Publishers Weekly
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The small mining town of Blackhampton is a far cry from the bustling streets of Victorian London, but when three members of a prominent family go missing and a human eyeball is found in a bird's nest, Inspector Walter Day and Sergeant Nevil Hammersmith of Scotland Yard's murder squad are brought in to help the local police in their search for the missing family. When they arrive they find a town drenched in secrets, steeped in old superstitions, and haunted by the past and death. What happened to the family? Whose eye was in the nest? And what is the mysterious illness that is striking down the town's populace? These are only a few of the many questions that Day and Hammersmith must find answers to during their time in the Black Country. Toby Leonard Moore is in fine form as he expertly brings Grecian's historical mystery to life. With his even, pleasantly accented voice and calm, methodical pacing, Moore skillfully pulls listener sin and guides them through the twists and turns of this dark and captivating tale. At the same time he convincingly creates a wide range of diverse characterizations. A Putnam hardcover. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Scotland Yard inspector Walter Day, first introduced in Grecian's The Yard (2012), returns to help solve a murder or two in the Black Country of the Midlands. The landscape is grimy, muddy and slag-strewn--in other words, a perfect climate for murder--but other mysterious goings-on also haunt the village of Blackhampton, especially a plaguelike illness affecting hundreds of townspeople. Day had originally been called in from London along with his assistant, Nevil Hammersmith, to investigate the disappearance of a couple, Sutton and Hester Price, and their young son, Oliver. The Prices leave three more children behind--Peter, Anna and Virginia--all of them precocious and creepy. It turns out one of the missing Prices and the community disease are related when Day discovers Oliver's body at the bottom of a well from which folks have been drawing their drinking water. Almost immediately after Day removes the body, Sutton returns, reclaiming the three remaining children. Throughout the elaboration of these mysteries, other puzzles emerge, like the appearance in Blackhampton of Campbell, a giant of a man whose cover is that he's a bird-watcher. We also meet, somewhat elliptically, a menacing figure called simply The American, whose face had been horribly mutilated by Campbell at Andersonville Prison in 1865; 25 years later, he's still seeking revenge. And Campbell, it turns out, had been enamored years earlier with Hester Price, so Sutton Price's sudden reappearance leads to fighting that emerges from jealousy. Grecian packs in almost more plot than a body can stand, but he presents with fine precision the gray and gritty atmosphere of late-Victorian England.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Library Journal
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Grecian (The Yard) continues his Victorian-era detective series as he brings back Insp. Walter Day and Sgt. Nevil Hammersmith of the Scotland Yard. In this outing, they have two days to solve the disappearance of several family members in an isolated coal mining village. Accompanied by forensics pioneer Dr. Bernard Kingsley, the men are immersed in a baffling mystery in a community where secrets and superstitions abound. Australian actor Toby Leonard Moore does a good job bringing the characters' regional accents to life. Verdict This atmospheric novel is recommended for fans of historical mysteries.-Phillip Oliver, Univ. of North Alabama, Florence (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly
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Set in 1890, Grecian's startling and spooky sequel to The Yard (2012) charts the efforts of Scotland Yard's Murder Squad to locate a missing married couple and their toddler in Britain's industrial Midlands. In the village of Blackhampton, Insp. Walter Day and his team discover more than one mystery: a girl finds an eyeball under a tree, scores of townspeople are stricken with an unexplained plague, and a hideous figure is lurking in the woods with a gun. Battling local terror and superstition, the squad must also contend with the town's physical collapse into the mines beneath it. Grecian's bold melding of horror with historical elements more than compensates for the dramatic overkill at the end. The novel's varied relationships balance pathos with humor and point up lessons on human responsibility-on what we owe to those with whom we're connected. The nascent bond between Day and Sgt. Nevil Hammersmith is especially appealing, hinting at many rich developments to come. Agent: Seth Fishman, the Gernert Company. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Library Journal
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The Murder Squad is back on the case! When a small boy and his parents go missing, Insp. Walter Day and Sgt. Nevil Hammersmith trade the fog of London for the coal mines of the British Midlands.The duo arrive in the tiny village of Blackhampton, weighted down under a thick layer of snow, secrets, and superstition. Soon, the case that was supposed to be open-and-shut has developed more twists and turns than the labyrinthine mining tunnels underlying the village. As a deadly stranger watches, more villagers disappear and Hammersmith develops a mysterious illness. Verdict Grecian's (The Yard) latest Murder Squad adventure is a fast-paced homage to the Victorian countryside mysteries of Wilkie Collins (The Moonstone; The Woman in White) and Charles Dickens (Bleak House; The Mystery of Edwin Drood). Recommended for Anglophiles, period mystery enthusiasts, and anyone interested in medical Victoriana. [See Prepub Alert, 11/12/12.]-Liv Hanson, Chicago (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

*Starred Review* In March 1890, Scotland Yard's Inspector Walter Day and Sergeant Nevil Hammersmith bring their Murder Squad expertise to the Midlands, where a husband, wife, and son have disappeared; the couple's three other children, left unscathed, tell conflicting stories about what happened. An eyeball, discovered by a neighbor child, is the only clue. From the beginning, the bleak stage is set: a coal-mining town in winter with its slag heaps and gray snow on glumly shadowed streets that are lined with buildings sinking slowly into deserted mine shafts below. The town's denizens, taciturn and superstitious, believe Blackhampton is cursed, as the disappearances are followed by an epidemic of violent illness. The suspense grows exponentially while the detectives unearth clues to a bizarre and complicated crime, hoping their forensic specialist, when he arrives, will shed light on the baffling plague and the eyeball's owner. In contrast to Day's first case (The Yard, 2012), this second in the series moves at a brisk pace, with surprising plot twists right up to the very end. Grecian's riveting novel is an intelligent historical thriller similar to Jean Zimmerman's atmospheric psychological novel The Orphanmaster (2012), and as shocking as David Morrell's Murder as a Fine Art (2013).--Baker, Jen Copyright 2010 Booklist