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Thomas Chaloner #3
The Butcher of Smithfield
Susanna Gregory, author of the Matthew Bartholomew series of medieval mysteries, has created another compelling fictional detective set in Restoration London.--------------------------------------------The third adventure in the Thomas Chaloner series.Having just returned from a clandestine excursion to Spain and Portugal on behalf of the Queen, Thomas Chaloner finds London dank and grey under leaden skies. He finds many things changed, including the Government slapping a tax on printed newspapers. Handwritten news reports escape the duty, and the rivalry between the producers of the two conduits of news is the talk of the coffee houses with the battle to be first with any sort of intelligence escalating into violent rivalry. And it seems that a number of citizens who have eaten cucumbers have come to untimely deaths.It is such a death which Chaloner is despatched to investigate; that of a lawyer with links to 'the Butcher of Smithfield', a shady trader surrounded by a fearsome gang of thugs who terrorise the streets well beyond the confines of Smithfield market. Chaloner doesn't believe that either this death or the others are caused by a simple vegetable, but to prove his theory he has to untangle the devious means of how news is gathered and he has to put his personal safety aside as he tries to penetrate the rumour mill surrounding the Butcher of Smithfield and discover his real identity.'Pungent with historical detail' ( Irish Times)'A richly imagined world of colourful medieval society and irresistible monkish sleuthing' ( Good Book Guide )'Corpses a-plenty, exciting action sequences and a satisfying ending' ( Mystery People )
506 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 28, 2008
41 people are currently reading
308 people want to read
About the author
Susanna Gregory
86 books432 followersSusanna Gregory is the pseudonym of Elizabeth Cruwys, a Cambridge academic who was previously a coroner's officer. She is married to author Beau Riffenburgh who is her co-author on the Simon Beaufort books.
AKA Simon Beaufort
She writes detective fiction, and is noted for her series of mediaeval mysteries featuring Matthew Bartholomew, a teacher of medicine and investigator of murders in 14th-century Cambridge.
These books may have some aspects in common with the Ellis Peters Cadfael series, the mediaeval adventures of a highly intelligent Benedictine monk and herbalist who came to the Benedictine order late in an eventful life, bringing with him considerable secular experience and wisdom combined with a deal of native wit. This sets him apart from his comparatively innocent and naíve monastic brethren. His activities, both as a monk and a healer, embroil him in a series of mysterious crimes, both secular and monastic, and he enthusiastically assumes the rôle of an amateur sleuth. Sceptical of superstition, he is somewhat ahead of his time, and much accurate historical detail is woven into the adventures. But there any resemblance to the comparatively warm-hearted Cadfael series ends: the tone and subject matter of the Gregory novels is far darker and does not shrink from portraying the harsh realities of life in the Middle Ages. The first in the series, A Plague on Both Your Houses is set against the ravages of the Black Death and subsequent novels take much of their subject matter from the attempts of society to recover from this disaster.
These novels bear the marks of much detailed research into mediaeval conditions - many of the supporting characters have names taken from the documentation of the time, referenced at the end of each book - and bring vividly to life the all-pervading squalor of living conditions in England during the Middle Ages. The deep-rooted and pervasive practice of traditional leechcraft as it contrasts with the dawning science of evidence-based medicine is a common bone of contention between Matthew and the students he teaches at Michaelhouse College (now part of Trinity College, Cambridge), whilst the conflict between the students of Cambridge and the townsfolk continually threatens to escalate into violence.
Another series of books, set just after the Restoration of Charles II and featuring Thomas Chaloner, detective and former spy, began with A Conspiracy of Violence published in January 2006, and continues with The Body in the Thames, published in hardback edition January 2011.
AKA Simon Beaufort
She writes detective fiction, and is noted for her series of mediaeval mysteries featuring Matthew Bartholomew, a teacher of medicine and investigator of murders in 14th-century Cambridge.
These books may have some aspects in common with the Ellis Peters Cadfael series, the mediaeval adventures of a highly intelligent Benedictine monk and herbalist who came to the Benedictine order late in an eventful life, bringing with him considerable secular experience and wisdom combined with a deal of native wit. This sets him apart from his comparatively innocent and naíve monastic brethren. His activities, both as a monk and a healer, embroil him in a series of mysterious crimes, both secular and monastic, and he enthusiastically assumes the rôle of an amateur sleuth. Sceptical of superstition, he is somewhat ahead of his time, and much accurate historical detail is woven into the adventures. But there any resemblance to the comparatively warm-hearted Cadfael series ends: the tone and subject matter of the Gregory novels is far darker and does not shrink from portraying the harsh realities of life in the Middle Ages. The first in the series, A Plague on Both Your Houses is set against the ravages of the Black Death and subsequent novels take much of their subject matter from the attempts of society to recover from this disaster.
These novels bear the marks of much detailed research into mediaeval conditions - many of the supporting characters have names taken from the documentation of the time, referenced at the end of each book - and bring vividly to life the all-pervading squalor of living conditions in England during the Middle Ages. The deep-rooted and pervasive practice of traditional leechcraft as it contrasts with the dawning science of evidence-based medicine is a common bone of contention between Matthew and the students he teaches at Michaelhouse College (now part of Trinity College, Cambridge), whilst the conflict between the students of Cambridge and the townsfolk continually threatens to escalate into violence.
Another series of books, set just after the Restoration of Charles II and featuring Thomas Chaloner, detective and former spy, began with A Conspiracy of Violence published in January 2006, and continues with The Body in the Thames, published in hardback edition January 2011.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
November 7, 2021
Read this book in 2011, and its the 3rd volume of the captivating "Thomas Chaloner" series.
This tale is set in late October in the year AD 1663, and Thomas Chaloner after having returned from a clandestine excursion on behalf on the Queen to Spain and Portugal, finds London in dank and grey skies.
When the Government put a tax on printed newspapers, there are several who'll return to handwritten reports to escape the duty.
Rivalry will escalate between factions of who wants to be the first to bring news intelligence, turning into violence.
At the same time there are quite a few people who have died by eating cucumbers, and Thomas is sent to investigate these deaths, and while doing this he'll encounter one death in particular that is linked with "The Butcher of Smithfield".
This Butcher seems to be a shady trader surrounded by a gang of thugs who terrorise the streets in and well beyond Smithfield market, and so the question that needs to be investigated remains, who is he/she.
Thomas will have to put aside his own safety if he wants to prove his theory by which devious means the news is gathered and also he has to enter the rumour mill surrounding the Butcher of Smithfield in an dangerous attempt to discover the identity of this Butcher.
What is follow is a thrilling mystery, in which Thomas Chaloner must use his wits and cunning in an attempt to identify this Butcher of Smithfield, and in a most excellent executed plot he will be able to solve this case of intimidation and death.
Highly recommended, for this is a tremendous addition to this excellent series, and that's why I like to call this episode: "A Terrific Butcher Of Smithfield"!
This tale is set in late October in the year AD 1663, and Thomas Chaloner after having returned from a clandestine excursion on behalf on the Queen to Spain and Portugal, finds London in dank and grey skies.
When the Government put a tax on printed newspapers, there are several who'll return to handwritten reports to escape the duty.
Rivalry will escalate between factions of who wants to be the first to bring news intelligence, turning into violence.
At the same time there are quite a few people who have died by eating cucumbers, and Thomas is sent to investigate these deaths, and while doing this he'll encounter one death in particular that is linked with "The Butcher of Smithfield".
This Butcher seems to be a shady trader surrounded by a gang of thugs who terrorise the streets in and well beyond Smithfield market, and so the question that needs to be investigated remains, who is he/she.
Thomas will have to put aside his own safety if he wants to prove his theory by which devious means the news is gathered and also he has to enter the rumour mill surrounding the Butcher of Smithfield in an dangerous attempt to discover the identity of this Butcher.
What is follow is a thrilling mystery, in which Thomas Chaloner must use his wits and cunning in an attempt to identify this Butcher of Smithfield, and in a most excellent executed plot he will be able to solve this case of intimidation and death.
Highly recommended, for this is a tremendous addition to this excellent series, and that's why I like to call this episode: "A Terrific Butcher Of Smithfield"!
September 29, 2019
‘He died of eating cucumbers.’
London, 1663. It is summer, and Thomas Chaloner has recently returned to London after a mission to Portugal and Spain. He may have only been away for four months, but a lot has changed. A tax has been introduced on printed newssheets which has led to the growth of handwritten pamphlets.
There are two main producers of these pamphlets, and there is intense rivalry between them to be the first to disseminate any sort of news. This rivalry is the talk of the coffee houses. Robert l’Estrange has been appointed to censor the newssheets, but he is a hypocrite who also profits by disseminating the news.
Thomas Chaloner learns that his friend Thomas Maylord, a musician, has died, apparently from eating green cucumbers. Thomas reports to his employer, the Earl of Clarendon, who orders him to investigate the strange death of one of l’Estrange’s lackeys, a solicitor named Newburne, who died after eating some green cucumber.
And so the search for truth begins. While some physicians claim that eating green cucumbers is dangerous, surely the death of two men within days of each other cannot be a coincidence. Are there links between Maylord and Newburne ? What role might l’Estrange have to play in this?
‘I am beset by phanatiques on all sides and music is the only thing that gives me the resolve to do battle with them.’
It seems that Newburne had ties to the mysterious ‘Butcher of Smithfield’, whose thugs control the area around the Smithfield market. Thomas Chaloner doesn’t believe that the deaths have been caused by the ingestion of cucumbers, but in order to prove his theory he needs to try to discover the real identity of the Butcher of Smithfield as well as try to find out how the news makes its way into the handwritten pamphlets. There will be more victims, and Thomas Chaloner needs to be careful he doesn’t become one of them.
‘Poor Finch. Another victim of the wicked curse of the cucumber.’
There are several different strands to this story and, while they are all brought together by the end of the book, it takes concentration to keep track of them. There are many characters as well, including a number of historical figures.
I enjoyed this novel, especially as it took me a while to work out who the Butcher of Smithfield was. Now I need to track down a copy of the next book.
This is the third novel in Ms Gregory’s Thomas Chaloner mystery series set in Restoration England. Thirteen novels have been published so far.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
London, 1663. It is summer, and Thomas Chaloner has recently returned to London after a mission to Portugal and Spain. He may have only been away for four months, but a lot has changed. A tax has been introduced on printed newssheets which has led to the growth of handwritten pamphlets.
There are two main producers of these pamphlets, and there is intense rivalry between them to be the first to disseminate any sort of news. This rivalry is the talk of the coffee houses. Robert l’Estrange has been appointed to censor the newssheets, but he is a hypocrite who also profits by disseminating the news.
Thomas Chaloner learns that his friend Thomas Maylord, a musician, has died, apparently from eating green cucumbers. Thomas reports to his employer, the Earl of Clarendon, who orders him to investigate the strange death of one of l’Estrange’s lackeys, a solicitor named Newburne, who died after eating some green cucumber.
And so the search for truth begins. While some physicians claim that eating green cucumbers is dangerous, surely the death of two men within days of each other cannot be a coincidence. Are there links between Maylord and Newburne ? What role might l’Estrange have to play in this?
‘I am beset by phanatiques on all sides and music is the only thing that gives me the resolve to do battle with them.’
It seems that Newburne had ties to the mysterious ‘Butcher of Smithfield’, whose thugs control the area around the Smithfield market. Thomas Chaloner doesn’t believe that the deaths have been caused by the ingestion of cucumbers, but in order to prove his theory he needs to try to discover the real identity of the Butcher of Smithfield as well as try to find out how the news makes its way into the handwritten pamphlets. There will be more victims, and Thomas Chaloner needs to be careful he doesn’t become one of them.
‘Poor Finch. Another victim of the wicked curse of the cucumber.’
There are several different strands to this story and, while they are all brought together by the end of the book, it takes concentration to keep track of them. There are many characters as well, including a number of historical figures.
I enjoyed this novel, especially as it took me a while to work out who the Butcher of Smithfield was. Now I need to track down a copy of the next book.
This is the third novel in Ms Gregory’s Thomas Chaloner mystery series set in Restoration England. Thirteen novels have been published so far.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
August 1, 2018
Susanna Gregory's books are always good. I enjoy this Thomas Chaloner series because it's set in London, and I know a lot of the buildings and streets mentioned, so can picture it, albeit centuries later. This one had a good plot, but too many people for my taste. I had to keep going back to find out who they were. People with a good memory for names would do much better!
July 19, 2022
1663 Thomas Chaloner has returned to England but his paymaster the Earl of Clarendon has a job for him. To investigate the death of newsbook minion and solicitor Thomas Newburne, presumed dead by eating cucumbers. Soon Chaloner uncovers more deaths but what is the motive, by what means and who is behind the deaths.
An entertaining historical mystery.
An entertaining historical mystery.
June 21, 2021
Yeap I decided to wade through another SG, wade being the operative word. London in the 1600s, at the height of flood, full of atomsphere, gloom, intrique and death by cucumbers! The plot is full of confusion, most of which I didn't follow, where friends burgurl you, rival newsheets resort to open swordplay and oppostion spies share rat stew over a quiet night in. I was in a pickle but I carried on reading.
Toast
Toast
April 17, 2022
Cruxet är lite roligt. Texten som sådan är precis lika långsamsom Gregory brukar vara.
December 22, 2020
This was my first time reading a book by Susanna Gregory and will probably be my last. Having read other reviews I am of the opinion that the book is overly long and the plot not only confusing as well as meandering around. There are far too many characters and at times I wished there was a glossary of some sort to remind the author who was who and their role.
November 23, 2014
This was another superbly crafted Restoration thriller with Thomas Chaloner again embroiled in solving a mystery linked to his patron. This one had a great many strands to it, which all came together by the final pages. Again the supporting cast is populated by minor historical figures (and a few major ones).
I remain deeply impressed by the depth of research Gregory has undertaken in this series. The streets of 17th century London come alive under her pen. I also had no idea that cucumbers were ever considered dangerous to eat but apparently in the 17th century they had a bad reputation.
This is not a series that I can read too quickly as the writing is quite dense and requires close reading. Still, I plan to enjoy these in due course.
I remain deeply impressed by the depth of research Gregory has undertaken in this series. The streets of 17th century London come alive under her pen. I also had no idea that cucumbers were ever considered dangerous to eat but apparently in the 17th century they had a bad reputation.
This is not a series that I can read too quickly as the writing is quite dense and requires close reading. Still, I plan to enjoy these in due course.
May 2, 2021
Another enjoyable read in the Chaloner series. I was pleased to discover Chaloner has now acquired a feline companion. More than the mysteries, I enjoy reading these books for the characters and the historical setting. I always look forward to the historical note at the end and never fail to be impressed by the amount of research and detail the author puts into these novels.
June 28, 2008
I really have enjoyed the Chaloner series by Susanna Gregory. It's darker than the Matthew Bartholomew series set in Cambridge but just as good, if not better. A real spy novel with no gadgets and the lead character must survive on his wits. Good historical accuracy and well worth a read.
October 1, 2019
Set in the summer of 1663, a new tax has been introduced on printed new sheets, which has lead to several handwritten pamphlets been sold in London. There is a sudden spate of deaths resulting from eating cucumbers. One of the dead men is Chaloner’s old friend, a court musician named Maylord. Chaloner has a personal interest because of Maylord, but the Earl of Clarendon wants him to investigate the death of another cucumber victim on his behalf, a solicitor named Newburne, who worked for Clarendon, as well as several other big names in London. Clarendon wants to prove that Newburne didn’t die as a result of his work for him, in order to get out of paying his widow a pension.
Chaloner finds himself getting deeper and deeper into the cucumber deaths, and discovers there are links to the publishing world, the court musicians, and worryingly, a notorious bully named Ellis Crisp, also known as The Butcher of Smithfield. Crisp is the powerful head of a dangerous Smithfield gang named The Hectors. They control everything within Smithfield, and do so using violence and bully tactics. It’s a dangerous task, but chaloner has to get to the bottom of it in order to prove his worth to the Earl, and continue in his employment.
I really enjoyed the story, and it was based on true events, and real people. The only thing I didn’t like was the sheer volume of characters involved, it was confusing at times.
Chaloner finds himself getting deeper and deeper into the cucumber deaths, and discovers there are links to the publishing world, the court musicians, and worryingly, a notorious bully named Ellis Crisp, also known as The Butcher of Smithfield. Crisp is the powerful head of a dangerous Smithfield gang named The Hectors. They control everything within Smithfield, and do so using violence and bully tactics. It’s a dangerous task, but chaloner has to get to the bottom of it in order to prove his worth to the Earl, and continue in his employment.
I really enjoyed the story, and it was based on true events, and real people. The only thing I didn’t like was the sheer volume of characters involved, it was confusing at times.
June 14, 2021
Like many other reviewers, I think that Susanna Gregory's books are too long and too complex. And I find that I'm not overly fond of Chalonder. This is the third book in the series and it will probably be my last. It was just a horrible model to the point that I had no interest in what was going on or but the outcome would be. Although I do like the Matthew Bartholomew series pretty much oh, I do think that Ms Gregory needs an outline and a limit to her cast of characters. A good editor would help immensely.
April 12, 2020
Work from home 2020: book 21.
A well-crafted historical mystery that takes place in Restoration London — this was my first by Susanna Gregory and it won’t be my last. This was at least as satisfying as the books by Ellis Peters that I’ve read. My only complaint was that there were a lot of characters and it took me awhile to get them straightened out.
A well-crafted historical mystery that takes place in Restoration London — this was my first by Susanna Gregory and it won’t be my last. This was at least as satisfying as the books by Ellis Peters that I’ve read. My only complaint was that there were a lot of characters and it took me awhile to get them straightened out.
April 4, 2023
Love this series
I love this series. It’s quite a complicated mystery and it had me guessing right up to the end. I like the way the author includes so many real characters in her story. In fact all of them were apart from Chaloner I think. A great read and I’d throughly recommend it.
I love this series. It’s quite a complicated mystery and it had me guessing right up to the end. I like the way the author includes so many real characters in her story. In fact all of them were apart from Chaloner I think. A great read and I’d throughly recommend it.
September 25, 2024
I miss the Matthew Bartholomew series so much that I decided to try out the Thomas Chaloner series.
It is almost as good but I am still in the early stages of getting to know all the "usual suspects". This book does an excellent job of setting us up for the action to come in further plot lines, at least I hope it does!
It is almost as good but I am still in the early stages of getting to know all the "usual suspects". This book does an excellent job of setting us up for the action to come in further plot lines, at least I hope it does!
October 25, 2017
An entertaining historical mystery.
December 8, 2021
Enjoyed this book very much!
December 31, 2022
3.5 stars
August 21, 2023
The author has gathered scads of information about events and characters from this period and created a pretty complex story from it all. There are a lot of characters -- many with strange names.
May 30, 2025
An easy-to-read historical thriller which I found enjoyable but slightly slow.
Lots of fun to be with had with the purported murder weapon: deadly cucumbers!
Lots of fun to be with had with the purported murder weapon: deadly cucumbers!
November 5, 2009
Susanna Gregory's Matthew Bartholomew books are entertaining if slight medieval murder mysteries set in and around 14th century Cambridge University. More efficient than inspired, they're the kind of books you buy to take on holiday and then leave in the hotel for the next guest.
They pass the time enjoyably enough, but you're unlikely ever to want to re-read them, basically.
What they're definitely not is Patricia Finney style medieval spy novels, A Smiley FOR Elizabethan times, with richly described historical detail, intricate and logically consistent plots and a cast of finely sketched characters moving around a wholly believable world.
Which is why I should have suspected Gregory's second series of historical detective novels might be a bridge too far for the author - and for the reader. The Thomas Challoner books are set immediately post the restoration of Charles II, with the eponymous hero a spy for the Earl of Clarendon - a position he formally held under Cromwell's government. It's a promising set up and an interesting and relatively unexplored period, but where in the hands of a Finney or Martin Steven I'd expect something deep and layered, here the prose is at best workmanlike and - more importantly - the central puzzle has so obvious a solution that the failure of Challoner to spot it for several hundred pages serves only to make him look an idiot.
An incredibly straight-forward and obvious anagram turned ludicrous co-incidence, a scattering of clues so completely telegraphed that they may as well have been written in a different font to the rest of the text and a tendency to change the intelligence of each character from page to page in order to shove the story onwards, made this a real struggle to read.
Add in a habit (admittedly slightly less pronounced than in the Bartholomew novels) of devoting paragraph after paragraph to pointless and unconnected historical data which serves merely to highlight that the author has done some background reading, and this is a book - and I suspect series - to avoid like the mysterious and poisonous cucumbers which kick off the mystery (that's not as interesting as it sounds, incidentally).
They pass the time enjoyably enough, but you're unlikely ever to want to re-read them, basically.
What they're definitely not is Patricia Finney style medieval spy novels, A Smiley FOR Elizabethan times, with richly described historical detail, intricate and logically consistent plots and a cast of finely sketched characters moving around a wholly believable world.
Which is why I should have suspected Gregory's second series of historical detective novels might be a bridge too far for the author - and for the reader. The Thomas Challoner books are set immediately post the restoration of Charles II, with the eponymous hero a spy for the Earl of Clarendon - a position he formally held under Cromwell's government. It's a promising set up and an interesting and relatively unexplored period, but where in the hands of a Finney or Martin Steven I'd expect something deep and layered, here the prose is at best workmanlike and - more importantly - the central puzzle has so obvious a solution that the failure of Challoner to spot it for several hundred pages serves only to make him look an idiot.
An incredibly straight-forward and obvious anagram turned ludicrous co-incidence, a scattering of clues so completely telegraphed that they may as well have been written in a different font to the rest of the text and a tendency to change the intelligence of each character from page to page in order to shove the story onwards, made this a real struggle to read.
Add in a habit (admittedly slightly less pronounced than in the Bartholomew novels) of devoting paragraph after paragraph to pointless and unconnected historical data which serves merely to highlight that the author has done some background reading, and this is a book - and I suspect series - to avoid like the mysterious and poisonous cucumbers which kick off the mystery (that's not as interesting as it sounds, incidentally).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 25, 2023
I have tried my hardest with this series and Thomas Chaloner is a likeable rogue who is set the most awful crimes to resolve, but the stories get so clogged up and confusing (as it is with the Matthew Bartholomew series) that it’s sometimes hard to follow and I don’t think that I will be reading another, so unfortunately Susannah is coming off my to read list. I know that her characters were all real people (apart from Thomas) and most of the events were real which is interesting to know, but it’s all such a mish-mash. I did want to enjoy this because I do like this genre, but although she probably has many fans, for me there are better authors out there.
I’m sorry but I can only give it a mark of 2/5.
I’m sorry but I can only give it a mark of 2/5.
March 20, 2012
Susanna Gregory's Matthew Bartholomew series, set in medieval Cambridge, is my favorite historical mystery series to read. So, I've really wanted to like her Thomas Chaloner mysteries, set in Restoration London, as much. However, Thomas Chaloner just doesn't capture my fancy. He was a spy in Cromwell's government, and he has managed to successfully turn monarchist and become the spy for Charles II's Lord Chancellor even though he isn't entirely trusted. Emotionally and socially he is rather a cold fish.
He also seems to make a lot of bad decisions, which often appear to be necessary to keep the story from resolving too quickly. Although the writing is very good, and lots of "stuff" happens, two weeks after having finished the story, I can barely remember the essential plot or many of the secondary characters. It just didn't make much of an impression on me, although the reading was pleasant enough while it lasted.
He also seems to make a lot of bad decisions, which often appear to be necessary to keep the story from resolving too quickly. Although the writing is very good, and lots of "stuff" happens, two weeks after having finished the story, I can barely remember the essential plot or many of the secondary characters. It just didn't make much of an impression on me, although the reading was pleasant enough while it lasted.
March 11, 2017
Excellent. Complex mystery to solve against a backdrop of Charles II's unstable England.
August 5, 2010
This is not an easy read. Set in Restoration London, 1663, Thomas Chaloner returns from Portugal to discover that he is out of favour with his patron/spymaster the Earl of Clarendon. A close friend has died (of a surfeit of cucumbers) and an inspector of printing establishments has been killed. At the same time the rains are heavy and London is flooded.
The plot is complicated and the characters are stereotypes. As a result I found it difficult to keep engaged. The attempts by the government to keep control of the press, circumvented by the publication of handwritten newsletters was interesting - and formed the basis of the novel.
The plot is complicated and the characters are stereotypes. As a result I found it difficult to keep engaged. The attempts by the government to keep control of the press, circumvented by the publication of handwritten newsletters was interesting - and formed the basis of the novel.
Read
July 26, 2011Having very much enjoyed Gregory's 'Matthew Bartholomew' series of medieval mysteries, I was looking forward to reading this. Thomas Chaloner is an engaging and likeable character, and his adventures are well written and interesting. Like the Bartholomew books, this series is based on real historical characters and real historical events, and is a fun read, albeit somewhat slight, compared to the wonderful historical depth of the Bartholomew books. Particularly recommended if you are interested in Restoration London and/or murder mysteries.
Read
October 22, 2011I tried, but I couldn't finish this. With only 100 or so pages to go, I was so lost in the plot twists and turns that I just couldn't work up the energy to care who did what. It's a shame, becuase I've read another by this author and quite liked it, and I love the Shardlake series, so I thought this would be right up my street.
December 15, 2012
Chaloner is as snarky as ever, and he hasn't been paid in months. Not to mention that his living accomodation isn't up to standard and he can't complain until he's paid the rent. Plus his latest investigation, while potentially solving his money problems looks likely to land him in even more trouble than usual.
A fun romp as ever.
March 12, 2016
4.5 stars. What stops me rating this five stars is that having read the previous two books in the series, the events of those books led me to almost accurately guess far too early who the bad guys really are. Also, I hope further into the series that home explosions as a game-changing and fatal plot device shan't be used quite so often!
October 28, 2009
An interesting series set in Restoration London for the patient reader. This book kept my head spinning with all the characters and plot twists ---- possibly not the best choice for bedtime reading as it was slow-moving and took a lot of concentration.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews