The Murder of Thomas Cardwell

The Casebook of Barnaby Adair Series, Book 11

By: Stephanie Laurens

Narrated by: Liam Gerrard

Number one New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Laurens returns with a perplexing case in which her favorite sleuths must untangle a web of interconnected motives to identify the man who killed Thomas Cardwell.

When Thomas Cardwell, an upstanding man-of-business, is murdered, Roscoe enlists the aid of the best investigators in London—namely Barnaby and Penelope Adair and Inspector Stokes of Scotland Yard—to solve the puzzle of why anyone would want to kill a man as honest as Cardwell.

Dispatched by Roscoe, London’s gambling king, to learn what “nefarious activity” an upstanding man-of-business has stumbled upon, Jordan Draper—Roscoe’s own man-of-business—arrives at Thomas Cardwell’s office to discover Cardwell very recently murdered.

Soon, Jordan finds himself working alongside the Adairs and Inspector Stokes as they search for clues as to why anyone would kill a man as unthreatening as Cardwell. Unexpectedly, Jordan finds himself drawn to Cardwell’s family, especially Thomas’s sister, Ruth, and as the investigation progresses, the greater Jordan’s compulsion to find the murderer and bring the family resolution and respite grows.

Clue by clue, motive by surprising motive, the investigators seek to identify Cardwell’s murderer and, along the way, uncover the “nefarious activity” he’d sought to bring to the authorities’ attention. But in a case cluttered with intertwined motives and a web of potential suspects related to each other as well as the victim, finding the kernel of truth amid the chaff is no easy matter. Only through enlisting the help of the investigators’ wider circle of supporters do they make any headway, and on the heels of uncovering a cascade of crimes, they finally—finally—close in on the man who murdered Thomas Cardwell.

©2025 by Savdek Management Proprietary, Ltd. (P)2025 Blackstone Publishing

The building mystery

Kept my attention to the very end. Also like the way Stephanie brings in characters from other books.

No Whispersync

I have most of Ms. Lauren's books. ( eBook and Audible) Really missed the Whispersync on this one. Disappointed!

well put together

Possible Spoilers:
March 1, 1841, Dauphin Square, London
Jordan Draper, 3rd son of a provincial man of business, followed a scion of the Dalbraiths, of the Dukedom of Ridgeware, to London where he became Neville Roscoe, gambling king. On Monday afternoon, Roscoe receives a letter from Thomas Cardwell, man of business, asking for his experience in handling some nefarious business that he discovered. First thing Tuesday, Draper & an associate are at Cardwell’s office but find him dead. While the associate guards the property, Draper reports back to Roscoe, who gets Inspector Stokes and the Adairs activated. Roscoe assigns Draper to assist in the investigation which uncovers trafficking of guns and money laundering and a love interest in the person of Ruth Cardwell.
I love that the story stresses the logic the characters use in determining next steps and the proof required.
Liam Gerrard initially annoyed me as a choice for narrator but then he folded into the background of the story, as all good narrators should. It’s about the story.

Narrator

could not get interested in the book. did not like to listen to the person reading it