A Conspiracy of Poisons

 A Conspiracy of Poisons (1977) by J. G. Jeffreys (Ben Healey)

Synopsis (from book flap): The ace of Bow Street Runners, rollicking, resourceful, womanizing Jeremy Sturrock, and his dreadful clerk Master Maggsy, are back again, this time called on to investigate a Napoleonic plot which may threaten the safety of Britain in an ingenious and carefully worked-out mystery.

The year is 1804, and the trail leads from a beautiful but mysteriously poisoned prostitute to the grisly digging up of a still more mysterious corpse, back to the salons of a fashionable brothel, and on to a headlong ride to the wilds of Savernake Forest.

Once upon a time, a young Bev read A Wicked Way to Die (the second book in the Jeremy Sturrock series) and pronounced it good enough to put Jeffreys on the TBF (To Be Found) list. This resulted in my picking up both the current read (book #4) and Suicide Most Foul (book #5) along the way. I've not come across the first or third in my book hunts. And now, having finished, A Conspiracy of Poisons, I'm left wondering just what the heck young Bev was thinking. Sturrock has a fine head on his shoulders for detective work in these early days of the Bow Street Runners, I will give him that. But you'd need to do a hefty bit of detective work yourself to find a more unsavory cast of characters (every single one of them, from the "good" guys to the bad guys) in a piece of historical detective fiction. 

With the language of the book (which does its best to give us early 19th Century speech and writing patterns), it's a bit of a slog to make one's way through to the essential details. And with several characters running around under more than one name, it's a bit difficult to keep up with the players (with or without a scorecard)--especially keeping track of which ones might be minions of the chief villain. That's the good news. Once the chief villain is introduced, there's no problem remembering who they are. Unless you were looking for a good old-fashioned whodunnit and wanted to try and figure out the villain from clues. Then it's bad news, I suppose. 

We've also got a run of pretty senseless murders. The first one makes the most sense--we're afraid the woman is going to give away the whole plot against the British crown. But one is pure mistake and another is for reasons I still haven't gotten clear (and I read that bit twice). All in all, a fairly disappointing read. I can only suppose that either A Wicked Way to Die was a much better mystery or that young Bev wasn't nearly as jaded as she is now. I'll probably go ahead and read the last Jeffreys book I own--but unless it's much better than the ★★ outing I've just had, I won't be seeking out any more. 

First line: "Pray, Mr. Sturrock," said my publisher, tapping his fingers on the desk, "pray," says he, "let us have a work of more weighty matter."

Last line: I cheered as loud as Master Maggsy when His Majesty emerged from the sea.
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Deaths = 6 (four poisoned; one stabbed; one shot)