Since the author is a member of several Holmes societies it is fitting that his own detective owes his name to 221 B. Llewelyn is Baker’s much younger protégé who owes his life and new career to Baker’s work in the previous book in this new series Some Danger Involved.

The fledgling Irish freedom force has just blown up Scotland Yard and hopes to destroy the Special Branch, whose assignment is to quell the rebels but the normal channels have failed. Cyrus Baker steps into the breach and agrees to impersonate a German explosives expert in hopes of luring the Irish faction into hiring him to show them how to assemble more efficient bombs.

Llewelyn is sent off to learn the rudiments of bomb making from the actual expert so he can play his part as assistant more believably. Once they are contacted by the Irish group, they learn of the plot to set off a series of bombs throughout London creating such chaos that the government will collapse.

The faction is composed of real and fictional characters - one of whom is a young W. B. Yeats who briefly flirted with the Cause before returning to the muse of Poetry. The tension mounts when Baker and Llewelyn must destroy a lighthouse in order to convince the group of their identity and sincerity. When they make nitroglycerin, the story is so well written I found myself in that garret room holding my breath as Baker mixed and measured and Llewelyn added ice chips until the volatile compound was collected drop by drop ready for assembly.

Further strain comes into the story when Llewelyn falls for the beautiful sister of one of the leaders and he must decide where his loyalties lie - with the auburn haired siren or his employer with the mysterious past. Thomas presents 1880’s Europe very well but at times seems too determined to make his hero singular. While the majority of Britons are Anglican, the Irish Catholic Baker has to be Baptist. Why? He spouts Scripture but doesn’t act according to the precepts of that denomination in many instances especially in his liaisons with the woman known as the “widow.”

There are numerous references to Holmesian quirks, his familiarity with the underworld as well as those holding the highest office and his reticence to limelight, yet he is so mysterious that he fails to emerge as a believable character. At times he rivals “Our Man Flint” who was nearly inhuman in his knowledge. The age difference and the employer/employee relationship keep Baker and Llewelyn from developing as the young Welshman is always conscious of his “place” which is in keeping with the time period.

Too often it is as if Baker deliberately flaunts his superior knowledge or keeps him uninformed for selfish reasons. This is altogether a promising series if the characters continue to grow and lose some of their enigmatic past.

--Jane Davis