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Here is the third Montmorency novel and perhaps it's time to assess this remarkable sequence as a whole There are signs that Montmorency and the Assassins may be the last of a trilogy, yet the book ends with such a ferocious resolve by the remaining characters that the author surely can't leave it there. But the three so far have, taken together, something of the shape of a trilogy: they depict three adventures from among many over several years undertaken by Montmorency, crook turned gentleman, and Foxe-Selwyn, aristocratic secret agent. By the end of this novel one major character has disappeared and a new generation is coming to the fore.
The plot of Montmorency and the Assassins is, if anything, even more complex than the others. It ranges over the world and touches the extremes of Victorian society. The novel begins in Florence. Foxe-Selwyn's nephew Frank stumbles on an anarchist plot to assassinate the crowned heads of Europe. The Empress of Austria has been eradicated already, the King of Italy will be next. Meanwhile, their good friend and colleague Dr Farcett, is heavily into X-rays and has a grand but doomed plan to build what would have been a forerunner to today's CAT scan. Frank goes undercover and is the story's mainspring - in itself a significant change.
The two plot strands merge satisfyingly. The settings are Italy, London, the Scottish isle of Tarimond and the USA. While heroic deeds are done, appalling risks run, loyalties tested and suspense held in the world at large, on Tarimond a gentler story is continued. Throughout, a balanced point of view between the motives of the anarchists and the defenders of the establishment status quo is maintained, though only just, as the author treads a rocky, sometimes it seems unwilling, path between opposing philosophies. There are tragic elements in the conclusion - and one which is truly shocking and horrific.
As with all the books, we are a hairsbreadth away from actual history: the Victorian atmosphere (give or take a few traces of modern usage) is tangible throughout.
Montmorency's own character, as the novels develop, is something of a disappointment. In the first book, Montmorency, he starts brilliantly: a severely injured criminal brought back to life by Dr Farcett who, while being exhibited as a remarkable specimen, hears a lecture by Bazalguette, architect of the London sewerage system. When he is released, he becomes a burglar, Scarper, using these very sewers. Once rich, he turns himself into a gentleman. Thus far, all is dark, ambiguous, the London of Jekyll and Hyde and Jack the Ripper. But then he meets Foxe-Selwyn and everything changes: the novel turns into a Victorian cliff-hanging romp. From now on, as we commence Montmorency on the Rocks, Montmorency's moral ambiguities are largely forgotten, only to be referred to in passing and then usually as a fear of being found out. I can't help feeling that this is a pity.
I have commented before on what seems to me the main weakness of the series. I wish the author would not spend so much time recounting the plot but actually dramatizing it: in places the text reads more like a detailed synopsis than a novel. Sad, because the stories themselves are wonderfully dramatic; they would make great films or TV. I wouldn't mind if the books were longer, honestly: in fact I'd love it, because they've all given me huge entertainment and pleasure.
All in all, a remarkable but flawed sequence. But the flaws don't stop me hoping Montmorency appears again. If he does I'll be first in the queue.
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