Let loose in London, Doc and Raider are supposed to help Scotland Yard find a master jewel thief. Instead, they crash Victorian society and smash Victorian morals, unable to resist those lusty ladies of nobility who find Western ways so exciting – and who need protection from a crazed medieval-style killer. From the West End to Ascot, from Buckingham Palace to the Tower of London, the Pinkertons take on the high life and the low, while Britain holds its breath.
The fact that this tale takes place in London was what made me decide to read this book as I was curious to see how the author presented the English capital city and its people. As expected, it was full of stereotypes and the fact that the upper-class finished many of their sentences with the word ‘what’ was fun to start with but got a little tedious as the story progressed, almost like the author was using the way people speak to differentiate the Americans from English and the privileged form the poor. I certainly wasn’t going to let this spoil my enjoyment of this book though.
Doc and Raider were forbidden of taking part in any investigation to apprehend the jewel thief. They were there so Doc could confirm the identity of the crook as he was the only person to have seen the criminal when the Pinkertons had pursued the criminal in America. Sightseeing and visiting with the super-rich was how they would pass their time, and this was how they got involved with a vicious killer who hacked his victims up with medieval weapons – this killer possibly being the jewel thief too.
As usual Doc and Raider squabble about how to pass their time. This leads to some funny moments, especially when Raider meets a young Winston Churchill. The killings are gruesome and the body count mounts up quickly and soon both Raider and Doc find themselves battling to survive. After a few twists and turns, they have some idea of what they are dealing with but can they defeat this madman? Of course, both plots, killer and thief, entwine and the Pinkertons find themselves involved in a robbery to steal jewels from Queen Victoria which becomes part of the final showdown.
The Doc and Raider books fall into the adult category of westerns so they do contain some explicit lengthy sex scenes but these are easy to skip if you don’t like reading this kind of thing.
If you want a different kind of western to read, due to where it takes place, then this is certainly a book worth considering. At times it felt like a crime murder mystery rather than a shoot ‘em up western but that was ok with me as it added a bit of variety to my reading.
J.D. Hardin is a pseudonym in this case the real author is Neal Barrett Jr. who wrote three books in the series. There isn’t any continuation in the Doc and Raider series, so you can jump in anywhere and enjoy each as a stand-alone story. Raider would go on to appear in his own 42 book series.
