The Pudding Lane Plot: The Fifteenth Thomas Chaloner Adventure (Adventures of Thomas Chaloner)

Product Description The people and businesses of London are quickly recovering from the ravages of the plague, none faster than the Court of Charles II where excess, corruption and debauchery has rebounded at a frenetic pace. In Westminster, in the haphazard corridors of White Hall Palace, plans are afoot for a grandiose ball in honour of a long-dead but English-born Pope. Meanwhile, the markets and coffee houses in the city are awash with rumours of war and portents of a coming disaster, inflamed by uncensored newssheets and the wagging tongues of dissatisfied citizens. Mysterious killings at both ends of the capital have been caused by the use of an unusually long, slender blade, and Thomas Chaloner is ordered to investigate. The only common thread is the victims' connection to the Worshipful Company of Poulters, whose members are struggling to keep ahead of London's enormous demand for eggs. But this leads him into a tapestry of conspiracy, outlandish claims of the Second Coming, the reappearance of a number of regicides and ever more brazen killings. As the date of the great ball looms closer, Chaloner fears that there is a dangerously credible conspiracy against the throne, and he has very little time to prevent history from repeating itself . . . Book Description Delve into the spying world of 17th Century man about town, Thomas Chaloner From the Back Cover London, Wednesday 22 August 1666 The journey from Westminster to Fleet Street was hot and dusty, even though it was only mid-morning, and the real heat of the day had yet to build. The streets were busy, as many of the vendors who came to the markets early had already sold their wares, and were eager to get home. The noise was deafening, as itinerant street-sellers advertised the last of their wares to passers-by in stentorian tones - new-baked pies, fresh fish, fine candles, sweet pastries, best leather and anything else that could be hawked to the city's population of nearly three hundred thousand souls. A year ago, during the plague, weeds had grown between the cobbles at Charing Cross, because human footfall had not been enough to trample them away. There were no weeds now, and London seemed as busy as it had ever been. The only reminder of the terrible sickness that had claimed so many lives was the occasional stark cross painted on a door, showing where the disease had struck but no one had yet washed the mark away. As always, Chaloner overheard plenty of gossip as he walked. Most unsettling was the claim that the Dutch fleet was already at sea, along with the news that the Lord Mayor was recruiting men to fight off any invader who might sail up the Thames to take the capital. There were also the usual tales of omens and portents of doom: strangely shaped clouds, talking animals, miraculous cures, and sightings of Satan. It seemed the whole country waited with baited breath to see what dreadful calamity would befall it next: over the last twenty years it had endured civil wars, a beheaded king, a Commonwealth led by a man many had considered a tyrant, and a devastating plague. And now it was in the unlucky year with three sixes, so what else did fate have in store for it? About the Author Susanna Gregory was a police officer in Leeds before taking up an academic career. She has served as an environmental consultant, worked eighteen field seasons in the polar regions, and has taught comparative anatomy and biological anthropology. She is the creator of the Matthew Bartholomew series of mysteries set in medieval Cambridge and the Thomas Chaloner adventures in Restoration London. She now lives in Wales with her husband, who is also a writer.