Customer Reviews

Thief Taker

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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!

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.

The Thief Taker is an interesting historical mystery. Set in London in 1750, the book is the story of Agnes Meadowes, cook to the Blanchards, a family of silversmiths in Foster Lane. One evening, an expensive wine cooler goes missing and an apprentice ends up with his throat slit. It's clear that the crimes were committed by someone in the household, or someone connected with it. Agnes is asked to act as a liaison between the family and a dangerous thief taker named Marcus Pitt. Soon, two more people end up dead, including a thief and an unlucky maid in the Blanchard's household. Agnes finds herself pitted against some very dangerous and unsavory characters, and its up to her to find the cooler and discover who committed the murders.

In all, I thought that this book was highly suspenseful and not at all what one might expect from historical fiction. Gleeson write about characters from the past without making them seem as though they're modern or have modern thought processes. That's not to say that Gleeson's writing style is dense or complicated; rather, it's a fast-paced read. However, there was one thing about this novel that I didn't like; the identity of the murderer came out of left field and I thought that the murderer's death happened almost too quickly. It's like Janet Gleeson didn't want to write about that kind of unpleasant thing, but for the sake of the story had to, so she rushed through it as much as possible.

Although I've read a lot of historical fiction, and a lot of mysteries, I still found myself hooked by the premise, not to mention the plot, of The Thief Taker.

In the middle of the eighteenth century in London, Widow Agnes Meadowes, mother of a child, cooks for the highly regarded silversmiths, the Blanchards. However, she becomes a bit disturbed when the Blanchards think nothing of kitchen maid Rose vanishing; she becomes outraged and disturbed when Rose's peers ignore her disappearance. Unable to let it go and with no one to turn to for help, Agnes decides to investigate.

However, her inquiries are on hold when her employers ask for her intervention in a matter. Someone stole a valuable wine cooler just before delivery, killing the apprentice watching it. Agnes negotiates on behalf of the Blanchards with legendary Marcus Pitt to have him retrieve the wine cooler that if not delivered means ruin in return for melted silver. Apprentice Thomas Williams escorts Agnes, who finds her protector kindhearted unlike her abusive late spouse. As she continues to cope with Pitt who wants her thrown into the deal, Agnes continues to search for Rose until her slashed corpse is found. Told to cooperate with Pitt and to drop the Rose matter, Agnes ignores her employer even as her son is abducted and her position as cook is jeopardized.

Janet Gleeson uses a deep look at the mid 1700s English lifestyles of the working and artisan classes as a powerful background to a fine amateur sleuth investigation starring an ethical protagonist. Obstinate Agnes learns a lesson about the dangers of good intentions, as she feels she must uncover the truth about Rose. The story line cleverly blends silversmithing and murder to cook up a delicious historical whodunit.

Harriet Klausner

What is fabulous to me might not be for you and vice versa. I wasn't that thrilled with this mystery. In general historical mysteries are a favorite genre for me, but this one fell short of entertaining me. While the writing was good the story and character development were not very good or satisfying.

The main character, Agnes Meadowes, is a cook in the home of Nicholas Blanchard and his family. The Blanchards are well known silversmiths. A giant silver wine cooler, the largest silver piece the company has ever made has been stolen and an apprentice has been murdered. Nicholas Blanchard's son Theodore now runs the company and he has enlisted Agnes' help to recover the cooler.

The details about the setting were well done, the details about the silversmith business were interesting but the main character was not at all convincing. Gleeson describes Agnes as a quite and shy woman who avoids conflict at the beginning of the novel and by the end of the mystery she is practically able to leap small buildings in a single bound. Some of the perilous situations were really not very believable. I thought Agnes' actions were very out of character and extremely unlikely for a cook during this period in history.

Overall I just didn't find the story believable or satisfying.

This well-written novel is a historical mystery with a great deal of suspense. In fact, it's more of a suspense novel than a 'piece together the clues' puzzle. The world-building was excellent with vivid details that brought the time period to life. Many of the obstacles Agnes faced arose from the constrains of the time period and she very much acted as a woman of her times.

The novel was mainly written from Agnes' viewpoint, but the viewpoint routinely switched through a number of other characters. I generally didn't have trouble keeping track of who was who, though, especially once I'd been reading for a while.

The varied, realistic characters engaged my interest. I enjoyed how there were consequences to a person's actions and how Agnes grew as a person as a result of the circumstances she was forced into. At times I wasn't certain why Agnes acted the way she did, but I was always convinced there was a good reason...though perhaps one she hadn't even admitted to herself.

There was some swearing, though not much. There was one semi-explicit accidental glimpse of sex and several non-explicit sexual encounters between people who weren't married to each other (once by the heroine). The sex was treated fairly realistically--it wasn't treated lightly and it came with emotional and physical consequences. Overall, I'd rate it good, fairly clean fun.

Genre Reviews
http://genrereviews.blogspot.com/

This was a good read. I like historical novels and have not read a historical mystery before. The subject and characters were interesting. I'm glad it has been added to my home library.

With the increased popularity of the historical novel (non-romantic), this book is a nice addition to the mystery genre. Ms. Gleeson writes well and captures the period allowing the reader to enter the story and concentrate on the mystery. Though the middle gets bogged down a bit and the ending is only satisfying, I would like to meet some of these characters again.

Set in 18th century England, the life and times of Agnes Meadowes are presented in a "no holds barred" style. Animals are dissected, people are decapitated and every other manner of filthy, crude and cruel England are detailed. But Agnes, a battered wife now widowed and working as a cook, rises above her pitiful circumstances to become - superwoman! With limited resources and amind extremely strict societal rules, she manages to ward off nasty advances, saves a street urchin, unravels a myriad of characters and their part in a theft of a valuable silver piece, and solves the mystery of three horrific murders. Read at your own risk - your stomach will be churning from either revulsion from the sordid descriptions or laughter at the superpowers of the utterly unlikely heroine.