Published by NewCon Press
Age Group: Adult
Format: Novella
Genres and Categories: Automatons, British Authors, Detective Characters, Detective Fantasy, London, Mystery, Spycraft, Thriller, Whodunnit, Science Fantasy, Steampunk, Suspense, Victorian History
Series: Newbury & Hobbes Investigations #6.5
My Rating:
Published on: 6th October 2022
Pages: 100
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A Newbury & Hobbes Investigation
When Sir Maurice Newbury, gentleman investigator for the Crown, and his close friend and assistant Miss Veronica Hobbes accompany Sir Charles Bainbridge, Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard, to a society party at the home of the enigmatic Greyson Fairfax, none of them have any idea of the danger they are walking into.
Disquiet grows as the host, Fairfax, fails to appear for his own party, and when one of the guests is found murdered in the grounds, that disquiet turns to panic. Thick fog hems them in, and some sort of mechanical monster prowls the night. The house is sealed, with the so-efficient servants insistent that no one should leave. Can Newbury and Hobbes get to the bottom of what's going on before it's too late for all of them?
This book was provided for free by LibraryThing and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book!
Content Warnings:
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The London Particular Review
I was very lucky and won a copy of The London Particular by George Mann from LibraryThing. This novella is A Newbury & Hobbes Investigation and part of a series of Steampunk novellas published by NewCon Press. It fits in right before the final book of the Newbury & Hobbes series, so I was very excited to read it!
It is always a delight to read a new Newbury & Hobbes Investigation, and The London Particular by George Mann was no exception. I’m going to start by saying that if you’re familiar with the series, this story goes exactly how you expect it to, but let’s be honest, that is one of the reasons why we read the adventures of Maurice and Veronica! We know that wherever they go, they will get themselves into mischief and will uncover some sort of dastardly deed!
Set before the final book of the series, The Albion Initiative, it is an uncertain time for our heroes. Along with their long-time companion Sir Charles Bainbridge, the pair attends a party at the home of the enigmatic Greyson Fairfax. Everything seems in order, save for one glaringly obvious issue: where is Greyson Fairfax?
When a search for the man turns up a dead body, suspicions rise even further, but before anyone can decide to leave the premises, a dense fog (a ‘London Particular’) forces them to stay indoors. Their situation takes a serious turn for the worse when everyone realises that the fog is filled with strange, monstrous, mechanical creatures, especially after they witness it murder two partygoers who refuse to listen to warnings not to go outside.
While Veronica draws the short straw and has to stay behind with the guests, she holds her own as some of them get unruly and decide they don’t want to listen to a woman. The scenes of Newbury and Charles hunting through the house were pure thriller, but watching Veronica at work was wonderful. It was great to see Mann’s writing and character creation skills at work with the various personalities in these scenes as well. I was quite sad that these characters were just appearing for a one-off, especially with the series coming to an end, so it was unlikely that they would appear again (I can’t remember if The Albion Initiative was released before or after this novella).
Things wrapped up as I expected, but as I mentioned, the fun was in getting there. Mann packed a lot of character development into this novella, with each of the characters looking back over their adventures and preparing themselves for what was to come now that Queen Victoria has pushed them into a corner. As another reviewer rightly pointed out, Mann packs a massive punch in 92 pages. It felt no different from reading a full-length Newbury & Hobbes novel in terms of pacing and enjoyment. This is a definite must-read for Newbury & Hobbes fans, and you won’t be disappointed.
If you have never read a Newbury & Hobbes investigation, I highly recommend picking up book one, The Affinity Bridge, especially before reading this novella, as this book will give you huge spoilers for the series, and you will probably feel a little bit confused about some things.
About George Mann
George Mann is an author and editor, primarily in genre fiction. He was born in Darlington, County Durham in 1978.
A former editor of Outland, Mann is the author of The Human Abstract, and more recently The Affinity Bridge and The Osiris Ritual in his Newbury and Hobbes detective series, set in an alternate Britain, and Ghosts of Manhattan, set in the same universe some decades later.
He wrote the Time Hunter novella “The Severed Man”, and co-wrote the series finale, Child of Time.
He has also written numerous short stories, plus Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes audiobooks for Big Finish Productions. He has edited a number of anthologies including The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, The Solaris Book of New Fantasy and a retrospective collection of Sexton Blake stories, Sexton Blake, Detective, with an introduction by Michael Moorcock.
Over to you
Thanks for reading my review of The London Particular, A Newbury & Hobbes Investigation novella, by George Mann!
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