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C.S. Quinn
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The Thief Taker Paperback – September 9, 2014

by C.S. Quinn (Author)
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 12,417 ratings
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1666. London burns. And a killer tracking a dangerous secret fuels his own deadly blazes…

Charlie Tuesday is the city’s best thief taker. And as fire ravages London he’s on the hunt for a killer fanning the flames. But time is running out. Each death brings the murderer closer to the ultimate prize―a fabled chest with the power to destroy London.

As flames ravage the city, the thief taker must track the murderer into London’s blackest heart, where smugglers trade and sorcerers conjure. What Charlie begins to unravel is more ancient and powerful than he ever dreamed. Could the Thief Taker hold the key to the dark alchemy of a lost Brotherhood? Only the killer can reveal the truth. But Charlie must find him before fire outruns them both.

Previous page
  1. Book 1 of 4
    The Thief Taker Series
  2. Print length
    432 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publication date
    September 9, 2014
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 1 x 8.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1477824936
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1477824931
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Sharp, atmospheric and sumptuous.” ―Simon Toyne, bestselling author of Sanctus

“This is really captivating, vivid writing. Descriptions that come straight off the pages and permeate deep into your senses, and a truly electrifying pace. Quinn is a brilliant new talent!” ―Peter James

“C.S. Quinn has created a gripping and unforgettable read.” ―Louise Voss, bestselling author

About the Author

C.S. Quinn is a travel and lifestyle journalist for The Times, The Guardian and The Mirror, alongside many magazines. Prior to this, Quinn’s background in historic research won prestigious postgraduate funding from the British Art Council. Quinn pooled these resources, combining historical research with first-hand experiences in far-flung places to create The Thief Taker’s London.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thomas & Mercer; First Edition (September 9, 2014)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1477824936
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1477824931
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.3 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1 x 8.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 12,417 ratings

About the author

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C.S. Quinn

C.S. Quinn

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Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

C.S. Quinn was a travel and lifestyle journalist for The Times, The Guardian and many others before turning to fiction. Early in her career, Quinn’s background in historic research won prestigious postgraduate funding from the British Art Council. She pooled these resources, combining historical research with first-hand experiences in far-flung places to create her fictional worlds.

After many years in Brighton, C.S. has moved Devon with her beloved partner and two children. She is seriously considering staying, but secretly misses Pret and Wagamama.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
12,417 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Elaine Bergstrom
4.0 out of 5 stars Great read rich on history
Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2016
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Fabulous details raise The Thief Taker from being just another good historical mystery but what really makes this novel great is Charlie Monday, the Sherlock Holmes of 17th century London was raised in a foundling home, knowing nothing of his past but a key left in his keeping when his mother left him. On a hunt for answers to his parentage and the serial killer stalking plague-ridden London, he has a lot to accomplish. Add royalist plots at the highest level of government and a dash of romance and this becomes a page turner of the highest order. I finished it early in the morning and immediately ordered the next book in the series.
But back to the details, which are incredible. Quinn did her homework, as any good fiction writer should (but too many don't). But if there is anything I did not like about the novel it was the times when the details began overriding the plot, sometimes with a bit of redundancy. Still, this is well worth a read!
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Shad Schroeder
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2016
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CS Quinn has written a great historical detective story. Set during the plague in London, Charlie Oakley, a thief taker - kind of a private detective because the constables are corrupt or incompetent - is hired to find a killer who may be using witchcraft. The story is filled with interesting characters and a very good mystery. Me Quinn fills the book with a lot of historical detail and has written an enjoyable book.
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schar
3.0 out of 5 stars Protagonist doesn't fit the plot
Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2015
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(Really, 2.5.) I, too, disliked the repeated graphic descriptions of the plague and found much of the plot unbelievable. The author made several errors about facts that would have been easy to check, e.g., Louise Carwell (as the English called her) was not Charles II's mistress in the mid-60's. Charles I was not a Catholic; priest holes are not found in churches; and the author (I think) over-emphasizes the atrocities of the English Civil War, and then draws a picture of their impact that is nothing like what we now know as PTSD. More importantly, London's 17th-century slums were not favelas. For that, you need empty land where people can build houses out of discarded materials, as well as (probably) a dryer climate. I'm not saying London didn't have horrible slums, but if informal building was common, the open land that did exist, like Moorfields, the Inns of Court, the parkland that became Hyde Park, would not have survived. It's not necessarily bad to draw parallels with current conditions, but they need to be based on something real.
On the other hand, I did find many of the characters charming, and enjoyed reading the book. Overall, I think it's a matter of genre -- Charlie Tuesday doesn't belong in a lurid thriller, but -- with better fact checking and attention to when events occurred -- might be the perfect fit for a quieter mystery. Alternatively, if the author wants to write Mickey Spillane, she needs a different hero.
5 people found this helpful
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Michael Wojciehoski
4.0 out of 5 stars Epidemic
Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2023
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Plague, murder, witchcraft, missing persons. Historical. Interesting novel of the late 1600’s. Well written, some problems with all the good luck of the main characters. What will be next?
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Texas Chickadee
5.0 out of 5 stars The Thief Taker
Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2014
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This book not only held my interest but I found myself sneaking in the bathroom at work to read a few pages. This would be perfect for Hollywood to make into a movie. I knew it would be a great read when I fibbed and feigned gastric distress to finish a chapter.

Charlie Tuesday is a Thief Taker in the midst of a plague ridden London during the early years of Charles II's reign. A thief taker is a forerunner to a private investigator. Charlie has lived in London all his life. The country is just getting over Oliver Cromwell and his son Richard and Charlie is doing his best to get by.

It's a tale of Catholics vs. Protestants. The rich vs the poor and the brave vs. the scared.

Maria's younger sister has just died. And not just any death. She had the plague and the family brought in a plague doctor. In an early form of hazmet clothing, the doctor looks menacing and quite frankly evil. When the family look in the patient, they discover the plague doctor is some sort of twisted serial killer. Maria reaches out to Charlie in an effort to track down the killer.

Then...nope, I think I will leave off the plot now. Now if that doesn't whet your appetite, I don't know what would. The descriptions are graphic and shocking but I would expect no less. If the author glossed over the details of the plague, it would not be the engrossing tale it is.
2 people found this helpful
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Tom W
4.0 out of 5 stars Maybe because I had just finished reading Anne Rice and ...
Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2015
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Maybe because I had just finished reading Anne Rice and jumped right into 'The Thief Taker' -- maybe that is what made it seem to start off slow.... however, before I got to the end of the first chapter I was enjoying this story! For starters, I never knew that the thief taker was an actual profession, and then there was the incredible historic content - I appreciated the learning experience and I appreciated the vivid writing expressing the bleakness Londoners endured during their plague infestation. My imagination was soaring - and that's what I look for in storytelling - the ability for an author to take me out of today and into their world of fiction.. The story line and characters were likable and believable.. I will read more of C. S. Quinn
4 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Kindle Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing!
Reviewed in Canada on June 17, 2021
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This was a much different type of story for me and I loved it! It was interesting from an historical standpoint but was rich in characters and storyline. There really were Thief Takers in olde London so what they did was fascinating. During the bubonic plague era (historically accurate in this book), it was hard to move around London and keep yourself from contracting the disease. Charlie managed but ran into many obstacles. He also fell in love with Maria who died in his arms or so he thought!

Great story!
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HS
4.0 out of 5 stars Captivating Characters and London plays a starring Roke
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 11, 2019
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Full of historical background that feels very authentic, this is a fast paced story of London and it's people besieged by Plague. Fortunately there is contemporary evidence of this dark time in our history, which means we have primary evidence of life, in London, at the time. This book has a rich vein of detail are my to the depth of the story.

Well plotted, we are quickly caught up in the horrors and mystery surrounding the gruesome murder which sets the scene at the outset. Throw in the plague that ravaged a London still shaped by the civil war, Commonwealth and now the restoration of the monarchy, and there's goodnight authentic background of the lives of Londoners. We may be dismayed by the remedies used to treat and prevent the spread of the plague, knowing, as we do, the true cause. The killing of cats and dogs is particularly misguided. However, we don't have to go back very far to see how modern medicine really is very modern, in historical terms.

The plague died out eventually but cholera, typhus and diarrhoea, along with others, were like a plague. They spread quickly and caused many, many, deaths. They still do, dustressingly, in other countries and that really should not happen. It was happening here in the 1900s from some diseases. Diarrhoea killed the young and old, as did TB, diphtheria, scarlet fever, measles, influenza and others. Some are easily treated and with others, antibiotics was a real game changer.

In a the book we can see that there were huge efforts to limit the spread of the plague. They just didn't know enough to make their efforts work. This is obvious because rich and poor alike perished. Some sought to profit of course, they nearly always do. We are how volatile this period remained. It can appear that the Restoration meant Motorola were content to return to semblance of how life was before Charlie went loopy and thought he really did have Divine Right. That generally doesn't go well. Power went to Cromwells's head rather too, less disastrously for the people though and his didn't get chopped off. Not while he was alive anyway. The protectorate never achieved full public support but the unrest and divisions which fed the civil war didn't just disappear. Religion was as contentious as ever and restoration didn't, as the story shows, restore everyone's fortunes. Charlie 2's position was precarious and he didn't help matters. The times were anything but back to normal. It all brought us to where we are now though.

Crime was rife and probably flourished because of the plague, with rapid breakdown of law and order, in many parts of London. We see just how quickly things deteriorated and our Charlie the thieftaker, is dismayed by the changes wrought in just one week of absence. City and country are as like as a foreign country to Charlie Tuesday. Fortunately Charlie Tuesday is nothing if not resourceful. Torn by warring priorities he attempts to solve the terrible murders and bring the perpetrator to justice, as well as solve his own mystery. He is variously aided and hampered by the lady in the story and his relationship with her is just as varying. There are twists and turns aplenty as the different strands come together, part and merge again and principal characters of the time appear and disappear, throughout.

It's rather good
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Amazon Kunde
5.0 out of 5 stars Greatful
Reviewed in Germany on May 20, 2015
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A great book. Great voice, great story. Exciting from the first to the last page with an unusual and not to be expected output. I bought the book deliberately in English and I'm already looking forward to have the German version of the comparison. I am really looking forward to.
One person found this helpful
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Mark Ray
4.0 out of 5 stars The Thief Taker
Reviewed in Australia on October 24, 2014
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London 1665 and death haunts the City as The Plague decimates the population. To make things even worse a serial killer dressed as a Plague Doctor with a penguin-like helmet and goggles carries out gruesome murders. Charlie lives amid the squalor of the City slums, barefoot and ragged and wearing a strange key as a necklace. He is an accomplished thief taker earning a small income using his talents and gets involved with the sister of one of the Plague Doctor’s victims in tracking down the murderer. They join forces in a journey across the plague ridden countryside where vigilantes kill refugees from London in attempts to stop the epidemic spreading..
All in all a good account of the Plague horror as it spreads through England and a good unusual thriller.
A detective novel with a difference
14 people found this helpful
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Emma Cronin
5.0 out of 5 stars Not what i was execting at all!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 7, 2023
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I experienced this story by listening to the audiobook version as I was looking for something to help pass the time while I was busy elsewhere.

When I selected the book, i expected a simple, historical story full of ups and downs that would play in the background while I tackled other things.

That is NOT what this story is.
This story sits firmly in the foreground, playing front and centre in your mind, leaving you rooting for our hero, Charlie, (who has the gentlest heart), and despising any person/people who have wronged him, and those he cares about.

The story is written in such a way that you find yourself completely immersed into the cruel world during the times of the plague.
Obviously, I knew the story would contain suffering due to the nature of the disease, (so not a comedy, just a heads up 🙈), but the writer has described the world and the characters so beautifully, (and at times brutally), that I found myself easily picturing the scenes as they unfolded.

Some of the scenes were naturally tough to listen to, but are absolutely vital to the story and helped provide a complete picture in my head of what was happening.
So much so in fact, that I feel as though I have a greater understanding of the suffering that people must have faced back then, far better than I've previously been shown on TV/films.

There is a couple of lovely twists in the story that leave you guessing until all is revealed towards the end.

In short, this is a brilliant book, written in a brilliant way, clearly by a brilliant author.

Enjoy :)
2 people found this helpful
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