Historical crime fiction set in 1815 London featuring Henry Morton, a Bow Street constable. He’s called to a house by his mistress Arabella Malibrant, who is an actress. A man arriving at the home in a hackney coach was found dead. An attending doctor diagnoses the death as caused by choking on vomit due to excessive alcohol consumption. After a brief examination Morton disagrees, believing the man has been poisoned. The investigation leads him into a conspiracy involving one of Bow Street’s own.

The book was written very well, with authentic historical details. The mystery itself was well developed and interesting, and the procedures used made sense, making the investigation easy to follow. The characters could have been fleshed out a bit more, but overall I was happy enough that I will be reading the sequel. Three and a half stars. ( )

The setting is London in June 1815. the hero is a Bow Street runner by the name of Henry Morton. The femme fatale is a famous London actress by the name of Arabella Malibrant. There are too many villains to name, but there are quite a few notable ones in this book which is the first book in the Memories of a Bow Street Runner series. And what a series starter this is! There is lots of action, deaths and mysteries galore in this book. I love the Regency era, and I enjoy the history of the infamous Bow Street runners, so that was why I picked up this book. It was pure enjoyment reading of Morton and the scrapes that he gets into. I cannot wait to read other books in this series. This book was a delightful surprise for me, and I recommend it for anyone who loves British historical mysteries. Banks is a Canadian author, but he handles this era and this time and place with aplomb. ( )

As a historical mystery it was ok...The mystery was there but sometimes I had difficulty imagining the location being as 1815 London. The story was fine and the premise of the "Bow Street Runner" is something that I was not aware of, but I like to smell the streets as I walk through the pages and that was lacking in my opinion.

I did like the characters though and thought they were well developed. Not a bad read at all. ( )

Enjoyable series. Not worth buying but worth getting out of the library. ( )