Will Thomas, born 1958 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, is a novelist who writes a Victorian mystery series featuring Cyrus Barker, a Scottish detective or "private enquiry agent," and his Welsh assistant, Thomas Llewelyn. The Barker/Llewelyn novels are set in the 1880s and often feature historical events, people, and movements. Martial combat is a recurring theme throughout this hardboiled series. In interviews, Thomas has said that Barker is based on men such as Richard Francis Burton and Edward William Barton-Wright, founder of Bartitsu.

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Prior to writing novels, Will Thomas wrote essays for Sherlock Holmes society publications and lectured on crime fiction of the Victorian era.

Will Thomas' first novel was nominated for a Barry Award and a Shamus Award, and won the 2005 Oklahoma Book Award. He has been employed as a librarian with the Tulsa City-County Library System, and featured on the cover of Library Journal. The Black Hand was nominated for a 2009 Shamus Award. Fatal Enquiry won the 2015 Oklahoma Book Award.

Will Thomas is a great fan of Rex Stout, author of the Nero Wolfe mysteries. Thomas studies Victorian martial arts such as Bartitsu and Hung Gar, which he uses in his novels.

Books

Barker & Llewelyn Novels

• Some Danger Involved (2004)
• To Kingdom Come (2005)
• The Limehouse Text (2006)
• The Hellfire Conspiracy (2007)
• The Black Hand (2008)
• Fatal Enquiry (2014)
• Anatomy of Evil (2015)
• Hell Bay (2016)
• Old Scores (2017)
• "An Awkward Way to Die", short story (2017)
• Blood Is Blood (2018)
• Lethal Pursuit (November 12, 2019)
• Dance with Death (April 13, 2021)
• Fierce Poison (April 12, 2022)

Sherlock Holmes Short Stories

• "The Adventure of Urquhart Manse", in The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories - Part I (2015)
• "Take Up and Read!", in The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories - Part XIII (2019)

Notes

References

• Wilda Williams, "Librarians who write thrive on how well their chosen careers complement one another", Library Journal, February 15, 2004.
• Alex Knapp, "Series Review: The Barker-Llewelyn Novels by Will Thomas", Heretical Ideas, October 23, 2008
• Joe Myers, "Oklahoma Author of the Month: Will Thomas", Oklahoma Center for Poets and Writers (author interview).

External links

• Official website

На других языках

[ru] Томас, Уилл (романист)