The Limehouse Text (29 page)

I would like to thank my martial arts instructor, Don Morrison, not only for his aid with technique but in the study of
dim mak
and Asian medicine. Thanks also go to the employees at the Tulsa City-County Library, who have supported me and helped track down key information. As always, it was a pleasure to work with my agent, Maria Carvainis, and my editor, Amanda Patten.

And, as always, thanks to my wife and muse, Julia.

1. During the opening sequence in the Prologue, our narrator’s employer is about to engage in a brutal fight to the death, which the narrator blames himself for causing. How does the Prologue set the tone for the rest of
   The Limehouse Text
   ? Do both the tone and your feelings about the narrator change in the course of the story? If so, in what ways?
   
2. In the first chapter, we learn that Quong, private enquiry agent Cyrus Barker’s first assistant, had been murdered one year prior by a bullet through his forehead. Is it surprising that Llewelyn is not more concerned about his own well-being, given the fate of his predecessor? Why or why not? Why is Barker particularly driven to find Quong’s killer?
   
3. Describe the relationship between Llewelyn and Barker. How is it similar to and different from Sherlock and Dr. Watson? Why doesn’t Barker tell Thomas more about what they are investigating? How is narrative power affected by the fact that the reader finds out answers to the mystery at the same time that Thomas does?
   
4. How does setting
   The Limehouse Text
   in London’s Chinatown add to the atmosphere of the narrative? Why do you think the author chose this locale? Are you surprised to hear that, at this time in history, there are only 500 to 600 Chinese both in London, a major hub of commerce, and in the British Navy? Why or why not?
   
5. Bainbridge’s last words are, “All these Orientals are natural-born liars. They never say what they really mean, and you never ken what they’re thinking. They’d turn a laundry list into a mystery.” Does this stereotyped view of Asians still exist today? Was the author sending a message about the dangers of racism by immediately killing off Bainbridge after he utters these words?
   
6. Why do you think Barker insists on being called “private enquiry agent” versus “detective?” What is the difference between the two, and what does it reveal about Barker?
   
7. What is Jimmy Woo’s role in the narrative of
   The Limehouse Text?
   What qualities make him seem untrustworthy from the moment he is introduced?
   
8. Inspector Bainbridge, before he is murdered, comments, “The Holy Bible is a book. The Koran is a book. Right now, in the Sudan, men are killing each other over both of them.” Why do you think the author included this information? Does it make you think about recent political situations in the Middle East?
   
9. How is Barker’s friendship with Inspector Poole tested in
   The Limehouse Text?
   Was it proper for Barker to conceal the existence of the book from Poole? Why or why not?
   
10. How does the intensity of the story change when attempts on Barker’s and his associates’ lives are made from within his own house? How does the introduction of Madame and Etienne Dummolard affect the timbre of the story?
    
11. Are you surprised at the person Barker chooses to courier the text? Why does he choose whom he does?
    
12. What do we learn about Barker and Llewelyn by the finish of the story that we didn’t know before—how do their characters become more illuminated by the mystery they solve and the adventures they endure? How does their relationship change?
    

1. Watch a classic Sherlock Holmes film and compare the relationship between Holmes and Watson to Barker and Llewelyn’s.
   
2. Read all three of the Barker and Llewelyn books in a row and discuss how the characters develop as the stories build.
   
3. The books in this series could very easily become movies. Who should play each of the characters in the film versions, and why?
   
4. Devour a Chinese feast while you discuss the various characters. Or, conversely, serve a typical English tea to set the appropriate ambience for your group.
   

How did your work as a scholar of the Victorian novel contribute to the creation of Cyrus Barker and Thomas Llewelyn?

I’ve been studying the Victorian era for many years, which adds to the sensory images that Llewelyn gives us during his narration. I’ve been interested in the smallest details. When I write, I’d like readers to feel that they are really standing in a Victorian street beside him.

How did Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson influence your creation of the Barker and Llewelyn characters? Who are your primary writing influences?

Everyone who writes in the sub-genre of Victorian mystery stands in Doyle’s shadow. Though I loved the Doyle stories, I was also influenced by the works of Dickens, Hardy, and Stevenson, giants of the age.

What series of mystery novels do you admire the most, and why?

I’m a big fan of Rex Stout’s creation Nero Wolfe. He’s such a curmudgeon, and his foil, Archie Goodwin, must learn how to get around him, in more ways than one.

Why did you decide to make Llewelyn physically small? Did you feel it was necessary to contrast him with Barker? If so, why?

Making him small gives Thomas just one more burden. It’s what makes him angry at the world sometimes, feeling that everything is stacked against him. But he is learning that what Barker has to teach him, from martial arts to detective skills, will allow him to compensate for his lack of height. As to contrast, yes, seeing the pair of them is arresting—no pun intended.

How difficult is it for an American to write from a British point of view—especially while living in Oklahoma? What challenges do geography and culture present as you write this series, and how do you overcome them?

I feel that the gap in time is more difficult than the gap of distance. The mores and speech patterns have changed over the past 120 years. I think the beliefs and motivations of the American heartland now more closely resemble Victorian England, whereas London has become a very modern city.

As with its antecedent novels,
The Limehouse Text
leaves readers with the feeling that they have not yet heard the last of Barker and Llewelyn. How many more installments do you think you will create, and how will the characters continue to develop?

I created the series intending it to have a long run. As I said, I’m a fan of Rex Stout and Doyle, whose series ran for over forty years.

Why did you decide to make Barker Scottish versus English? What are the main distinctions between the two cultures?

Detective work was a proper occupation for a Scot in those days. I was raised in a Scottish household as well, and consider myself a Scot. As to culture, it always makes Barker an outsider, and it will always be in the back of his mind that his home country is a victim of English imperialism.

How did you know that Barker and Llewelyn would become a series of books rather than just one novel? Where have you found inspiration for your story lines thus far?

I’m fortunate to be in the present looking back at Victorian society and its foibles. I can question where they might have gone wrong and can identify the seeds that have grown into major problems in our culture, such as terrorism and racial hatred. I get my story lines right from history; I never have to make them up. It’s entertaining for me to foresee which scrape the duo might get into next. I have the luxury of seeing it coming.

Given the philosophical issues (for example, the morality of the bomb) and the similarities in your novels to modern-day political scenarios (for example, wars caused by religious beliefs), would you say that political crises have not changed much over the last 150 years? Will you continue to draw parallels between the past and the present in this way, and if so, why?

They say those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it. I seriously doubt that modern politicians read much Victorian history, even though many history books consider the late Victorian period, with its labor strikes, anarchism, and various other crises to be the start of the modern era. I will continue to draw parallels between now and then. Allegorically speaking, now
is
then.

Is the secret Chinese boxing text based on something from history, or is it something you created from your imagination? Where did you get the idea?

Dim mak
is real, but perhaps not the danger the Chinese hoped it was. During the Boxer Rebellion they charged the field against the Europeans, believing it made them invincible. Needless to say, it did not. But China always learns from its mistakes and comes roaring back, and it has again, according to recent articles in
U.S. News & World Report
and
Time
magazine. Where did I get the idea for the Limehouse text, you ask? I’m a martial artist and I love the Chinese kung fu movies that often use secret texts and impossible feats. Barker’s instructor, Huang Feihung, was a real person, and there have been over two hundred movies made about his life in China.

What’s in store for Barker and Llewelyn in your next book?

Barker and Llewelyn are hired to find a young girl who has gone missing in the East End. The search takes on a chilling tone when bodies are found floating in the Thames and Barker begins to receive taunting poems about the case. London, it appears, is faced with its first serial killer whose victims are underage girls. Barker must face down socialists, street gangs, Scotland Yard, and secret societies to get to his quarry, while Llewelyn battles the man who once put him in prison.