7.4 /10 1 Votes
Country United Kingdom Series Lucifer Box #3 Pages 204 pp (hardback) Publisher Simon & Schuster | 3.7/5 Goodreads Language English Publication date 2008 Originally published 2008 Preceded by The Devil in Amber OCLC 241030365 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Media type Print (Hardcover, Paperback) Genres Historical drama, Spy fiction, Horror fiction Similar The Devil in Amber, The Vesuvius Club, Black Butterfly: A Lucifer B, The Roundheads, A Local Book for Local Pe | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Black Butterfly is the third and final novel in Mark Gatiss' Lucifer Box trilogy, which deals with the exploits of a bisexual British detective and secret agent. The previous volumes were The Vesuvius Club and The Devil in Amber.
Contents
Plot summary
It is 1953, shortly after the coronation of Elizabeth II. Box is now nearing retirement, and has also been left with an unexpected offspring, Christmas Box. However, he discovers that elderly pillars of the British establishment are meeting unexpected deaths through participation in reckless risk taking and accidents. He tracks the perpetrators to Istanbul, is assisted by Turkish-Geordie double agent Whitley Bey and meets Afro-Japanese gay agent Kingdom Kum, and also that the aforementioned figures were poisoned by a malignant chemical derived from the eponymous insect. From there, he travels to Kingston, Jamaica, where he meets the chief culprit behind his misadventures- the progeny of an old enemy, Cassivelaunus Fetch Junior, who is using a "New Scout Movement" to mask his mass poisoning schemes.
With that resolved, Box is knighted, and renews the acquaintance of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, whom he once met at a party on Armistice Day 1918.
Reception
The Mirror newspaper called Black Butterfly a "wickedly funny caper". CrimeSpace called it "a fun treat".
Adaptations
An audio play has been produced by the BBC in 2011.