Will Thomas' Barker & Llewelyn series is one of my favorite active series being written today. Its hard to believe we are already on Book 16! Thomas's books are full of London atmosphere, interesting historical detail, and characters who continue to be engaging and surprising.

Although Season of Death could be read as a stand-alone, but reading it in series order is rewarding for the character development that has taken place.

Anthony Ferguson's narration in the Macmillan Audio production is terrific. He brings the characters to life without intruding in the story.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Season of Death is the 16th Barker & Llewelyn Victorian historical mystery by Will Thomas. Due out 22nd April 2025 from Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 352 pages and will be available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links.

This is a well established series and the characters are quite finely drawn in a well written whole. The background research is impressive and the descriptions really do call up Victorian London. The story is fictionalized but written around a real historical framework and intertwined so skillfully that it's not always easy to tell where real history shades over into fiction.

The denouement and resolution are well done and satisfying. My only quibble (and it's a fairly minor one) is that the dialogue feels anachronistic in some places. It isn't clunky or awkward, but there is some modern vernacular and a most egalitarian (and non-period) mixing of social classes. The mystery itself is quite convoluted and the climax and denouement were full of twists (most of which are fairly heavily foreshadowed, there weren't any *shocking* reveals).

There are some moderately graphic descriptions of blood and violence (including domestic violence and abuse), misogyny, and racism included, so readers who are very sensitive to these and similar should be aware. All in all it's a very well written and engaging historical mystery.

The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 9 hours 33 minutes and is superbly narrated by Antony Ferguson. He has a rich baritone voice and the quick switches in dialogue from Barker's brogue to east London Cockney thugs without a wobble is a thing of beauty. The sound and production quality is high throughout the recording. The narrator's virtuosity with a staggering array of regional accents is admirable and a joy to listen to.

The books are self contained stand-alones, so it's not necessary to have read the books in order to understand what's going on, although the interpersonal developments between returning characters will be somewhat spoiled if read out of order.

High quality historical mystery. Four and a half stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Barker and Llewelyn are back in this new mystery set in Victorian London.

There are a lot of threads that weave together as the enquiry agents face a power vacuum among the criminal elements of London, as well as getting mixed up in the world of Dutch, a mysterious beggar who seems to be connected.

I always look forward to the next Barker & Llewelyn novel, as Will Thomas always manages to take on neglected aspects of Victorian life, and in this case, it’s organized crime. It’s a good solid story with some unexpected twists that keep the reader interested.

I received a free audiobook copy from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

This is one of my favorite series, and this title did not disappoint.



Review copy provided by publisher.

Fast-paced and as always great to listen to. There's a lot going on in this book, but all leads to one villain. A missing woman, gang wars, police corruption, so much going on, but not confusing.

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