Date: 18 December 2020
Location: Zoom
The Happy Bookers reviewed The Wicked Trade by Nathan Dylan Goodwin, our read for December 2020, during a virtual meeting on Friday, December 18.
I believe that The Wicked Trade is the first Happy Bookers selection that dives into the field of forensic genealogy. The book length was a bit over 300 pages and flipped in time between current (the book was published in February of 2018) and the 1820s. There was one additional timeframe at the very beginning of the story when skeletons were discovered in a false compartment within the fireplace of a pub.
The underlying crime of The Wicked Trade was the bootlegging of liquor into England from France. This isn’t like prohibition in the United States or our Southern country stills, with booze in the trunks of cars. However, the level of violence is still there. Our normal December selection is typically light in tone. The Wicked Trade is a darker story and one commenter elected to put the book aside till a later date.
Comments were made that the plot and character development were good. And also that the author had good credentials. Detailed conversation regarding the plot didn’t seem to be an important part of our review. It was noted that the Ann Fothergill character had a strong ability to survive.
There was some discussion on the sections of the book that went into the personal life of our forensic genealogist, Morton Farrier. To some extent, that information was in the “too much information” category. The personal life was somewhat confusing since The Wicked Trade jumps into the middle of the story arc regarding the family history of the Farrier character. This is the seventh book of the series. The first book, Hiding the Past, was started in 2008 and completed in 2013.
Goodwin has added The Asylum as a prequel to the Morton Farrier series. It is of novella length and is a vehicle to introduce Juliette, Morton’s wife-to-be, and develop her character. This is one of three novellas in the Farrier arc. I believe that it is available at no charge.
For most of the Farrier series, Goodwin has developed a formula that works well with the mix of genealogy research and a “crime” that has to be solved. Further, the Farrier character is at risk for his life in a few of the books to spice things up a bit.
From my own perspective, the methods of physical archives is interesting since my own genealogical research used online resources exclusively. The Morton Farrier character usually has several mini-adventures within the archives. Of course he also uses Ancestry.com and just plain Googling. I believe Goodwin has chosen wisely to not drill too deeply into the mechanics of online research. My own thought is it might be harder to keep the readers interest if he got caught up in it. Well, maybe I would be an exception.
The Wicked Trade, The Spyglass File, and The America Ground stories and characters are mostly created by Goodwin but there is a connection to actual historical events. So the author added a short section following each of the three story ends to provide the reader a connection between the fiction and the fact. My own favorite of the three historical novels is The Spyglass File with the women’s auxiliary during WWII and includes the battle for Malta. I wish that I had read The Spyglass File before our cruise ship visit to Malta a few years ago. My mind would have been better primed to appreciate the history.
Finally, for those interested, is Morton in Lockdown. Since Morton’s family has been well covered in previous books, it is time for Juliette’s family to be explored. A lockdown—changes the whole game for the Morton Farrier methods. All of a sudden, Morton can no longer travel to the various archives, they are closed! So although the author kept electronic research more in the background in previous books, this necessarily changed in 2020. Goodwin allows the reader to control the flow of the story. At several junctures, the reader selects from a list as to what happens next. As might be guessed, this is strictly an on-line read. This novella is free of charge although contributions are accepted.
— Jay