Is Our Writers Learning? Thieftaker by DB Jackson (#SFWApro)

I can’t but notice that out of all the Is Our Writers Learning reviews, the ones I’ve liked best have been the historicals: Gideon’s Angel, Quintessence, Twelfth Enchantment. And now this one.
The story: It’s 1765 in Boston. British taxes are seriously pissing people off but for most people it’s a matter to negotiate and resolve, not rebel against. Ethan Kaille is a practicing sorcerer who also works as a thief-taker (bounty hunter). He tries to keep his powers on the quiet, but a lot of people know, which is how one wealthy merchant asks Kaille to investigate the death of the merchant’s daughter. Was it sorcery?
It was (surprise!). Kaille now has to navigate the political currents of British and native sentiment, hunt down a very powerful, utterly ruthless conjurer, and avoid pissing off Sephira Pryce, a thief-taker-cum-criminal modeled on Britain’s Jonathan Wild.
Why It Works: Jackson did his research and it shows. Not in an info-dump sense, just the casual references to clothing, geography, events and names,as if he knows where everything is and what it looks like (which I assume he does, though if he were pulling it out of his butt I doubt I’d spot the errors). The only time it gets somewhat info-dumpy is when Sam Adams is explaining his opposition to the Crown, and it’s at least justifiable (Kaille’s not very political).
Things that surprised me: After his comments on the Dragoncon panel I talk, I figured he’d hew very closely to traditional folk magic as The Twelfth Enchantment appears to. Instead, he’s created his own system: using the elements as a power source creates illusions, using blood does real things. And the sorcerer has a kind of spirit guide who appears beside him (invisible to anyone else) when he works his spells.
To the best of my knowledge, that’s not any particular magical tradition. Nor does Jackson hew exactly to history: A note at the end of the book says there were no thieftakers in the colonies, though they were popular in England at the time.
Neither of those details damages the book though. And the magic works quite well (mostly low-powered, but capable of more). So maybe the lesson to learn is that you can break the rules well if you know what they are.
Then there’s branding. A couple of times at Dragoncon I heard the book referred to as “tricorn punk” (Jackson may have used the term himself, but I’m not sure), a kind of 18th century riff on steampunk.
As an accurate description, I find that silly. It’s not that different from countless pre-steampunk fantasies such as Bride of the Rat God (silent film-punk!), Anno Dracula (Victorian vampire punk!), Lammas Night (WW II-punk!) or the previous colonial fantasy Patriot Witch.
As marketing though, maybe it’s brilliant. Steampunk’s popular so portraying Thieftaker as kind of steampunky may be a big boost to sales (I imagine it can’t hurt). If so, more power to him (or whoever coined the name). Because good books that don’t sell don’t benefit anyone.