A rage of souls

A thief-taker and his helpers take on a dangerous case in 1826 Leeds. Although Simon Westow thinks the case of stolen jewelry will be a simple one, events prove him wrong. It all began when James Barton's wife decided to pay her gambling debts by selling a gold bracelet. Barton received a letter from Frederick Fox asking to buy it. Despite his suspicions, he was impressed by Fox until the man vanished with the bracelet without paying. So Simon sets up a sting operation: His helper, Jane, watches Fox and his wife while Simon's wife, Rosie, poses as a fence. They catch the thieves, but oddly, Fox is pardoned just before he's set to be hanged. Barton, fearful because Fox is having him watched, asks Simon to find out why. Simon had been stabbed in the thigh a year earlier, and must rely on Jane and her protégée, Sally, to do most of the legwork. For all Simon's knowledge of Leeds and all the informants he and the girls have cultivated, Fox proves to be a slippery customer. Sally is protective of a group of street urchins who are being harassed by a group of four men, and enlists Jane to help her stop them. They easily drive the men off, but Jane follows one of them to the Barton house. When the men return, the girls' knife skills drive them off, but again, one of them is Barton's son, who denies any wrongdoing. None of what's happened makes sense, but when dead bodies start turning up and Sally is attacked and left for dead, Jane thirsts for revenge, and Simon wonders if they'll ever uncover Fox's secrets and protect Barton from a danger within his own family. A first-rate, complex mystery that delves deeply into the many social injustices of the time. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.