Charters calls on Jonas to take care of an assassin currently in London and not just bring him into custody as usual but to kill him. And while this doesn't sit well with him, Jonas knows he has no other choice, so he sets off to find his man. However, he is almost immediately sidetracked by the Admiral who also has a job for Jonas, a young family was murdered that morning and the Admiral wants their killer found and he only trusts Jonas to do so. Gven the brutality of the murder Jonas agrees and heads to the murder scene only to find Charters there himself, who tells Jonas a horrific story of a man who had brutally murdered a family in France, one under his command, and a man Charters thought was dead. But now, standing at the scene of this new murder he knows he's alive, and for the third time, Jonas is told that he must stop this man permanently.

Okay, so I'm just gonna address the ending first, because why are we always bringing the ex into things right when everything is going well. So help me every god ever if Jonas hurts Belle even a tiny bit. Yes, I'm pre mad at a fictional character. Jerk.

Alright, moving on.

I loved this one! It was really just Jonas running around and scaring people into telling him what he needed to know, and that was actually pretty great. We know who the bad guys are from pretty much the beginning, so it was really just chasing them down, and it was a lot of fun. Especially with the whole Paladin thing starting. I won't explain, but I hope it continues throughout the series. And yes, I'm a little sad that it doesn't appear that Defoe is going to end up being Jonas's Watson. And no, I'm not explaining you'll just have to read it.

There were two things that really stood out in this one, though; the first was Jonas grappling with his morals pretty much the entire book. Everyone (except for Belle), including Jonas, sees him as this bad guy with a larger than normal moral compass throughout the book, and I really enjoyed seeing him work through this. Especially in the last fight scenes, because Jonas isn't a bad guy with a larger than normal moral compass, he is a good guy through and through. But still had Skelton opted not to address this side of Jonas it would have taken away from what has so far made this series great. Jonas lives in a time without police and so much of what he does would fall under a police officers purview without that societal norm saying that the law can do these these it would be damn near impossible for a good person to do the things he does without feeling some sort of moral conflict. It would make Jonas a straight-up bad guy if he didn't worry about these things.

The other thing is the killer running around murdering whole families. Honestly, throughout the entire book, I felt like he was just insane. I mean, he is killing children, and he enjoys it. The few times we get to a chapter where we do hear things from his perspective, it's fairly obvious he's just wacked, and yeah, he really needs to be stopped. And then you get to the final fight scene, and you realize that's not the case at all. He's surprisingly intelligent and while it seems like he has been letting people use him the whole time, it's pretty clear that he's not only well aware that was what was happening but that he was absolutely fine with it as long as it didn't get in the way of him killing people. There are not many plot twists in this one. However, I think I'd call the killers to reveal one because I expected a mindless monster, and that's not what he was at all. A monster for sure, but he was far more intelligent than we were lead to believe.

Overall, I definitely would recommend this series! If you liked Sebastian St. Cyr or the Pendergast series this will be right up your alley.

As always, thanks to NetGalley and Canelo for the eArc!

London 1718 and a family has been found butchered in their impoverished rooms in the city’s Rookery…and Jonas Flynt has been tasked with tracking down the warped killer.

Based loosely on real events and characters, A Thief’s Blood, is the fourth historical thriller in Douglas Skelton’s Company of Rogues series. And like the others before it, this is full of adventure and thrills, pulling you along with Jonas into the dark and grimy Georgian streets. Just keep your wits about you!

The Company of Rogues series has me hooked. I love a good thriller stuck in the Victorian times. Reminds me of Jack the Ripper times. The plot is multilayered and leaves you guessing along every turn.

A serial killer is on the loose. One family humble with no gang affiliations murdered brutally. Before the hue and cry can die down, another very similar family is killed.

Jonas Flynn is ordered to investigate whether it is the work of a gang, from the Rookery, an infamous neighborhood in London or is it the work of a bloodthirsty single mad man. His investigation is meticulous. The detail in the story is amazing and covers all aspects of life in the Metropolis. From the characterization of aristocrats far removed from poverty, to small time underworld gangsters constantly trying to get rid of the competition and extend their holdings and then you get the common man just trying to survive and often becoming collateral damage. This was the characters.

The description of the environment where these events took place could well form a story in itself. The sheer extent of degradation and squalor in places where animals could not survive but where humans did live was a disgrace for the politicians of the time who ignored for the most part, the poor of the time.

The book is an eye opener and a page turner too.

Though this is the fourth book in the series, I really enjoyed this book and will be going back to read the first three. Such a good London crime series

Company of Rogues—once more into the fray!

1718 and Captain Jonas Flynt is once again caught up in Colonel Nathaniel Charters’ Company of Rogues business.
This time a depraved murderer is slashing his way across families in the Rookeries. Whole families including children have been brutally murdered. Dubbed the Whitechapel Horror by the broadsheets, denizens of these places are angry, fearful and ready to riot. A line has been crossed.
Flynt is fearful for his loved ones (not that he’ll admit that!) like Belle St. Clare who owns a Pleasure House at Covent Gardens.
For Charters the deaths are personal. He is convinced they're the work of a man he’d sought on the eve of the battle at Malplaquet in Flanders, one Nimrod Boone. Boone was supposedly dead. Now Charters is questioning this. He wants Jonas to investigate that and the appearance of Monsieur Lombre, another dangerous character.
Rumblings between warring factions in the Rookeries are just below the surface. Jonathan Wild and Blueskin Blake make their presence felt. A highly volatile situation.
The deaths are personal too for the Admiral, a ex-midshipman who ruthlessly dictates illegal activities at the docklands and on the river. He’s concerned as well about the passions running high in the area.
Daniel Defoe, journalist and sometime scribbler of treatise and short works has been writing about a Paladin in the rookeries. Jonas feels a target on his back. Defoe’s newspaper articles need to stop.
Another dark and suspenseful historical mystery from Skelton!

A Canelo ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

1718 London. Jonas Flynt is ordered by Colonel Nathaniel Charters leader of The Company of Rogues, to find a spy called Lombre, determined his mission and then kill him. Meanwhile the gang leader, The Admiral, informs Flynt of the murder of the honest Berthon family and wants the murderer found. The family also interest Jonathan Wild, Thiefmaster General. Can Flynt find the killer and survive before he kills again.
An entertaining and well-written historical mystery with its cast of interesting characters. Another good addition to this enjoyable series.
An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Company of Rogues series just keeps getting better. In A Thief’s Blood Douglas Skelton has chosen to put Jonas Flynt on the trail of a vicious, irredeemable serial killer. He has taken as his inspiration, the Ratcliffe murders of 1811 when all London was convulsed with terror at the horrible slaughter wreaked at Ratcliff Highway and New Gravel Lane.

On Saturday 7th December 1811 at around 11.30pm, Timothy Marr, the owner of a draper’s shop at 29, Ratcliffe Highway, was preparing to close his business for the night. Inside the premises were four other people apart from himself: his wife Celia and their three and a half month old baby, also called Timothy, and two non-family members-their apprentice, James Gowan and Margaret Jewell, their serving girl.

Within the hour, Jewell alone would remain alive; all of the others would lie brutally and horribly murdered. They would be the first victims in a series of murders that would both grip and terrify the entire East End of London. It is these real life murders that Douglas Skelton uses as the basis for his work of historical fiction.

Douglas Skelton seamlessly blends fact and fiction together to offer an authentic picture of 18th Century London. We meet two well-known characters of the time as well as returning to characters we have come to know well in this series. It is a real a delight to learn more about Flynt’s relationship with Belle, though there is another lady in Flynt’s life who also makes a re-appearance.

His description of the seamier side of London’s streets and especially of the St Giles Rookeries is vividly evoked, as the dark and dingy muddled streets guide Flynt by their sounds and smells, an olfactory journey he wishes he’d never taken.

The plot is multi-layered. Company of Rogues leader, Colonel Nathaniel Charters has charged Jonas with finding Lombre, a French spy. But Lombre is French for ‘shadow’ and they won’t be easy to find. Colonel Charters and Flynt are also outraged by the recent murders and soon Flynt finds himself confronting Docklands gang leader, the Admiral, about this vicious killer. Jonathan Wild, the Thieftaker General, is also intent on justice for the murdered family and he and the Admiral do not make easy neighbours.

Soon Flynt is up to his neck in murders, conspiracy and a devilish plot designed to bring London under the thumb of malign forces. In a plot that is action packed and full of danger and duplicity, this thrilling read really plunges the reader in to the depths of London’s squalor.

What really makes this series stand out is the character of Jonas Flynt. He is no saint and yet his character is complex. He is no stranger to killing and though it is something he has done many times, it is not something he chooses to do unless he feels it necessary. He makes few real friends, but those he has, he is fiercely loyal to. His relationship with Charters is often strained, but he has no love for Charters’ enemies in The Fellowship. When he finds himself on the verge of being tagged with an aptronym, he finds himself unsure of whether it fits or even if he wants to be depicted as a knight-errant.

Skelton also allows us to see different sides of Colonel Nathaniel Charters and the Admiral, whom we now get to know more closely. Charters is haunted by the idea that Nimrod Boone, a monster from his past, whom he believed to be dead, has returned. He feels vulnerable and that is not something Charters has experienced before.

Verdict: There’s plenty of action, double-dealing and skulduggery in this fast moving and well-constructed plot. I loved the character development, especially the scenes between Jonas and Belle and the way in which Flynt dwells upon what he really wants from his life. Skelton draws all these threads together and leaves us with some satisfying resolution together with possibilities for the future. It’s both a thrilling and a rewarding read and I am looking forward to the next in the series, Ship of Thieves. Jonathan Flynt has fast become one of my favourite historical characters.

I thank NetGalley and Canelo for an advance reader copy of “A Thief’s Blood.” All opinions and comments are my own.

Once again Jonas Flynt manages not to get himself killed in “A Thief’s Blood,” the fourth in the historical mysteries series by Douglas Skelton, taking place in a dark and dismal 1718 London. That’s not to say that quite a few others don’t meet their demise during the events outlined in the narrative. But when you have a maniacal killer murdering whole families, including children, and you have Jonas (who’s acquired the nickname “Paladin” – he’s not very happy about that) tracking the murderer as well as determining who’s pulling the strings, that can’t be a bad thing.

Of course, spymaster Nathanial Charters is keeping him busy, too -- these are spy thrillers after all -- so we do have Jonas chasing after an elusive French spy. And who else gets involved in our not so happy tale but the pamphleteer and aspiring writer Daniel Defoe (who turns out to have more in common with Jonas than he can imagine). Add in Jonas’ continuing angst about his relationship with the lovely Belle (who proves at the end, to be quite handy with a pistol), and more involvement with Lord Moncrieff, our author ensures that readers are entertained from page to page.

Historical Notes explain the true history, people and places used as background for “A Thief’s Blood.” Douglas Skelton has crafted a gripping saga of intrigue, thrilling action, and psychological behavior, both good and bad. Jonas Flynt is a Paladin of fictional heroes, one that jumps out from the pages. No doubt there will more trouble afoot in the next book (that ending practically guarantees it).

What I love about this series is the vivid detail which the author uses to describe early 18th century London and all the underhand dealings going on. When you read this book and the others, you are right there with Jonas Flynt, seeing the sights and sometimes (not so nice) smelling the scent that pervaded the city of London. Love the swashbuckling moments along with the intrigue and history.

Thanks to Netgalley/Canelo books for the ARC to review.

Jonas Flynt finds himself having to deal with his old Captain and head of the Company of Rogues Colonel Nathaniel Charters when a family is found murdered in a horrific manner and it draws the attention of the Thiefmaster General Jonathan Wild.
Jonas Flynt always sails very close to edge when it comes to the law but even for him there are some lines you just don’t cross and one of them is that no matter what you don’t kill innocent children and even though he resents the hold Nathaniel has over him, he is determined to find out who is responsible for the murders. When another family is killed in the same way it looks like there may be a war waging between Jonathan Wild and a gang leader known as The Admiral, but Flynt is not so sure as he knows both men and doesn’t believe that either one would resort to such measures to take control of the London streets.
I have loved this series from the start as you can’t help but like Jonas Flynt. The more you get to know about him the more you can see that despite his reluctance to do the bidding of Nathaniel Charters he can quite often see the benefits of what he is trying to achieve. He has quite a few demons and flaws but in his own way he tries to make up for this by protecting those who need it even if it has now brought him to the attention of people, he would rather stay clear of and earned him a nickname that may be his undoing if he is not careful. Despite everything Jonas is also making time to spend with those he cares about, and his true feelings come to the fore when some are threatened, and others make choices that breaks his trust in them.
Douglas Skelton has once again transported the reader to the dark and seedy side of London where there are no rules, and the law often has no bearing in what takes place. The crimes this time may be bloody and brutal, but it is left to the readers imagination rather than put on the page. As ever there are real people and events dotted throughout the story that have been blended perfectly. With ghosts from the past and enemies of old this is the perfect addition to the series and after the cliffhanger ending, I can’t wait to meet up with Jonas Flynt again.

This is Skelton’s fourth adventure thriller featuring Jonas Flynt, agent for The Company of Rogues, set in London 1718. With a false threat of criminal procedures hanging over his head, previously-employed highwayman, Jonas Flynt, is in the pay of Colonel Nathaniel Charters, agent for the crown. A gruesome murder of four has taken place, and Charters charges Flynt with finding and despatching whoever is responsible. Charters also believes Nimrod Boone, a demon from his past, believed dead, is roaming the city, although Jonas’ enquiries, which take him into the strangled, lethal rookeries of St Giles, show Nimrod to be in Bedlam asylum. A second gruesome family murder, again with two children, follows close on the first, aiming to pit Thieftaker General, Jonathan Wild, and Docklands king, the Admiral, against one another in a standoff which will likely find both of them dead.
This is a standalone, although having read the series does benefit the reader with a closer understanding of the main characters, of which there are many. Skelton is a master at cross-working multiple storylines and bringing them to a satisfactory conclusion, and pulling in secondary characters from previous novels. This fourth is the best in the series in this reviewer’s opinion and ends on a spectacular cliffhanger. Undoubtedly a highly recommended series.

Another episode in the Company of Rogues series with Jonas Flynt again involved in blood soaked deeds in Georgian London. The slaughter of two separate families lie at the heart of the investigation with Colonel Charters sending Flynt to investigate and right the wrongs in his inimitable violent fashion. Full of violent characters several of whom reappearing from previous tales it all rolls along to a superb climax and the epilogue sets the scene for more adventures.

Excellent continuation of the Company of Rogues, combining rich development of the Jonas Flynt story with a pretty nasty plot centred on the butchering of whole families. Good mystery, well developed characters and a real sense of early 18th century London.
And a cliffhanger! Looking forward to the next one.:

Thank you Netgalley and Canelo for the advanced digital arc of A Thief's Blood.

The book description was promising, but it took a few chapters for me as the reader to fully become immersed in the story and understand who's who and what story was fully taking place. There were some parts that felt a bit unnecessarily long-winded and could've been cut shorter.

However, Jonas Flynt is truly a character to admire his natural bravery and heroism. I think he was the main spark in this particular book.

A great historical novel, the fourth of a series. It follows Flint, the thief with honour who is trying to solve the murder of two families connected with warring factions.

Jonas Flynt is back, up to his neck in shenanigans not of his own making. The Company of Rogues charge him with a mission that ends up being diverted by a particularly nasty serial killer. Tact & Diplomacy are on his side as usual (iykyk) & some characters from the previous books also make an appearance. I have really enjoyed this series, having read them all, but I did find this one harder to follow. There were lots of characters & dingy alleys & I found myself getting muddled with who was who. Saying that, I enjoyed this book & wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.

this was another winner in the company of rogues series, it had that element that I was hoping for from the previous three books. It uses the historical period perfectly and that the characters felt like they were supposed to be there. I enjoyed the mystery going on and had that element that worked in this thriller novel. I was invested in what was happening and glad I got to read this from Douglas Skelton.

I just loved it as I do the whole series. The very atmospheric, creepy, dark, stinking, cold and violent streets and life in London are incredibly vivid and perfectly woven in the intricate and complex plot. The characters are no less dark, creepy and violent matching their way of life. But some of them remain honorary at heart, particularly when they endure violent acts from or to others.... I really like Jonas' character and his reflections on justice... Highly recommended series!
I received a digital copy of this novel from NetGalley and I have voluntarily written an honest review.

The adventures of Jonas Flynt just keep getting better.

Following the events of "A Grave For a Thief", the fourth book in the Company of Rogues series opens in January 1718 and Colonel Nathaniel Charters is having nightmares. His past seems to be preying heavily on his mind. And when a horrible murder is discovered, he realises that past is coming back to haunt him. Meantime, in a seemingly unrelated event, he tasks Jonas Flynt with tracking down a French spy, known only as Lombre. But life for Flynt is never simple, and soon his quest for a spy, and the murders become inextricably linked, as he slowly uncovers a conspiracy to upset the balance of power within London's criminal underworld.

Before long, the reader and Jonas Flynt are knee-deep in plot and counter-plot where a colourful cast of characters conspire to take forward plans to alter the balance of power not just in London, but further afield. The Fellowship continues to fight an invisible battle with Charters, and enemies gather on all sides to make life difficult for Flynt. As usual, 18th Century London is presented in all its glorious sights, sounds and smells, with the Rookery area being particularly well painted. The scenes between Flynt and Charters, Flynt and the Admiral , and especially, Flynt and Belle are a joy to behold, as we slowly learn more about what makes them tick.

Long-time fans of the series will be glad to know that all of their favourite characters are back- Charters, Jonathan Wild, The Admiral, and more. Plus a couple of new characters, full of evil and deceit. There are also two cameo roles, real-life characters who add small but significant aspects to the story. Many threads from the previous books are carried forward, and Flynt's relationship with Belle takes on new dimensions. For the first time, we also see much more of the hidden sides of Charters, Wild and the Admiral - these three are now fully developed characters. But, of course, central to the story is Jonas Flynt, who continues to dwell on his past actions, the type of man he was, and has become, and what it is he really wants from life.

Oh, and the ending opens up quite a few interesting possibilities.

The author notes that he took inspiration for some elements of the book from the Ratcliffe Murders (some one hundred years later) and this forms an excellent basis from which the story unfolds, as well as giving us insights into the characters.

Fans of the series won't be disappointed, and lovers of Ambrose Parry, DV Bishop and ES Thomson will delight in this latest book. Highly recommended.