The Vampyre Client: An Irregular Detective Mystery, Book 4 by Jeri Westerson Format: eARC
Source: supplied by publisher via NetGalley
Formats available: paperback, ebook, audiobook
Genres: historical fiction, historical mystery, mystery
Series: Irregular Detective #4
Pages: 283
Published by Old London Press on May 1, 2026
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Bookshop.org, Better World Books
Goodreads
London, October, 1895. Former Baker Street Irregular Tim Badger and his colleague in crime-solving, Ben Watson, are hired by a man whose neighbours are convinced he is a vampyre and have threatened him and his home. The strange Mister Jonathan Wicker – pale, dark-haired, wearing a pair of dark glasses and claims that he is allergic to the sun, (and who spends his time in the study of bats!) – needs the detectives to prove to the villagers that he is just an ordinary scientist. He invites the duo to travel to the village of Ashwell in Herefordshire to stay at his grim manor house to assess the situation whilst he is engaged in business in London and vows to join them in a few days time. Meanwhile, Miss Ellsie Moira Littleton, reporter for the Daily Chronicle who writes Badger and Watson's acclaimed adventures, gets wind of their mission and insinuates herself into their travel plans, where the duo becomes a trio in their investigations. But once in Ashwell, tragedy strikes, and Badger and Watson find they have a case they can truly sink their teeth into.
This is BOOK 4 in An Irregular Detective Mystery Series.
My Review:
Unlike his mentor, the Great Detective himself, former Baker Street Irregular and now grown-up detective Timothy Badger reads WAY too many ‘penny dreadfuls’ and believes a bit too much in everything he reads. Or is just a bit too gullible when it comes to ghosts and ghoulies and things that go “Boo!” in the night.
Which is a HUGE problem in his latest case, as someone is doing their damndest to make people believe that their new client is a vampire. An actual, bloodsucking, coffin-sleeping, vampire. Upon meeting the client, Badger is a bit too willing to believe.
Admittedly, Jonathan Wicker’s looks ARE against him. He’s tall, sallow, skinny and pale as a ghost. Or at least as a man who shuns sunlight at all costs – to the point where he wears dark glasses even indoors.
If there was ever a man to fit the popular image of vampires, Jonathan Wicker is definitely it. That he claims to be a scientist who studies BATS of all creepy creatures seems to be the bloody icing on a very dark, winged cake. Or cape, as the case might very well be.
Nevertheless, Wicker was recommended to Badger and Watson by their mentor and benefactor, Sherlock Holmes, and the still fledgling detectives need the work AND the money. And Wicker makes a cash deposit on their fee that neither can afford to resist.
In spite of Badger’s strong misgivings. Ben Watson is considerably more scientifically inclined. He KNOWS there’s no such thing as vampires. Or ghosts. Or any of the other bloodthirsty creatures that his partner can’t seem to help himself from reading about.
The case takes them to the tiny village in Gloucestershire where Wicker has been in uncomfortable residence for several months. Caurdal Hall is perfect for his studies, and he’s more than wealthy enough to afford it. But he can’t keep a staff and he can’t make repairs. He’s shunned in the village and NO ONE is willing to work for him or on the estate because of those vampire rumors – in spite of the high wages he is willing to pay.
Not that the locals like outsiders coming in and buying up property to begin with, but combined with the vampire malarky, Wicker has no friends, no support and no help maintaining the property. His only assistant is a man he hired in London and brought with him.
Badger, Watson, and their chronicler, reporter Ellsie Littleton arrive in the village to get the lay of the land before Wicker returns from London. The next morning, they find Wicker laying ON the land, by his estate’s front gate, dead as a doornail with a long wooden spear – or stake – through his heart.
They may not have a client, but they still have an obligation to determine who murdered the man who hired them to shut down the rumor mill around Caurdal Hall. Because whoever did Wicker’s reputation in hasn’t stopped with killing the man himself. After all, there’s still a reputation left to blacken to keep anyone from investigating his death.
And the game is afoot! Or possibly a-wing, as there are clearly too many bats in Caurdal Hall and/or someone’s belfry.
Escape Rating A-: This series has been oodles of Sherlock-adjacent fun from the very beginning in An Isolated Seance, and this fourth book absolutely continues that delightful streak. If you enjoy historical mystery or Sherlock Holmes stories or both this series is a winner.
What makes this series both fun AND new is that Badger and Watson as detectives push the stories into new ground. The series takes place in the mid-1890s, so after Holmes’ and HIS Watson’s heyday but they are still around and active. (Although Dr. Watson was almost permanently misplaced in the previous book, The Misplaced Physician.) In some ways, they are even more active, as Holmes has had the opportunity to mellow just a bit AND to get much too busy to take more mundane cases even if he wanted to. Which he manifestly does not.
Badger and Watson cover a different ‘beat’ with a different perspective as a)they are both still learning the ropes although getting more experienced all the time, and b) they operate at one hell of a disadvantage. Holmes and Watson were broke when they started out – but broke is temporary. Badger and Watson were poor, and poor is likely to be a lifelong condition without intervention.
Holmes and Watson saw the upper class world they operated in as a normal they were returning to. Badger and Watson see the middle class world they’ve only just reached with Holmes’ financial backing as a gift they never expected to earn. Holmes was always at home in any room he entered. Badger always has imposter syndrome because he knows he doesn’t belong. BEN Watson is a black man who knows that no one will EVER think he belongs no matter how much he has earned or deserves it.
This case is interesting because it’s all about the power of gossip and superstition to make a man miserable. It’s about a community shunning and its devastating effects. Wicker was doomed at Caurdal Hall long before he was murdered for reasons that he had no knowledge of and no honorable ways to fight.
The investigation is fun because it forces Badger to confront his fears and superstitions and yet doesn’t beat him over the head with the logic of it. He still loves penny dreadfuls at the end. It’s not certain whether he still believes that there might be vampires, only that their client was not one.
And that following Sherlock Holmes’ methods is the key to Badger and Watson’s success, but running off half-cocked in pursuit of wild rumors is the road to failure and a return to poverty.
As always, I had a marvelously fun time with Badger and Watson on their latest case. The whole ‘vampire rumor’ was especially fun as the portrait of vampires in the story JUST predates Bram Stoker’s iconic Dracula. Wicker was unfortunately creepy – also extremely nerdy – but no one would ever have mistaken him for the Count.
The next adventure in this series – according to the Author’s Afterward – will be The Magician’s Misadventure, featuring a magic trick gone wrong, whether by human means or something more nefarious or otherworldly. I can’t wait to find out, hopefully this time next year!
