The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins by Antonia Hodgson

 review by Maryom



Poor Thomas Hawkins has got himself in a mess again - and this time he's on his way to the gallows, convicted of murder!
After his previous adventures in The Devil in the Marshalsea anyone would think Tom would be ready to settle down to a quiet life, but living comfortably with Kitty Sparks, above the "specialist' bookshop she inherited from her guardian, is proving just too dull. Kitty is very much in charge of the shop and its income, even refusing to marry Thomas to prevent him gambling her money away, so when he's offered the chance to earn a little cash he jumps at the offer, even though it comes from one of London's most notorious criminals. 
But while Thomas gets himself involved in court intrigue surrounding the king's mistress and her estranged bully of a husband, another crime is taking place on his doorstep - his quiet law-abiding neighbour has been found brutally, and messily, murdered in his own bed. All the windows and doors of his property were locked and bolted, so the murderer had to have been someone from inside - his children, his apprentice, or his maid - but popular suspicion points at Thomas, especially as he'd been seen hammering on his neighbour's door and threatening him!
As Thomas is transported to the gallows, he reflects on the circumstances that have brought him there and tries desperately to keep up his hopes of a last minute pardon .....will this really prove to be his Last Confession?


 This second outing for Thomas Hawkins takes the reader back to the hustle and bustle of Georgian London - but whereas his previous adventure took place mainly within the confines of the Marshalsea debtors prison, this time he has the freedom of the whole city, from the slums of St Giles, and the coffee shops and brothels of Covent Garden, to the royal court itself; all life is there to be seen. The author has obviously done her research to bring it alive so vividly but it's displayed almost casually in the little details as the action moves forward, rather trotted out lecture-style in lengthy descriptions.
 The main story is the murder of which Thomas stands accused - a closed-room killing, with a limited number of suspects, all with grievances against the victim but none seemingly worth murdering for. Alongside and around this weave a variety of other threads - a bullying husband threatening his wife, a do-gooder trying to reform and clean up the streets, and through all of them the love story between Thomas and Kitty. Thomas remains almost boyish is his desire for adventure, unfortunately it tends to take him to both physically and financially dangerous places; Kitty is clever and shrewd, able to run her business successfully, and,while at times eager to share Tom's adventures, luckily has sense enough for the two of them; together they make a great couple.





Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Hodder & Stoughton
Genre - adult fiction, historical crime

Derby Book Festival - author event - Antonia Hodgson and SD Sykes

In an ideal world, I would have spent most if not all of Saturday at Derby Book Festival but it wasn't possible - so I chose this 'double' event with Antonia Hodgson and SD Sykes, having read and enjoyed their highly original debut novels. Both authors write historical crime fiction set in periods which are comparatively ignored in 'popular' history; Antonia Hodgson's The Devil in the Marshalsea  is set in London in the 1720s, SD Sykes' Plagueland  in fourteenth century English countryside in the period immediately after the Black Death (the plague of the book's title).  As the authors explained, both periods were times of upheaval and lawlessness. 1720s London was a boom town with a rapidly growing population and no police force to keep it in order; a place where fortunes could be quickly made, and lost! Plagueland's setting on the other hand is an empty landscape in which the population has been halved by the dreadful plague sweeping through; an historical dystopian setting where the 'normal' way of life has been disrupted, no one is left to enforce the law, and labourers once tied to their lord's manor feel free to leave and seek better lives elsewhere. Eventually this led to a change in the social order and the end of feudalism, but meanwhile everyone had to struggle on as best they could.
As the authors talked about their writing and research I realised there were further similarities between the two books - both authors chose a male protagonist, for the simple reason that men were freer to go out and about, to do things and visit places that women couldn't. Both of these young men had been expected to have a career within the Church and both 'avoided' it; Tom Hawkins prefers living off his wits and gambling, which is how he ends up in the debtors' prison of the Marshalsea; Oswald de Lacy had been happy with his proposed life as a monk, but the death of his father and two elder brothers has forced him to assume the role of Lord of the Manor. Both of them then find themselves investigating murder; Tom as a deal to get out of jail; Oswald because there's no one else to take responsibility. Both novels were debuts, but Antonia's second novel The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins was published last week - 4th June 2015 - and there's a second Oswald de Lacy story, The Butcher Bird, planned for publication in autumn. I can't wait to read both of them!

The Devil in the Marshalsea by Antonia Hodgson

review by Maryom
Tom Hawkins is used to living on his wits, making his 'living' at cards and gambling, but now his luck has deserted him and he finds himself in debt; in 1727 that means being sent to gaol. Inside the Marshalsea debtors' prison,  he's given a spare bed in the lodgings of Samuel Fleet, one of the few people imprisoned for matters other than debt and regarded by many as a devil, striking fear wherever he goes. The spare bed though turns out to have been that of Captain Roberts, a recently murdered inmate who now supposedly haunts the gaol. Tom is offered a deal - help track down Roberts' ruthless killer and he'll go free. Sidetracked by the captain's attractive widow, suspicious of his 'room-mate' Samuel Fleet (believed by many to be the murderer),victimised by his gaolers, Tom walks a dangerous line as he tries to uncover the truth.

The Devil in the Marshalsea is a richly atmospheric novel full of the sights and smells of this abominable place,brought to us through the naive eyes of Tom. At first he thinks he could settle quite comfortably -  until he realises that he's only seen the more presentable side of the Marshalsea and that beyond a dividing wall is the 'Common Side' where those without any money or outside influence are crammed together in the most appalling disease-ridden conditions. It's almost unbelievable that people could be mistreated in such a way but the end goal of the prison is to turn a profit, and there's always someone willing to turn a blind eye for that!

The novel's strengths lie more in historical atmosphere than detection. It's difficult at first to see why newcomer Tom is picked to investigate the murder - surely the Governor has men of his own who could have done the job? - but, through luck more than detective skills, he at last uncovers the culprit and, as with all good murder mysteries, everything is revealed at the end.
 
An interesting addition to historical crime novels - and I'm hoping there'll be more to come about Tom Hawkins.

Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Hodder & Stoughton
Genre - adult fiction, historical crime