Thief Taker [Hardcover]

Janet Gleeson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2004

Agnes Meadowes is cook to the Blanchards of Foster Lane, the renowned silversmiths. Her quiet world of culinary activity, preparing jugged hare, oyster loaves, almond soup and other delicacies for the family, is a happy refuge from the hustle and bustle of 1750s London. But in a single night everything is to change. When the Blanchards' most prestigious and expensive commission, a giant silver wine cooler destined for the house of Sir Bartholomew Grey, is stolen, a sinister chain of events is set in motion. That same night a young apprentice is murdered and a young maid, Rose, disappears. Are these portentous happenings connected? Called upon by her master, Theodore Blanchard, to investigate 'below stairs', Agnes now enters a dark world of hidden secrets, jealousy and murderous intent. Before the game is played out she will be forced to act as mouse to the infamous Thief Taker's cat as she is slowly drawn into a seamy underworld of London crime. But the truth, like the expensive tea leaves that Agnes keeps under lock and key, comes at a high price and she must decide how big a sacrifice she is prepared to make to bring the villains to justice. Once again Janet Gleeson has produced a gripping historical murder mystery, and in Agnes Meadowes has created a heroine whom readers will love. The Thief Taker is an evocative and spell-binding novel of crime, chicanery and cooking that will delight her existing fans and win her many more.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Following the cabinetmakers of The Grenadillo Box (2004) and the portraitists of The Serpent in the Garden (2005), Gleeson hangs her solid third historical on another group of artisans—a family of silversmiths, the Blanchards, who have fallen on uncertain times in 18th-century London. When an apprentice is murdered, the kitchen maid vanishes and the business's most valuable commission—a huge wine cooler—is stolen, the Blanchards' cook, Agnes Meadowes, becomes the improbable prime sleuth. Meadowes first negotiates with the corrupt character of the novel's title, who's suspected of engineering the crime to profit from recovering the stolen item. She takes a more active role after she begins to suspect an accomplice inside the Blanchard household. Meadowes's eventual success owes more to bravery and doggedness than actual deduction, making her a less interesting sleuth than her fictional peers in the late Bruce Alexander's Sir John Fielding mystery series, also set in Georgian England. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Booklist

Gleeson's latest unconventional eighteenth-century sleuth is Agnes Meadowes, stalwart widowed cook to the Blanchards of Foster Lane. Picking up on the artisan themes she mined for period detail in The Grenadillo Box (2003) and The Serpent in the Garden (2005), the Blanchards are a family of renowned silversmiths. When an apprentice is murdered, the kitchen maid disappears, and a valuable silver wine cooler is stolen, patriarch Richard Blanchard turns to Agnes for assistance. Agnes quickly negotiates with a local "thief taker" to recover the wine cooler, but her mission becomes more dangerous when Rose's lifeless body is discovered. As the murder investigation twists and turns, Gleeson, a former Sotheby's agent, immerses readers in both the cuisine and craftsmanship of the era. Suspense and historical detail are artfully interwoven into another historical whodunit. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Bantam Press (September 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0593052609
• ISBN-13: 978-0593052600
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,723,827 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is really great., August 20, 2006

By 

Kimberley Wilson (VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Thief Taker: A Novel (Paperback)

Janet Gleeson has created a fascinating character in Agnes Meadows, a cook and a highly intelligent and brave sleuth who just wants to make a decent life for herself and her son. A wine cooler has been stolen from the home of her employers, silversmiths who face professional ruin if the piece is not recovered, an apprentice is dead and a housemaid, who turns out to be quite a bit more interesting that anyone ever guessed has vanished. Agnes has to solve a crime, keep her employers and friends out of trouble and keep herself alive.

I enjoyed reading about life in the kitchen and "seeing" the world through Agnes's eyes as she learns things about herself and the shocking way her world really works. The book is historically accurate, nobody is a 21rst century character in fancy dress. Gleeson doesn't try to pretty up Georgian London and while there are no gross sex or violence scenes she doesn't sugar coat life in that period either. I found this to be very satisfying and I hope Gleeson comes back to this character in a sequel.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Mystery to Make Your Mouth Water!, September 24, 2006

By 

Maria Alexander "Author and Snarkiologist" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Thief Taker: A Novel (Paperback)

Janet Gleeson has not only created a very clever murder mystery, but she's also researched this tale right down to the soup bones. Her main character, Agnes Meadows, is the chief cook in an 18th century home of renown London silversmiths. Gleeson's delectable descriptions of period dishes combined with the tasty tidbits of 18th century English life bring this mystery to a perfect boil. I'm dead envious of her ability to so naturally weave together the historical facts with such well-drawn characters. I can't wait to read another of her books!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating mystery!, March 17, 2009

By 

Calypso007 "myz" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Thief Taker: A Novel (Paperback)

I really liked this novel, the story was well thought out and neatly planned. The historical detail was obviously well researched, and altogether it made for a very interesting book. The only tiny complaint I have is that I found none of the characters very interesting. The story was interesting, but the characters all seemed a little bland, and I didn't feel very sympathetic towards most of them. But, nonetheless, it was a good historical mystery.