Police procedure thriller in an alternative history world

Eugene Byrne lives in Bristol and although only part of this novel is set in Bristol I reckon it fits my mini challenge. This was also a re-read for me but one after a substantial enough number of years (it was published in 2001)it was enough time to have forgotten a lot of the detail. It’s an alternative history book where the world had a nuclear war in the 1960’s. Since that time and in countries most heavily affected by the “Atom war” people who died prematurely through history are being brought back to life. These “Retreads” appear where they died, at the age they died, but cured of any disease or injury they may have had. Against the backdrop of post Atom War Britain we follow a band of policemen led by Scipio Africanus, a Retread slave (not the famous Roman general) who is a Feudal War hero (the feudal wars happened after the Atom war and are basically a re-run of the English civil war) who, when investigating a murder, stumble upon a conspiracy. The book is full of interesting characters and set in a fascinating world and a definite page turner. It left me wanting more at the end and a real desire to further explore the world that Byrne has created. His strength is in the characters from Africanus (based on a real slave buried in a graveyard in Bristol), “Queen Dick” (Richard the 3rd who steals every scene he’s in), Guy Boswell the WW2 fighter pilot, Jenny Pearson the WPC Boswell is assigned to & the famous Rake the Earl of Rochester & many more in a world where intrepid Victorians investigating the Retread phenomena in a steampunky style rub shoulders with characters from WW2 as well as Puritans and all manner of other historical characters.

Overall – Fantastic alternative history romp. ( )