detective work that goes into it make this perhaps one of my favorite books in the series with its great pacing and suspense.

Thief’s Mark
A Sharpe & Donovan Novel #8
Carla Neggers
MIRA, August 2017
ISBN 978-0-778-33031-8
Hardcover

From the publisher—

A murder in a quiet English village, long-buried secrets and a man’s search for answers about his traumatic past entangle FBI agents Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan in the latest edge-of-your-seat Sharpe & Donovan novel

As a young boy, Oliver York witnessed the murder of his wealthy parents in their London apartment. The killers kidnapped him and held him in an isolated Scottish ruin, but he escaped, thwarting their plans for ransom. Now, after thirty years on the run, one of the two men Oliver identified as his tormentors may have surfaced.

Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan are enjoying the final day of their Irish honeymoon when a break-in at the home of Emma’s grandfather, private art detective Wendell Sharpe, points to Oliver. The Sharpes have a complicated relationship with the likable, reclusive Englishman, an expert in Celtic mythology and international art thief who taunted Wendell for years. Emma and Colin postpone meetings in London with their elite FBI team and head straight to Oliver. But when they arrive at York’s country home, a man is dead and Oliver has vanished.

As the danger mounts, new questions arise about Oliver’s account of his boyhood trauma. Do Emma and Colin dare trust him? With the trail leading beyond Oliver’s small village to Ireland, Scotland and their own turf in the United States, the stakes are high, and Emma and Colin must unravel the decades-old tangle of secrets and lies before a killer strikes again.

My favorite mystery setting, an English village, and a pair of FBI agents who are definitely out of their geographic element…what more could I want? Throw in an art thief (which I’ve always found fun and exciting, probably because these art thieves are daring and, well, sort of James Bond-ish, even the women) and a heinous crime from the past and the stage is set for an engrossing read.

Emma’s grandfather is an art detective in the private collector realm and has a strange tale for Emma and Colin. It seems that he’s had a break-in by someone apparently interested in items connected to one Oliver York. To add a little more mystique, Oliver used to be an accomplished art thief but then became an MI5 agent. Emma and Colin have years-long ties to Oliver through both of his professions but, when a dead man is found at his home, the case becomes ever-expanding and eventually involves multiple countries and law enforcement organizations.

While this is part of the Sharpe & Donovan series, it’s essentially a standalone and focuses largely on Oliver. He is a fascinating man and he makes it easy to understand why cops and robbers sometimes can’t help liking and even respecting each other. Emma and Colin are a delightful couple as well as being really good agents and Oliver’s colleague, Henrietta, is a force of nature but it’s Wendell, Emma’s grandfather, who really stole my heart. All in all, Thief’s Mark was a grand introduction, for me, to this series and the rest of the books are going on my wishlist right now.

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, September 2017.

Favorite Quotes:

I never bought the absolute-secrecy thing as a kid. I always figured Father Callaghan would rat me out to my parents if I told him the good stuff. Did you tell your priest all your sins?

He’s a great guy but he can be like an old housecoat. Comfy and no bother.

His flush deepened until he was purple to his hair roots.

My Review:

As I made my way through the complicated tale of Thief’s Mark, and even as I finished that last page, I vacillated in how I felt about the author’s style as well as how to review and rate the book. For the most part, it was like old-timey picture-taking with sepia prints - incrementally slow and causing me to squirm a bit – that was until the last quarter of the book when everything happened on triple zoom speed… like I’d accidentally drank rocket fuel or hit fast forward. However, despite the tortoise/hare like speed of the storyline, I was intrigued, baffled and perplexed by the present circumstances and thirty-year history of the original crime, overwhelmed by the complicated family histories, and blown away by the sheer amount of eccentric characters; yet still completely on the hook for the totally never saw ANY of that coming ending. It was an intricate head-scratcher, but I have to bow to the creativity of the plot and author, she confounded me. I have just recently started to dip into this genre and was unaware of Ms. Neggers’ massive body of work, and have surmised she must be a rather devious character herself to have contrived such a twisty tale populated by a large, peculiar, and cagey cast of characters.

Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan finally get some alone time … and what happens? Their FBI duties call, and in a big way. Their pal Oliver York finds himself in some hot water, and he might not be able to get out of it himself.

This adventure was full of good nuggets… Irish history, family secrets, betrayal, art, and the sanctity of Catholic confession. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get as much of the Emma-Colin banter I’m used to. These newlyweds had to put up more of a united front in this book… and good thing for Oliver that they did!

To add to the “more mystery, less romance” tack, Neggers wrote some quirky characters that threw me off my Sharpe&Donovan game. I expected the usual one or two odd ducks, but Neggers painted quirkiness over pretty much a whole family. It’s a great character study for sure.

This is a terrific series if you’re a fan of romantic suspense, Ireland, New England, and the FBI. Start with the first book, because you don’t want to miss the fun tension.

Thief’s Mark is the seventh book in a series featuring FBI agents Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan but I haven’t read any of the previous books, I just decided to start here after hearing such good things about this series. There did seem to be very extensive back stories relating to not only the two main characters, but also the secondary ones and I have to admit I felt like I was missing out a little. Neggers did provide some background information as to past events, but I feel like if I had actually read the earlier books I would’ve been better prepared and informed about what exactly was going on, I was missing some subtle nuances. I don’t want to dissuade anyone from reading this as a standalone, just for me personally I feel I would’ve benefited and enjoyed this one more had I been caught up.

Sharpe and Donovan are wrapping up their honeymoon when they get roped into assisting an investigation surrounding an old cold case involving their sometimes friend Oliver. This was a multifaceted mystery, a good old fashioned whodunnit that was on the lighter side, there’s no gore or overly descriptive violence here. There are many various plot threads running through this book and when things came to a head it was unexpected and unpredictable. This has romantic elements and is very much a romantic suspense so if you like a dash of love in a murder mystery, you’ll like this one. I really liked both Sharpe and Donovan, I was sort of reminded of Catherine Coulter’s FBI series with Sherlock and Savich, just not as heavy, so if you like that series give this one a shot!

Thief’s Mark is the seventh book in the Sharpe and Donovan series. I’ve read the entire series and have enjoyed every single one. The series has been a combination of mystery with just a touch of romantic suspense. In the first book in the series Saint’s Gate, undercover FBI agent Colin Donovan runs into art expert, ex-nun and current non-undercover FBI agent Emma Sharpe on an art crimes case that involves their hometowns in Maine.

It’s the start of a beautiful relationship, one that finally results in their wedding at the end of Liar’s Key. Thief’s Mark takes place at the end of their honeymoon. At the end of my review of Liar’s Key, I speculated that it was highly unlikely that Emma and Colin would manage to have an uninterrupted honeymoon, and I’m pleased to say that I was right.

But this case isn’t really about them. Like so many long-running mystery series, part of what keeps readers coming back for more is whether or not they enjoy the adventures of not just the heroes, but whether they like the surrounding cast of characters who inevitably become involved in those adventures over time.

Whether it’s the residents of the small town in a cozy, or the other cops in the shop of a police procedural, if we don’t like the supporting cast, the series eventually loses its charm. At least for this reader.

So, while Thief’s Mark is definitely a part of the series, the mystery that has to be solved is not one of the art crimes that the FBI usually has Emma tackle. Instead, the mystery is that of the long-ago tragedy that set their friend and sometime frenemy Oliver York on the road that led to his becoming a high-class art thief and eventually an MI5 agent specializing in blood antiquities.

When Oliver was 8 years old he witnessed the murder of his parents in their London flat. He was kidnapped by the killers, dragged to Scotland, and escaped while his captors argued about his ransom. The tragedy altered the course of his life.

As this story begins, one of the killers is found dying on the front steps of Oliver’s Cotswolds farm. And Oliver bolts from the scene, leaving his friends behind to await the police and worry about what’s happened to him.

What’s happened is that his entire life has just unraveled, and a few words from a dying man have made him question everything he thought he remembered about that awful night so long ago.

Emma and Colin, dragged to Cotswolds at the end of their trip, find themselves in the midst of an investigation that spans the local police, and MI5, as well as opening up on surprising fronts in Dublin and back home in the U.S.

Thirty years of lies are about to become unraveled. So many assumptions are about to come unglued. Many long ago wrongs finally have a chance at being made right. But at what cost?

Escape Rating B+: I have enjoyed every book in this series, and Thief’s Mark was certainly no exception.

One of the interesting threads in this book was the pivot. The relationship between Emma and Colin, and whether they could manage to get together and stay together, in spite of two meddling families, undercover assignments on his part and a family of interfering detectives on her part who mess with and occasionally mess up their cases. Now that they finally managed to get married at the end of Liar’s Key, some of that tension has to shift somewhere else in the story.

In Thief’s Mark, it shifts to Oliver York. In many ways, Thief’s Mark is really Oliver York’s book, and to a significant extent Emma and Colin are side characters in his story. They are operating in England on the sufferance of MI5, they have no jurisdiction, and Oliver has been a bit too involved in some of their previous cases for them to be considered neutral observers. And Emma’s famous grandfather and Oliver are friends enough that Wendell Sharpe helps him when he’s on the run.

Things are a mess, but it’s definitely Oliver’s mess. Emma and Colin are mostly onlookers. And that’s more than okay. The originating event was Oliver’s tragedy, and the person who needs resolution out of all the current issues is Oliver. And he’s been an interesting character throughout the whole series, from his initial introduction as a mythology expert to his unmasking as the thief who bedeviled Wendell Sharpe to his current incarnation as MI5 consultant. He’s had a rough life and it’s time for his world to get straightened out a bit.

What made this particular mystery so fascinating was just how big it eventually became, and how much it unraveled by the time all the loose ends were tied up. Oliver was not the only person affected by that tragedy, even though he was the one affected the most. He also wasn’t the only one with questions that needed to be answered, and it was good to see that all those dangling messes (along with the red herrings) got cleaned up by the end.

As the story unfolds, Oliver finds himself to be both the thief and the mark.

That the story and the case focused on Oliver rather than Emma and Colin also made for a bit of fresh air blown into this long running series. There are plenty of other interesting characters among Emma and Colin’s band of usual suspects, and I’m terribly curious to see which long-standing mysteries in whose life get untangled next.

Thief’s Mark is the seventh installment in the Sharpe and Donovan series by bestselling author, Carla Neggers. The story begins with FBI agents, Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan, on their honeymoon in Ireland, stopping off to see Emma’s Grandfather, Wendell Sharpe, who runs a private art detective agency. Wendell, in his 80s, has just discovered that his home has been broken into, and appreciates that Emma and Colin are there to assist. However, when the break-in points to an Englishman they are all acquainted with and definitely don’t trust, they travel to England to get the facts from Oliver York, who was previously a gifted, brilliant art thief, and who now works for M15. By the time Emma and Colin arrive, a man has been brutally murdered and Oliver has disappeared. The dead man turns out to be one of the men who kidnapped Oliver when he was eight, and murdered his parents.

The main characters in this series are well-developed, and likeable. They are a bit different from the norm, in that Emma is an art expert, and worked for her Grandfather’s business before becoming an agent. Colin is, of course, the-best-of-the-best when it comes to being on the FBI HIT team, and they work well together. Although Emma and Colin work in the US, and live in Maine, Neggers weaves the heritage of Ireland and Scotland into the stories, which adds charm and makes the books all the more interesting. Neggers is an excellent storyteller, and is adept in building suspense as the story evolves. There is no graphic violence, sex, or language in this novel, making it suitable for almost anyone. However, that doesn’t mean that this thriller is less than exciting; rather the emphasis is on the characters, the investigation, and the English backdrop rather than shallow filler.

Although it’s probably best if readers start with the first and read through this series in order, Neggers adds enough background that it can be read as a standalone. This is a light, fun series, but it is much more intense than a cozy and there are twists and turns as well as a surprise ending. Highly recommended.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

I am always on the lookout for new authors to add to my favourites and I had never read a novel by Carla Neggers before, so I was pretty excited to dive into this one.

The novel’s premise is very interesting, but also a little confusing, so let me do my best to try and give a small summary: a man (Oliver), witnessed a terrible tragedy as a child (his parent’s murdered and then being the victim of a kidnapping), is in danger after one of the men who tormented him surfaces. Enter Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan, newly married and on the tail end of their Irish honeymoon, postpone their meetings with their elite FBI team to try and help Oliver. However, when they arrive, they find a dead man at his home and Oliver vanished. As danger mounts, they must unravel old secrets and bring justice. Follow that?

Now I’ll be honest, going into this novel, I didn’t know that this was the seventh in a series, so I was a little bit surprised to find myself so disoriented in the beginning. The story begins immediately. Now, don’t get me wrong, the author does a good job at easing the reader into the story, but I absolutely felt like I was missing huge chunks of a backstory and the character relationships. I also felt a little bit confused with the location and settings in the story; they seem to jump around quite randomly without much warning. I would find myself getting into the story and then leaping across somewhere else. I do feel like this had more to do with my copy on Netgalley and not the writer’s ability because it is very obvious this woman can write! However, it was a little distracting nonetheless.

The romance aspect, which I know has been a big complaint for some, was one of my favourite features of this novel. I love when an author can bring a little bit of edge and keep a romantic element. It helps bring some hope to all the doom and gloom in a typical police procedural. I was a huge fan of Emma and Colin and would absolutely read more into the series to see how they came to be a couple and gain some perspective.

If you like a police procedural with multiple elements moving simultaneously, then I believe this one will catch your interest!

Is it a rule that a couple who have met while solving murders and uncovering mysteries will undoubtedly have a “busman’s honeymoon”? It would seem so, especially in long-running series. The phrase is a twist on “busman’s holiday,” a “vacation or form of recreation that involves doing the same thing that one does at work.” The 13th Lord Peter Wimsey book, Busman's Honeymoon, which celebrates the union of detective Lord Peter and mystery writer Harriet Vane, has the couple discovering a dead body in the cellar. Moreover, the corpse is the former owner of their home Tallboys. More recently, J. D. Robb’s fourth In Death book, Rapture in Death, has NYPSD Lieutenant Eve Dallas and Roarke, her billionaire groom, interrupted on their off-planet honeymoon by an inexplicable suicide.

Nothing so exotic for the Irish honeymoon of FBI agents Colin Donovan and Emma Sharpe. But on their last day, they get a disturbing call from Emma’s grandfather, private art detective Wendell Sharpe—someone has broken into his Dublin home.

Carla Negger’s seventh Sharpe & Donovan mystery revisits strands from earlier books, although it stands alone nicely. Emma and Colin, after patiently interrogating the wily Wendell, decide to fly to England the following day instead of returning to their work in the United States.

Emma would meet with her UK counterparts in art crimes, her area of expertise, and Colin would focus on … whatever Matt Yankowski, their FBI boss, wanted him to focus on. He and Yank would talk tomorrow. Colin had completed an undercover assignment before the wedding. Yank no doubt would be chewing on a new assignment.

The crux of their decision to stay is their sense that Wendell knows more than he’s sharing. As Emma says, “Best we stay on our toes when Granddad is in full obfuscation mode.” Particularly when the two suspect that Oliver York, international art thief-turned-FBI-informant is somehow involved in the break-in.

“We can see Oliver while we’re in England,” Emma said.

“You can see Oliver.”

“You’d let me go on my own?” Teasing time. As if Colin “let” her do anything. He tightened his hold on her, drew her closer. “I don’t know, I think I could get into a submissive Mrs. Donovan.” She laughed. “Oh, you think so?”

His deep blue sparked with humor, and something else. “We can find out tonight.”

Playful honeymoon games take a back seat to murder, however, when the newlyweds arrive in Oliver’s quiet Cotswold village. There’s a dead body at the York farm, and Oliver is on the lam. The CID and the FBI suspect the present-day murder may have its roots in Oliver’s traumatic past.

As a young boy, Oliver York witnessed the murder of his wealthy parents in their London apartment. The killers kidnapped him and held him in an isolated Scottish ruin, but he escaped, thwarting their plans for ransom. Now, after thirty years on the run, one of the two men Oliver identified as his tormentors may have surfaced.

One of the pleasures of Thief’s Mark is the leisurely way Neggers shifts from locale to locale and person to person, as when Wendell Sharpe tracks down Oliver York to a wet Irish cemetery. The two men have longstanding ties of friendship, expertise in the art market (both legal and not), and they operate, occasionally, on the fringes of the law. Wendell is determined to make sense of the disturbing happenings.

“You’re not going to do anything of the sort, Oliver said firmly. “You’re retired. You’re going back to Dublin and doing as Emma and Colin say.”

“Yeah, yeah, blah, blah,” Wendell sputtered, waving a hand in dismissal. “You get to a certain age and everyone thinks they know better and can order you around.”

“This is a police matter. It’s not about your age.”

He pointed a bony finger at Oliver. “Whatever we missed is haunting you, too, isn’t it?”

“A lot haunts me.”

“Yeah, I know. What you went through, no child should ever have to go through. Still, though. Ever wished you’d gotten into raising Cotswold sheep to cope instead of thieving?”

Prepare to be haunted as Colin and Emma—with assistance from Oliver, Wendell, and assorted villagers and law-enforcement types—solve the mystery of the dead man and his connection to the murder of Oliver’s parents. Thief’s Mark hits the spot, and for longtime readers of the Sharpe & Donovan series, there are plenty of threads left to be extracted and examined in future books.

I usually love a Carla Neggers book but sadly this one just didn't do it for me. It felt a bit slow and almost too much information to really get invested in it and care what was going on. I sadly think I'm a little tired of these characters and rehashing parts of their back story in every book in the series.