I'm a fan of historical fiction and the Regency Period, and I also like police thrillers, and this book, first of a series, combines all three genres for a very satisfying read. McGee's Matthew Hawkwood is the proverbial worldweary cop with a personal code of honor well concealed beneath his hardbitten exterior.
Hawkwood is an extraordinary marksman, cashiered from the Duke of Wellington's Rifle Brigade, then recruited by the Duke's spymaster to work behind enemy lines with the Spanish guerrilleros resisting the French occupation of Spain. When he returns to England he is specially recommended to Chief Magistrate James Read for his elite force of Bow Street Runners, special investigative officers of the Bow Street Magistrate's Court (precurser to London's Metropolitan Police Force). Bow Street Runners were often brought in to investigate crimes when the usual recourses had failed.
Because of Hawkwood's military experience and his reputation as a ruthless and intrepid investigator, Read calls upon him to handle the most sensitive undercover assignments. In this initial outing (originally published in Great Britain under the title Rat-Catcher), Hawkwood is assigned to discover the highwaymen who waylaid and robbed a coach on the Kent Road, brutally killing both the coachman and one of the passengers, a naval courier.
It soon transpires that the courier and the documents he carried were the real target of the alleged highwaymen. It is 1811 and a critical moment in the long-running war between Great Britain and her allies and the forces of Napoleon. The British High Command are convinced that British naval superiority and control of the seas are the key to winning the war. Now it appears that Napoleon has a new secret weapon that he plans to deploy with devastating effect against the British Navy. Hawkwood is desperately tracking down the conspirators, but will he find them in time to prevent catastrophe?
With a story cleverly grounded in historical fact and speculation, an acton-packed plot, down to the wire suspense, and a gritty London Underworld setting, this is a great introduction to the series.
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