Gather Lawless And The House Of Electricity (Campbell Lawless #3) Assembled By William Sutton Shown As Textbook

victorian mystery. Twist and turns at every moment! A must read!!! Love the character of Molly!
Secrets, hydraulic contraptions, poets, magicians, scientists and surgeons create sparks!
Another triumphant journey into crime in Victorian London with Campbell Lawless

This is the third in this wonderful series featuring Sergeant Campbell Lawless and I really hope that William Sutton is working on the next.
I was a little concerned about starting this book as the first two were so good and it must be so difficult to keep the standard so high.
Suffice it to say, this is just as good, if not better than the first two,

There has been a spate of explosions across the country and Lawless is tasked with finding out why they are happening, The foremost weapons manufacturer of the age is The Earl of Roxbury who is surrounded by a host of forwardlooking scientists including his manager, a gentleman by the name of Nathan Lodestar, whose origins are surrounded in mystery.
In order to find out more, Lawless manages to get his streetwise young friend, Molly, who we have met before in the previous novels taken on as a drawing tutor to the Earls three young children.
Her brief is to report back to Lawless and his now fiancée, Ruth Villiers, about what is actually happening in the workshops and greenhouses at Roxbury House.
Added to that is the mystery surrounding the death of the Earls wife, Lady Elodie, and various potential French spies,

The beauty of these books, for me, is not the plot but the way Victorian London is brought to life by having real life characters popping up from time to time which adds authenticity to the story.
I also especially loved the excerpts from newspapers of the time and the wonderful adverts such as Dr Tybalts Blood Tonic and Pills for the Pale and Paralysed and my special favourite Paines Celery Compound and I quote,

“After years of digestive discomfort, I only accepted this latest quack cure to keep my wife from strangling me.
May I report, with surprise, my immediate improvement May I report, with joy, my successful treatment I am cured, my digestion is second to none, my wifes relief from my complaints is assured and my fear of strangulation reduced”

Just brilliant.
Long may Sergeant Lawless continue to find mysteries to solve,

Dexter

Breakaway ers received a copy of the book to review



The new drawing

mistress feels inquisitive eyes upon her as she arrives to take up her post at a country house.
Exstreet urchin Molly's quickwitted candour earns her favour with the old Earl and his guests, but the keeneyed butler sees through her pose of gentility.
The House of Roxbury welcomes a cavalcade of poets and magicians, explorers and cyclists, scientists and surgeons, But Molly begins to suspect that darker secrets lurk in the gardens, Who works so late into the night in the menagerie glasshouse laboratories In London's East End, a body tumbles from a ship, Sergeant Lawless unearths connections between a newly arrived aristocrat, an unfortunate fire, and a mysterious vanishment, The shadow of European machinations looms over the capital, threatening royals and politicians, but evidence from an accidental blast sends him into the English shires.
RATING.

Having never read the previous books in this series I was unsure exactly what I was getting myself into, but I am happy to report that I really enjoyed LAWLESS AND THE HOUSE OF ELECTRICITY by William Sutton, and have even bought the other books.


A decayed corpse is found in an abandoned lifeboat at the dockyard and explosions are suddenly happening in London, Sergeant Campbell Lawless has been tasked with the job of uncovering who is behind it all, and with his unusual group of sidekicks in the form of Molly and Ruth, it will lead them on a complicated journey of secrets and danger.
From the Earl of Roxbury's estate where science reigns supreme, to the back alleys of London, will Lawless be able to solve this riddle before it is too late

This book is unusual as the narrative jumps from one character to another, and from past to present on occasion, but this really worked as it gave the whole story a sense of energy and urgency.
The characters are rich and very likeable, especially the female characters who are shrewd, intelligent, and feisty in their own ways, The setting and time period flares to life on every page to the point where you could easily close your eyes for a moment and picture the scene in your mind.
While there were some moments where I wished that I had read the previous books Lawless and the Devil of Euston Square, Lawless and the Flowers of Sin, overall you can read this novel as a standalone but you can never have enough books so why not just buy the series!

LAWLESS AND THE HOUSE OF ELECTRICITY by William Sutton is an exquisite mystery that will grip you from start to finish and I highly recommend it to historical mystery fans everywhere.


I voluntarily reviewed this book from the Publisher Eh, . . I struggled with this book and the rating, For someone who can read a book in a day if it really grips me, this one took meweeks, I found the style of writing hard to get into and some of the early chapters quite slow and mundane, However I persevered and managed to read the last quarter of the book in just over two days, Towards the end the plot livened up and became more gripping and interesting and I was just sorry that the first three quarters of the book, for me , were not the same.
Overall I would rate this,with maybe afor the first half and afor the second, William Sutton was born in Scotland inand appeared in pantomime at the age of nine, He learned blues harmonica from his Latin teacher, drove to California in a VW beetle and studied classics at Oxford, Besides writing radio plays and short stories, he has acted in the longest play in the world, tutored the Sugababes and played cricket for Brazil.
After living in Brazil and Italy, teaching English and singing in ice cream shops, he has returned to the UK where he teaches Latin and plays accordion.
Lawless and the Devil of Euston Square is a literary mystery set beneath the smoggy cobblestones of Victorian London, The Scotsman newspaper said: William Suttons first novel is a fine, extravagant and thoroughly enjoyable example of Victorian William Sutton was born in Scotland inand appeared in pantomime at the age of nine.
He learned blues harmonica from his Latin teacher, drove to California in a VW beetle and studied classics at Oxford, Besides writing radio plays and short stories, he has acted in the longest play in the world, tutored the Sugababes and played cricket for Brazil.
After living in Brazil and Italy, teaching English and singing in ice cream shops, he has returned to the UK where he teaches Latin and plays accordion.
Lawless and the Devil of Euston Square is a literary mystery set beneath the smoggy cobblestones of Victorian London, The Scotsman newspaper said: William Sutton's first novel is a fine, extravagant and thoroughly enjoyable example of Victorian Crime fiction, It somewhat resembles Boris Akunin's Fandòrin international bestsellers, and there is no good reason why Sutton's Worms of Euston Square shouldn't also do very well.
One of the joys of the novel is the language employed by Worm and his friends, part authentic Victorian slang, part thieves' cant, and part I rather think invented The action moves with dizzying speed from the highest quarters in the land to the vilest slums and low dives of the teeming city.
A tale of this sort requires fine villains, and Sutton obliges us with a couple This is a world enveloped in smoke and fog.
The fun is fast and furious, We are told that William Sutton is now at work on another Campbell Lawless mystery, If he can maintain this standard of invention, this mastery of linguistic tone, he is on to a winner, Allan Massie, The Scotsman sitelink,