Rating: 
Summary: Excellent First Entry...
Review: I bought this book due to the recommendations here on Amazon. I had hesitated because I am really fond of Bruce Alexander's Sir John Fielding mysteries and thought it would pale in comparison. I was very pleasantly surprised in that while it is indeed similar to Alexander's series, it actually improves on it in some aspects. I like the protagonist very much as he is a level-headed and fair-minded individual, something rare in that particular era. And I fell in love with Lucy and hope that she will appear in the future books although it might be heard to weave her into any more storylines. This is a great read and looking forward to the second in the series.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent historical mystery
Review: In 1815 London the Bow Street Runners are the nearest entity to a police force that the city has but it is not looked upon favorably by the public. The Bow Street Runners are not paid a salary but earn a commission when a person they arrest is convicted and an even bigger reward if that person is hung.
Henry Morton is a Bow Street constable who is an honorable man. He obeys the laws and doesn't take bribes to look the other way when a crime is committed. After boxing with Lord Byron at Gentleman's Jack, he is called to investigate the death of Halbert Glendinning who died in a coach that was driving him to his friend's house. A doctor who is a guest at the house says that the man choked on his own vomit but Morton believes it was murder. He sets out to investigate the man's death never dreaming that the inquiries will end with him in jail struggling to save his own life.
TF Banks has written a historical mystery that is very atmospheric and captures the ambiance of Regency England. The characters are very well developed and the hero is a man to admire, an individual who rises above the corruption that surrounds him. THE THIEF-TAKER is the first installment in what appears to be a fascinating series. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: It's Not Proust but It's a Good Read
Review: T. F. Banks, who is actually two Canadian fantasists named Sean Russell and Ian Dennis, did a very good job recreating a Regency London that might have been. I think, even if I hadn't read the second novel first and learned their identities, that I would have suspected the author wrote sff for a couple of reasons. First, the ability to bring to life a place that no one now living has ever visited. World building is the term usually used. The touchstone for fiction about the Regency era has been the historical writer Georgette Heyer, but she made infrequent forrays into the seamier side of the Regency world in her novels. Banks while having Morton press his nose up the glass and look wistfully inward at the life style that Heyer described, deals with issues like child prostitution from the Regency viewpoint rather than trying to impose a modern sensibility. His use of Regency cant is effective and not overdone. Second Henry Morton is a hero in the classical sense. In an effort to mock him another Runner refers to him as Sir Galahad, but it's not far from the truth. However, he does have his human foibles-- for instance, setting himself up as a ha'penny gentleman, a wannabe in modern terms, even employing the discarded valet of a nobleman. Sff is one of the few areas of fiction where heroes remain heroic and rarely fall into whining introspection. (Not that I'm against introspection, it's the whining I dislike.) Another thing I really like about this book is Morton's mistress. This is one of the few female characters I have run into recently in any genre novel who has her own concerns and pursues them without regard to the hero's sensibilities. I've deliberately tried to talk about characters and setting because I don't want to give any of the plot away. It is actually two plots that neatly twine together in the end as Morton is hired to kind the killer of a young gentleman and is himself stalked by a ruthless force. This is not a book to inspire Deep Thoughts but it is a book that is entertaining and well repays reading. (Read the sequel, too!)
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