Blackstone

Due to rumours, Edmund Blackstone, Bow Street Runner, is assigned to protect the seven year old Princess Alexandrina Victoria from being kidnapped. But when he is attacked he wonders if the assignment is really a waste of time as he has thought.
I enjoyed this well-paced mystery. I found the characters interesting and hope that more of the stories will be re-published.

Blackstone is a re-issue of a novel first published in 1972. It appears there are five in the series, so I’m very excited to have read this one. I loved this story, a regency mystery featuring Blackstone, one of the best of the Bow Street Runners. The story is set at a time when the Metropolitan Police are struggling to be born, competing with the Runners. Falkirk writes with sophisticated style and wit without a stumble, capturing the tone of the time, his descriptions lavish but not overextended. Halfway through the book, I realized (with great glee) that Blackstone is a Regency Sam Spade; hot gin and hot women are his sustenance when not chasing down the bad guys with a vengeance and swagger. Twisting arms to get cooperation, seduction for information, always well armed and ready to fight his way out of a fix. I loved it!

This is a really terrific book.
Blackstone is “The Best” Bow Street Runner of his day. He has been assigned to guard the Princess Alexandrina Victoria. He is irate. He believes this is a baby sitting job and he is insulted.
But, things progress and he begins to wonder whether there might be an actual threat to the Princess.
The book was originally published in the 1970's but it is well done and could have been written today. The atmosphere and descriptions brings the reader into an England of another era. One can almost smell the soot from all those coal fires.
Blackstone is not exactly a hero. He is not a very nice man. But, I wanted him to succeed because I really liked him. He is smart and quick and his analysis of a situation is wonderful. He takes information and facts and puts them together to find solutions. He is a darn good detective.
Just as there always is, there are politics involved. Robert Peel wants to start a city police force and get rid of the runners. There may be a plan to keep Victoria from ever taking the throne. The servants in Kensington Palace may or may not be stealing. In other words, there is a lot going on.
Blackstone has a friend, well not exactly a friend, but a man he knows, Blackstone brings him on the scene in order to help ferret out facts. Lawler is a con man, a ladies man, a professional gambler and a thief. I really liked him too.
This is a well written book and I enjoyed reading it very much. And the princess, is a very brave and bright little girl.
I received this book from the publisher through NetGalley. I am voluntarily writing this review and all opinions are my own.

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Emma's review Jun 15, 2017 · edit
really liked it
bookshelves: historical

This was a really interesting historical read, first published in 1974 and soon to be rereleased. I learned quite a bit about the early 19th century and the politics and rivalries before Victoria came to the throne.
Most interesting was the history of the policing of London in particular. Every-one has heard of Robert Peel's 'Peelers' but I learned about the Bow Street Runners, the fore runners, and their roguish reputation, which included many criminal or thuggish elements.
The Bow Street Runners were the forerunners of the Metropolitan Police established by Sir Robert Peel in 1829. Their inception was probably in 1749 when the Bow Street Magistrate, Henry Fielding, author of Tom Jones, enrolled six volunteer thief-takers.
I thought I knew most of the main facts of Victoria's reign, but I never knew her first name was Alexandrina until she came to the throne. It was fascinating to learn about the rivalry between the courts of St James and Kensington and the tension as to who would I inherit the throne.
The story centres around Blackstone, a reformed criminal who is the Bow Street runners best man. Rumours abound of possible harm intended against Alexandrina Victoria. Blackstone races against time to prevent a national scandal.
This was thoroughly enjoyable and I really do hope the rest of the series gets rereleased too.
Many thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Bow Street Runners & a Royal kidnap plot make for a fast-paced & thoroughly enjoyable read. The political background to young Victoria's life is well portrayed & Blackstone has to be one of the best detectives ever! Thoroughly enjoyable & highly recommended

Check out my review at https://bigbaldbooks.wordpress.com/2017/07/08/review-blackstone/

Enjoyable Regency mystery/adventure that leans towards the rough and tumble. There's plenty of stinkiness here and the 1970s haunts the novel like a plush velvet specter. You know how Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet is like super 1960s? Well, imagine that, but like the transition between 1960s and 70s with regard to Regency London. It's not distracting really, but enough to note.

Deadly Cure by Lawrence Goldstone.
The major topic of this mystery is very interesting, because it includes a true account of early products made by the Bayer Corporation and other drug companies in the first years of the twentieth century. These businesses often started as dye companies and expanded to develop and patent medicines that often killed rather than healed people. The reader learns that Bayer actually patented a drug besides aspirin called  ”Heroin” and guess what it contained? Before 1906 when the food and drug administration started to regulate patent medicines, they could be deadly, and people often overdosed or became addicted to cocaine and heroin through the unregulated, often “quack,” remedies that promised a quick cure for coughs and pains.
Not only is this topic covered by Goldstone in the plot development, but he also includes a short, fictional discussion of U.S. leftists, anarchists and Jewish dissidents in the early years of the twentieth century.  This combination may sound as though there is too much going on in this mystery, but the combination of these topics provides an interesting, quick read.  At some points, this book is reminiscent of a good Anne Perry novel by its choice of interesting subject matter and plot development.
Only the ending spoiled this good story, because it seemed too contrived and included the unnecessary death of a major character whose participation I would like to have liked to have seen featured in at least one subsequent mystery.
4.5/5

An expertly crafted original tale with fresh characters that will have you reading it again and again just for the delight of reentering its literary world.

A regency mystery that is a 1970s reissue. Hello that out of the way, this is a great story featuring Blackstone one of the best bow street runners.... He is a tough cookie and had his own means of getting cooperation!!

I've read a couple of novels set in the time of Queen Victoria of England, but this was was set during her infancy, when she was heir to the throne rather than seated upon it.

It is a time when the "Peelers" under Sir Robert Peel (metropolitan police force) was in the ascendancy and the Bow Street Runners (who were not restricted to one city, and were at times hired to solve crime - and thus susceptible to corruption), were on its last legs. Edmund Blackstone, one of the Bow Street Runners, who by his own admissions "is a bit of a crook", is assigned as a bodyguard to the young princess when a kidnapping plot is revealed.

Blackstone enters the royal household, which in itself is den of plots and conspiracies, before journeying back into the underbelly of London. Following an attempt on Blackstone, he is removed from his position and the young princess faces much danger. Along the way we constantly encounter the mysterious Henry Challoner who is either "a bit of a tool" (according to my handwriting) or is but a tool - I think both may be apt.

The story was well written and the action rolls along, building to the inevitable climax, where the end is revealed ..... to an extent.

Obviously since first reading this I now realise that this was just the first in a series of five. I do hope the other four (Blackstone on Broadway, Blackstone Underground, Blackstone's Fancy, and Beau Blackstone) will also be republished.

(Side note: I like David's [Goodreads' member] suggestion of a series starring Russel Crowe - or possibly Sean Bean)