I have read a lotof his books, but the characters and dialogue in this felt so wooden that I gave up. ( )

England 1815: Paul & Peter Skillen, Private Detectives, are twins both working for the Home Secretary. Their rivals, Yeomans & his group of ruffians, with criminal tendencies, also working for the Home Secretary. Both groups are always trying to best each other the former w/ class & intelligence, the latter w/ little regard for the law & brute force.

When the uprising at a local prison involving American POWs demanding better treatment, ends in a massacre... the leader O'Gara & his black friend Bass escape, making their way to London seeking asylum & carrying a truthful version of the peaceful uprising.

In London O'Gara finds a scribe who sends a letter on O'Gara's behalf describing the abuse of prisoners & the truth of the uprising to the Home Secretary, which causes a stir & prompts a formal investigation on behalf of the POWs... Unfortunately O'Gara threatens the Home Secretary in the letter thus making himself & Bass wanted men.

Both the of the Skillens and Yeomans & his group are hired to find O'Gara & Bass, which turns into a fiasco of attempted revenge against the Skillens by Yeomans & crew.

In a side plot, the office charwoman goes missing, when another is hired to take her place, confidential papers also begin to go missing.

I like the Skillen brothers, Marston has them as completely different individuals. Peter is a gentleman, married to a clever woman who chose Peter over Paul. Paul is robust, a gambler, drinker, womanizer who has fallen in love for the 2nd time and is grappling with his feelings.

Yeomans & his group are not only unintelligent & coarse, they are unlikable men and their underhanded schemes, leaning toward violence against the twins & others put me off.

I also liked O'Gara & Bass, I admired their sense of duty to their compatriots.... but I didn't like how they were handled by those in power.

I will attempt to read one more in this series.... If I do not like it any better, I'll drop it not continue. ( )

This was a good introduction to the series, and especially the Skilleen brothers - Peter and Paul. This book gives quite a nice flavour of the period at the end of the Battle of Waterloo. It also shows the underlying repercussions following this war and also the American War of 1812, with a connection to both these events. A rather convoluted assassination attempt is in the making and the Skilleen brothers set about trying to prevent the outcome, aided or rather at times hindered by their fierce rivals, the Bow Street Runners. It was a very enjoyable, light and quick read that held my attention throughout. I will look to continue the series although likely to leave a gap between each one. ( )