The Devil's Acre

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY SEP 29, 2003

Though billed as a mystery, Holland's second Reverend Tuckworth historical (after 2002's The Devil in Bellminster) is less a whodunit than an evocative thriller, more Wilkie Collins than Conan Doyle. On a trip to London to raise funds to rebuild Bellminster Cathedral, Tuckworth, who has lost his faith and feels guilty for having made the decision to end his ill wife's suffering, goes hat in hand to philanthropist Hamlin Price, only to be directed to reappear in the evening along with other similar supplicants. When he does so, his petition is interrupted by a shotgun blast that kills Price's secretary. Noticing some anomalies about the killing, Tuckworth decides to investigate, despite warnings from Price and a corrupt police inspector. Like a number of recent Victorian crime novels (e.g., Louis Bayard's Mr. Timothy), the book has a significant subplot involving child prostitution, which leads the sleuth to expand his mission to include a quixotic attempt to redeem the man responsible. The author nicely depicts both London and Bellminster and highlights his hero's powers of observation and deduction, but the fairly pedestrian cat-and-mouse game between Tuckworth and his antagonist detracts from an otherwise fine effort. Hopefully, Holland will supply a more suspenseful story line for his compelling clergyman protagonist next time.