The Poison Machine is the second Hunt & Hooke historical mystery by Robert J. Lloyd. Released 25th Oct 2022 by Melville House, it's 464 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback format due out in 3rd quarter 2023 from the same publisher. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is an exceptionally well written and researched thriller/mystery set in the latter part of the 17th century in and around London. The descriptions and dialogue are precisely rendered and believable. The story follows primarily Harry Hunt, renowned scientist Robert Hooke's assistant, sent to investigate a body found in Norfolk.

The author does a wonderful job bringing the simmering religious persecution of the era to life. The fictional narrative is skillfully woven around a framework of actual historical people and incidents and it's done so seamlessly that it's not always apparent where history shades into fiction. He does a great job with the characters and even the secondary characters are three dimensional and believable. I loved the respect and finesse with which he handles the historical (and fictional) characters.

Very well written and crafted. The pacing is not slow, but it's steady and worth the build-up. The denouement and resolution were satisfying. I am looking forward to the next books in the series. The author doesn't seem to produce books at a breakneck pace, but thus far, they've absolutely been worth the wait. Quality, exemplary, believable historical fiction.

Four and a half stars. Highly recommended for fans of cerebral mysteries in the style of The Name of the Rose and Father Cadfael. It's not derivative, but there's something about the descriptive prose and very clever construction which reminds me of both of them.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

The plot is a little hard to follow, the situations get so specific as to make the reader uncomfortable. Sadly it was very easy to put this one down and pick up another book instead. This one wasn't for me, but there are some readers I can think of that this is right up their alley.

The Poison Machine takes place a year after the end of the previous book, The Bloodless Boy, and follows Harry Hunt, as he becomes estranged from his mentor, Robert Hooke, early in the book and gets involved in international mysteries and assassination plots.

Where the first book felt firmly grounded in typical mystery genre conventions, this leaned more towards thriller, which definitely impacted my enjoyment. For one, I don’t tend to enjoy thrillers in general, and for two, Lloyd once again showcased his knowledge of the era, which I loved in the first book, but here slowed the pace of what was trying to be big action sequences with plot twist after plot twist. I also struggled not seeing the interactions between Hunt and Hooke.

That being said, I still love that this series takes place in a less written about era, and I still loved reading the book with Google open next to me to learn more. And I think this book felt like Lloyd hit his stride in finding the story he wanted to tell, so I can’t fault the book for not being what I wanted to read.

The Poison Machine is a brilliant follow up to the Bloodless Boy from Robert J Llyod. I read The Poison Machine without having read its prequel and it totally works as a stand alone novel.

We join Harry Hunt, the former apprentice to Robert Hook of the Royal Society as he initially works to solve a murder, which morphs into searching for a stolen diamond and finally his attempts to thwart the plot on the life of the catholic Queen of England. We move between England and France in the late 1670’s. Fantastic writing, language of the time, inventions of the time and an ending that satisfies.


I’d recommend this for a fast paced (and fast to read) historical mystery. Many thanks to Melville House and NetGalley for the ARC.

Unfortunately the poor quality of the ARC made it sometimes almost impossible to keep reading. Too many typos and repeats.

I just ordered the book on Amazon so I'll be able to give a better review soon.

Many thanks anyway for the ARC

The Poison Machine is a follow-up to Robert J. Lloyd's The Bloodless Boy. Like the first volume in the series, it's set during the English restoration. The Poison Machine, however, moves from London—the scene of the previous volume—to the fens where a skeletonized corpse has been uncovered, and then to Paris.

The skeleton is that of Captain Jeffrey Hudson, a little person. But Hudson, or at least someone claiming to be him, but who is about a foot taller than Hudson was, has been living in the area since being freed from slavers. This Hudson explains his growth on the diet of fish he consumed in Africa.

The trip to Paris, an attempt to track down the faux Hudson, is undertaken by Harry Hunt, assistant to the scientist Robert Hook and Hunt's long-time friend Col. Fields, who fought on the side of Parliament in the Civil War. The two aren't just looking for Hudson. They're now looking for an enormous diamond that the first, shorter Hudson may have had on his person when he was killed. There may also be a plot afoot to kill the English queen and other well-known Catholics and poisoning seems to be epidemic in France. Once Hunt and Field arrive in Paris, all sorts of things begin to happen. I won't relate those here because, dear reader, the real fun is in the reading.

I had my doubts about The Poison Machine in the beginning. It took almost half to book for the plot to build up enough that I reached the just-one-more-chapter state of engagement. But said point was reached, and I found myself racing through the book's second half. If you enjoy historical mysteries enough to put up with an initial slow burn, you'll have no trouble enjoying this title.

The Poison Machine lacked two elements that I had particularly enjoyed in The Bloodless Boy. First, Hooke's role in this title is limited, and I missed having a chance to spend time with Hooke as imagined by Lloyd. Second, while The Poison Machine was built around political intrigues of the time, it's presentation of those politics wasn't particularly nuanced. I'm hoping that subsequent volumes will give readers more of Hooke and of period politics.

Even with these minor complaints, I still find Hunt and Hooke a very promising historical mystery series and am eager for the release of volume three (I'm assuming there will be one). The plot twists are significant, and, as I noted above, one becomes more and more engaged as the title progresses.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher; the opinions are my own.

This is the second in a series, though I think you can read it as a stand alone, there are references to what happened in the first book though they are described if needed. In 17th century London, Harry Hunt, apprentice to Robert Hooke (an architect tasked with rebuilding London after the Great Fire) , is trying to show his latest experiment to the Royal Society for the Improving of Natural Knowledge, but he could not get it to do what he expected, later being laughed at by members of the Society. This prompts him to accept a position with another rival Society to investigate the body of a dwarf found outside of London. He soon discovers that the dwarf was murdered and that another dwarf may be impersonating him. This leads Harry to Paris where he is asked to look for a rare diamond that the murdered dwarf may have had in his possession, a large amount of money was promised if it was found. Harry is a very diligent investigator, though he soon finds himself at odds with the authorities and imprisoned due to a betrayal of a person he considered a friend. The history of London and Paris come to life, one can almost see and smell what the time would have been like. Though if you're not wealthy, life was very hard, there was not much of a middle class, you were either well off, or dirt poor. Harry persists through some very trying times, I really enjoyed the first book and this one was just as good, I look forward to another by the author. Thank you to #Netgalley and #Melville House for the ARC.

The Poison Machine by Robert J. Lloyd is an absolute cracker of a book which I thoroughly enjoyed reading and whole-heartedly recommend to lovers of suspense, crime, and historical fiction. It is the sequel to The Bloodless Boy but is very readable on its own.

The protagonist, Harry Hunt, ex-apprentice to Robert Hook of the Royal Society, is charged with solving the murder of the Queen’s dwarf. But as word spreads that he is solving this crime he is approached by a Countess to find a missing/stolen diamond and to find a man now impersonating the Queen’s murdered dwarf in France. In doing so, Harry discovers an elaborate plot to kill the Queen of England and this becomes the book’s central plot line.

When in Paris, staying with the Countess’ sister, Harry has his letter of introduction stolen and soon falls foul of Paris’ head bureaucrat. Very soon he is arrested and imprisoned in the Bastille from where he escapes with the help of an inventor’s flying apparatus. He, a trusted friend and ally and the dwarf whom he found in Paris, make their way back to the coast and then across the channel to London where they begin in earnest to solve the plot against the Queen's life.

I’d like to share more of the plot but the second half of the book is all unravelling the conspiracies and double-crossings and building to the big finish and it’s all simply too well-crafted to reveal any of that here.

The book is superbly written, borrowing quirky language from the era and using occasional sentences in French for authenticity. The plot is relatively simple and easy to follow. There backdrop of intellectual and scientific discovery through the Royal Society gives the book a strong sense of place in time. The characters, the main ones as well as the supporting characters, are crafted magnificently with eloquent descriptions of both physical appearance and behavior. The book develops some strong relationships between the characters to give the whole story authenticity. All of that is excellent, but the last chapter is a simple and satisfying resolution to the whole story.

The book was packed with action and suspense. The author knows how to set stories in historical settings, as evidenced by the detailed description of the environment.
The main characters piqued my interest. It was a good book to read.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free early reading copy in exchange for an honest review.