Mr. Timothy by Louis Bayard

Rating: 3.5

Synopsis (taken from Barnes&Noble.com):

It's the Christmas season, and Mr. Timothy Cratchit, not the pious child the world thought he was, has just buried his father. He's also struggling to bury his past as a cripple and shed his financial ties to his benevolent "Uncle" Ebenezer by losing himself in the thick of London's underbelly. He boards at a brothel in exchange for teaching the mistress how to read and spends his nights dredging the Thames for dead bodies and the treasures in their pockets.

Timothy's life takes a sharp turn when he discovers the bodies of two dead girls, each seared with the same cruel brand on the upper arm. The sight of their horror-struck faces compels Timothy to become the protector of another young girl, Philomela, from the fate the others suffered at the hands of a dangerous and powerful man.

A different kind of Christmas story, this breathless flight through the teeming markets, shadowy passageways, and rolling brown fog of 1860s London would do Dickens proud for its surprising twists and turns, and its extraordinary heart.

My thoughts:

I wasn't as involved in Mr. Timothy as I was in Bayard's other novel, The Pale Blue Eye. It is nicely written and was a pretty good story though. I loved the gritty atmosphere of 1861 London. There were also some memorable characters....especially Mr. Timothy's young protege, Colin the Melodious.

The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard

Rating: 5.0

The Pale Blue Eye is a very well written mystery with the emphasis on well written. The best thing about the book is the writing. Louis Bayard definitely has a way with words and that made reading this novel a lot of fun.

The story takes place at West Point Academy in the year 1830. One of the cadets has been found dead with his heart removed from his chest. The academy brings in Augustus Landor, a once renowned detective, to investigate. The academy grants him a cadet to serve as assistant and that cadet is Edgar Allen Poe.

The plot was interesting and kept me guessing. I really liked the characters. The greatest thing about The Pale Blue Eye though is how eloquently it was written. The New York Times says it best: "Bayard reinvigorates historical fiction, rendering the 19th century as if he'd witnessed it firsthand. He employs words like "caoutchouc," "meerschaums" and "anapestic" as fluently as he uses Gothic tropes. Landor is attacked in the dark woods and in a dark closet. Messengers drive phaetons. There's black magic, phrenology, a profusion of ghosts, even a boat trip through torch-lit mist. But none of it seems musty. Bayard does what all those ads for historical tourist destinations promise: as Landor says at death's door, "the past comes on with all the force of the present.""