Harry Lawton—an ex-boxer, ex-soldier and ex-police detective—is working as a private investigator in London in 1909 at the start of Matthew Carr’s richly detailed historical thriller “Black Sun Rising” (Pegasus, 355 pages, $25.95). An unusual case sends Lawton to Barcelona: An English scientist was killed there, it seems, in a terrorist bomb-blast, after paying a local woman a large sum of money. The scientist’s widow wants Lawton to verify the dead man’s remains and uncover the facts of her husband’s generous gift.

Source: Wall Street Journal June 12, 2020 13:30 UTC