For Services Rendered by Will Thomas ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

In London, 1896, private enquiry agent Cyrus Barker's world is upturned when his longtime nemesis, Sebastian Nightwine, previously believed dead, turns up with evil on his mind, launching devastating and secretive attacks against not just Barker, but his network of friends and close associates.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free audiobook was provided for an honest review.

August 2026; Macmillan Audio; 9781250445858
audio (8h 30m), ebook, print; historical mystery

The Barker & Llewelyn series is one of my favorite detective series to listen to.  I absolutely love Antony Ferguson as the narrator. When I read the books myself, I can't get the voices right in my head. I particularly like the voice he does for Barker.

Standalone or read in order?

For Services Rendered is book 17 in the series, and usually I say these books can be read as standalones. You might still be able to. However, a sort of recurring character appears in this book - Sebastian Nightwine. While I thought the name sounded familiar, I couldn't quite place the character. I asked AI which books the character made an appearance. The response was books 1 and 6, but that he had been mentioned in other books. I started reading this series with book 12 and have not had a chance to read the earlier books yet. 

The characters are what I like

Nightwine is kind of like the Moriarty character in the Sherlock Holmes series. He is a nemesis that Barker thinks is dead, but then he rises again to wreak havoc on Barker's life. 

I enjoy the plots, but it is really the characters I love reading about. Barker has lived an interesting life, and Llewelyn is just the kind of nice guy you would want to be friends with. We do get a bit of personal life with these characters in this book, but there was also a focus on an additional character - Sun Yat-Sen.

He is captured and held prisoner in the Chinese Embassy. As such, he doesn't interact with the main characters yet the reader is privy to his story, which means we aren't with the main characters quite as much as in other books. 

Chinese/Hong Kong History

As Barker has spent time in Hong Kong (or maybe just China in general), and has friends among the Chinese immigrants in London, we often get glimpses of history. I know a little bit about how Chinese immigrants were treated in the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th century, but I know little about the British occupation of Hong Kong.

With Sun Yat-Sen's appearance in the book, a lot more details about Chinese relations with Britain are provided, and I found it interesting.

Recommendation

If I had realized that a recurring character was returning, I might have tried to have read at least book 6 to get up to speed on their last encounter. But not having read the previous books, I still found the book enjoyable because I really like the characters. I struggled with the plot a little, but that also might be because I was really distracted by a family medical situation while listening to this book. 

Buy For Services Rendered at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

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