The Cheapside Corpse

Thomas Chaloner #10

by Susanna Gregory

London in the spring of 1665 is a city full of fear. There is plague in the stews of St Giles, the Dutch fleet is preparing to invade, and a banking crisis threatens to leave Charles II's government with no means of paying for the nation's defence.

Amid the tension, Thomas Chaloner is ordered to investigate the murder of Dick Wheler, one of the few goldsmith-bankers to have survived the losses that have driven others to bankruptcy - or worse. At the same time, a French spy staggers across the city, carrying the plague from one parish to another, and the body count from the disease and from the fever of avarice starts to rise alarmingly ..

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Historical Mystery, Historical, Crime, Fiction, Thriller

472 pages, Paperback

First published January 8, 2015

About the author

Susanna 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.

Reviews

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Cheapside Corpse is book ten in the Thomas Chaloner series by Susanna Gregory. Thomas Chaloner came home after been away with work and found his life turn upside down when he realises his wife was in debt again and the Plague has hit London. To top it all off, Thomas Chaloner boss, the Earl of Clarendon asked him to investigate the murder of Dick Wheler. The readers will go on an adventure with Thomas Chaloner to see what happens.

The Cheapside Corpse is the first book I have read of Susanna Gregory, and I did enjoy it. I love Susanna Gregory portrayal of her characters and the way she entwined them throughout The Cheapside Corpse. The Cheapside Corpse is well written and researched by Susanna Gregory that ensures my engagement with the story. I will certainly go back to the first book in the Thomas Chaloner series.

The readers of The Cheapside Corpse will learn about the devastation that the Plague had in the London community. Also, the readers of The Cheapside Corpse will have an insight into living in London during the 16th century.

I recommend this book.

[Sophie Narey (Bookreview- aholic) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published: 15/03/2015
Author: Susanna Gregory
Recommended for: fans of mediaeval murder mysteries

A brilliant book in the Thomas Chaloner series. Susanna Gregory writes yet another great mediaeval murder mystery book. It has great characters in it and amazing descriptions. A must read for all fans of Susanna Gregory and of murder mystery books. In this book Thomas Chaloner is investigating the murder of Dick Wheler who is a banker. We follow Thomas on his investigation into who murdered Mr Wheler meanwhile the plague is running wild throughout the city.

[Clemens Schoonderwoert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This excellent written and entertaining book by Susanna Gregory is already the 10th volume of the delightful Thomas Chaloner series.
As this is one of my favourite series, I'm happy to say that again the historical details are very accurate due to great research by the author.
The tale is written in a clever and engaging way, so much so that the reader immediately feels at home within this exciting read.
As ever the characters come gloriously to life within this tale, and the atmosphere of the times during the reign of King Charles II, really comes of the pages.
The story itself is set in the year AD 1665, at the time of the plague, and in a time in which Thomas Chaloner's England finds itself in all sorts of trouble.
During this plague Chaloner is ordered to investigate the murder of Dick Wheler, a goldsmith-banker while at the same time a French spy staggers across the city carrying the plague from one parish to another.
What follows is a gripping murder investigation story in which Chaloner is thwarted by the financiers in and around Cheapside while he tries to discover the thruth about the murder, but after some dangerous encounters and due to his resolve and determination he will finally succeed in solving this gruesome murder.
Recommended, for this is "Another Thrilling Chaloner Tale"!

[Lorraine Montgomery · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Cheapside Corpse is number 10 in Susanna Gregory's Thomas Chaloner Adventure series which takes place in Restoration England, circa 1665. Our hero, Chaloner, is employed by the Earl of Clarendon, and his occupation is that of spy.

Thomas returns from a mission to put down rebellion in Hull, only to find his wife, Hannah, is indebted to a corrupt money-lender who has sent his thugs to threaten and intimidate her. Indeed, she is not the only one in mid-17th century London unable to pay her debts. A well respected vintner with a gambling problem has taken loans for his vice from many bankers around town using the same collateral with each. When he has lost everything and commits suicide, his bankers have either gone bankrupt or sold their list of debtors to an unscrupulous banker who has raised their interest to rates they are unable to meet. With the death of a major money-lender named Wheler, dissension between bankers increases as his widow forges an alliance with another banker, making them a force to be reckoned with in Cheapside. In addition to this, there is the threat of plague in the city and the poor fall victim to the stringent measures enforced by the government but resent the rich who are able to "buy off" the watchers and do not have their families quarantined within their homes.

Clarendon wants Thomas to find the killer of Wheler, to find information that was supposed to come to Clarendon from a spy he was cultivating who succumbed to the plague after "staggering across the city", likely spreading it everywhere he went. He also expects Chaloner to find a criminal named Baron and force him to fulfill his commitment to supply 9 sets of drapes paid for, only 7 of which have been delivered to the Earl's extravagant new palace. At the same time, Thomas has to find a way to make payments on Hannah's debts. When the government spymaster, Williamson, offers to wipe out Hannah's debts if Thomas will work with his chief spy (and assassin), he reluctantly agrees although with an uncertainty that he can trust the man.

There are many solid suspects in this crime novel, as well as several different lines of investigation. Banker Taylor, amassing a fortune through exorbitant interest rates, seems to be losing his mind. One of Taylor's sons has written a book attacking the widow of Cromwell, and Thomas' friend, Thurloe wants him to find the author and stop him from publishing a sequel as it is causing animosity between parliamentarians and cavaliers. Another of Taylor's sons was in the army with Thomas, who is loathe to see him as a suspect even though he seems to have good motive and is behaving suspiciously. Baron, who had been a collector for Wheler, has inherited a lucrative part of his enterprise.

There are lots of interesting characters, slices of Restoration London life, and details of how they tried to control a plague which was devastating England as well as most of the continent of Europe. With homes quarantined, fires breaking out in slums, members of the court in debts they cannot manage, and a rash of burglaries with no sign of entry, Thomas has his work cut out for him.

This is a terrific series by the author of the Brother Matthew Bartholomew mysteries, also a winner. These are 'comfort' reads for me; I love to get into one of Gregory's books when I'm looking for familiar characters and settings which make for a fast read. So far, not one from these series have ever disappointed. Well written and historically researched, I love getting to the author's note at the back of the book to find out the facts behind the story. This is a can't miss book for mystery lovers.

[Gerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thomas Chaloner's wife Hannah finds herself in debt and when those debts are sold on she discovers that paying them off is not so easy. Chaloner gets involved in trying to help but his foray into the world of the financiers who live in and around Cheapside quickly convinces him that they are just as great a threat as the Dutch, against whom a war was about to begin, and their power and greed thwart him at every turn.

Meanwhile, the plague continues to spread across the city, and is transmitted to Cheapside by a mysterious wandering sufferer known as Dupont. The body count from the disease begins to rise alarmingly as it does also from the fever of avarice displayed by the goldsmith-bankers, who not only try to exhort more from their clients but who also find time for some serious squabbling between themselves.

Chaloner is also working for the Earl of Clarendon and a deal for curtains from the so-called King of Cheapside, Baron, goes sour and leads him into all sorts of danger. And as the body count rises he becomes more and more embroiled in something that he has difficulty in working out. However, he survives and eventually works out what is going on.

Susanna Gregory brings restoration England to life, particularly Cheapside and its environs, but the overall plot is a little convoluted and is sometimes difficult to follow - but it could just be me!

[Warkworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are really well researched historical novels and the tenth of the series does not disappoint! Murder mystery/thriller with good characterisation - you can easily lose yourself in the history. My only question is why are her books always published in January and not in time for my husband to give them to me for Christmas? Publisher, please change your release date!!!

[Sally Archer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read that shows how the poor of London suffered during the plague.

[Shirley Schwartz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a long-term fan of Susanna Gregory and both of her medieval mystery series - Matthew Bartholomew and Thomas Chaloner. This one is the tenth in the Chaloner series, and it is a good one. For those afficionados of medieval mystery and suspense stories, you will know that although bloody, the pace is a mite slower than with more modern settings for mystery series. After all, things didn't move all that quickly in 1665, when this book was set. But this one is different than even other Chaloner books. The pace is relentless and the mysteries complex. Thomas finds himself in big trouble again working for his capricious Earl. How hard can it be to find out why a drapery order is short two sets of draperies? Well, that's Susanna Gregory for you. From that inauspicious beginning, she has Thomas running around in Cheapside and mingling with some very dangerous people. As in all her other books, she weaves a story out of actual historical people and events. Thomas Chaloner himself is a wonderful creation. He's been around the block and back with danger and espionage all of his life. He's adaptable and quick on his feet, and he manages, one way or another, to always get his man. And we, the readers, are along for the ride with him. Love Thomas Chaloner and I love this series. This is one of the best books in this series to my way of thinking.

[Allie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series has become too much of a good thing. The repetition is unbearable: it's not just on the level of "because Harry Potter... was a wizard!" when we've already read two books of him being a wizard, it's also the fact that everyone Chaloner speaks to in his investigations literally tells him the same facts, sometimes even using the same words! There's also been no character development in ten books; everyone is exactly the same as in the first book, which is more reason not to bother explaining character traits in the narrative as if we haven't heard them before!

The predictability is a problem as well: are the baddies *always* going to be the unassuming characters who Chaloner views as somewhat pathetic and on pretty friendly terms with? I realised almost as soon as the Shaws were introduced that they'd turn out to be secret criminal masterminds who are not the bumbling funny people they've made themselves out to be, and lo and behold... there's no mystery if the formula is going to be the same over every book. I understand the need for a twist in the tale, but after ten books of this, it would be a twist for the baddie to be one of the actual baddies that Chaloner has pegged from day one!

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book number 10 in the Thomas Chaloner series sees London under severe financial strain. The goldsmiths are having to raise money for the king in order to fund the war with the Dutch. This results in a hike in interest rates on loans. Hannah, Thomas’s wife is in debt, debt which they’re unable to pay. But most courtiers are in the same predicament. Chaloner is told to investigate the murder of one of London’s more successful goldsmiths, Dick Wheler. His investigations lead him to a crime lord, James Baron, named the king of cheapside. As more murders take place, all linked with Wheler’s murder, the evidence mounts up against Baron. A turn of events sees Chaloner join forces once again with Spymaster Williamson, more specifically Williamson’s assassin Swaddell. As the crisis within London’s financial state increases, unrest in the capital follows closely behind. There’s a rumour that something is going to happen, something which will see London swimming with blood. It becomes more urgent that he must get to the bottom of these linked crimes in order to prevent a large scale disaster. Whilst this is happening, the plague is beginning to take a hold of the city. More and more houses are being closed up, with the occupants sentenced to detain for 40 days. The church’s bells are constantly tolling to mark the death of someone or other, the plague cart makes it’s rounds, and medics wear the oddly shaped, beaked mask in a protective measure against the disease.

[Sarah Hearn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot is a little extended and convoluted in this book, which I found made it much more difficult to plot through. I actually put it down at one point because I though “I’m getting nowhere and I can’t keep track of what’s going on”. Nonetheless, due to social isolation and the libraries being closed, I picked it up again. The plot definitely improved as the book went on, and became much more exciting and action-packed in the second half. I didn’t find the characters particularly appealing, even the protagonist Thomas Chaloner had lost his zest from the earliest books in this series, and whatever happened to his Puritan friend, Jonathan someone-or-other? He was an excellent foil. Anyway, Susanna Gregory writes very long books, and I definitely have to be grabbed by the first third or I can’t be bothered, the same with her Matthew the Physician books set in 14th century Cambridge.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plague and debt - a winning combination

Loved this book. Reading a Susanna Gregory is as comforting as your favourite slippers after a fraught day - a wash of relaxation courses through your body. But although comfortingly familiar her books aren't boring - comfy slippers but what socks have you got on with them?! The real wool rainbow striped socks, the plain black, the cute animal socks... The Chaloner novels are exciting, humorous, and paint a vivid historical picture of London. Loved this book.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

After just completing the excellent Ms. Parris’ “Heresy” this is another fun historical novel romp in a decidedly lighter vain. Ms.Gregory has the knack of story, pace, detail and the ability to provide historical context without getting bogged down in trying to tell the reader how knowledgeable she is about the period. While this is my first novel by Ms. Gregory I can see why she is so popular, and I will visit her work again. Solid three and one half stars, everything one could want in a perfect palate cleanser!!

[Kally Sheng · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very difficult book, difficult in the sense that, though it’s a very interesting plot and story, but it’s also a very trying book on your patience. Half the time I was asking myself why I continued reading because the story seemed flat and yet I couldn’t help plunging on, it wasn’t till almost at the end that you finally saw some actions and realized how this is all quite cleverly done.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

i really like the Tom Challoner series of books by this author, the descriptives of London in the 1600s are spo good that it makes me feel as if I can smell it and be there, on the routes that Tom takes whilst on his missions for Earl Clarendon. cant wait for the next in the series!!

[Louise Armstrong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent enough murder story and great picture of London at the time. I loved the way she made it sound ordinary - there was none of that historical artificial dialogue. Totally convincing background. I'd read another.

[Johanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good easy on the ear mystery. Chaloner is as cheerful as ever, harried by debt, entranced by music and beset with innumerable problems to solve ranging from missing curtains through political mischief making and murderous bankers. Thoroughly enjoyable

[Ciera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book and liked the main character Thomas chaloner, there where many different characters which at times could get confusing, but how it was tied up at the end was good and pulled the whole story together

[Stuart Radcliffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another gripping yarn in this wonderful series. Twists and turns abound from beginning to end. Next please.

[Adrian Lunness · Rating 5 out of 5]

Susanna Gregory does it again with another great adventure for Thomas Chaloner

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keeps you guessing until the end. I really enjoyed how the Cheapside Horde made an appearance.

[Beverly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Getting a little tired of Chaloner's activities, balancing the not-so-good elite against the outright baddies. So many characters with strange names that are confusing.

[Volare · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much. Just the right amount of characters to keep the plot interesting but not confusing. More interaction with Hannah and Chaloner's friends.

[Mitch McCrimmon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read all previous 9 books in this series, so obviously I enjoy them. The zany characters along with so many twists and turns keep me reading. The action moves along quickly as it does in every book in the series. This time it involves a banking crisis in London (during restoration England - mid 17th century) plus threats of a Dutch invasion and signs of the plague returning. The hero, Thomas Chaloner, is a spy/detective in the employ of the Lord Chancellor who is quite mean and selfish. He always loads Chaloner up with a trivial task along with the need to solve some murders. In this case, the Chancellor didn't receive all the curtains he ordered for his new mansion and Chaloner is forced to place a high priority on finding these missing curtains. On top of all this Chaloner's wife is a bit frivolous and a big spender. This tendency combines with the banking crisis to make the couple effectively bankrupt so Chaloner has this weighing him down, along with unravelling the mystery behind the murders associated with the banking crisis. The only drawback for me is that some of the crazy characters are almost too crazy, nasty or stupid to be credible. As with all of the books in this series there is a strong farcical element. This makes for good fun but I feel that she sometimes takes it a bit far for my liking.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gregory’s 10th installment in the Thomas Chaloner adventure series is the best yet. The year is 1665, and King Charles II and Parliament have declared war on the Dutch. Of course, there is NO money to wage such a war. The ‘bankers’ for such an enterprise were actually the goldsmiths of the day. They had lent considerable money to those who offered fraudulent collateral and ultimately defaulted, so were desperate to find sources of funds for the King. Add in the threat of bubonic plague and a thoroughly corrupt government and you end up with a snarl of issues that Chaloner must sort out on behalf of the Earl of Clarendon and Spymaster Williamson.
Gregory uses the historical record whenever possible, peppering her tale with real personages and actual events. I found the contemporaneous accounts of how the government and London residents tried to stop the spread of the plague fascinating. But this is a Chaloner adventure so you can be assured that there is complicated, fast-moving plot with lots of action. Recommend.

[Andrew Embling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent adventure through plague-ridden England as Thomas Chaloner fights to stop London becoming inflamed through greed and murder most foul. A great read.

[Linda Amos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good book in the Chaloner series.

[Russ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. Perhaps my favorite Chaloner novel yet. I like the way they develop Chaloner's relationship with Hannah. Lots of suspense. Good characters.

[Jennifer Everard]

Really enjoyed it as usual with Susanna Gregory books

[Jane Walker · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this disappointing. Gregory seems more concerned to get the background right than to write an engaging plot. The character of Chaloner never really comes alive against the larger-than-life cast around him.