Black Drop: SUNDAY TIMES Historical Fiction Book of the Month (Laurence Jago)

Black Drop: SUNDAY TIMES Historical Fiction Book of the Month (Laurence Jago)

A TIMES HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR

LONGLISTED FOR THE HWA DEBUT CROWN

'A joy from start to finish' - ANDREW TAYLOR

'Thrilling... Deserves to be huge' - EMMA STONEX

This is the confession of Laurence Jago. Clerk. Gentleman. Spy.

• Date: July 1794
• Setting: London, filled with rumours of revolution.

The war against the French is not going in Britain's favour, and negotiations with America are on a knife edge. Laurence Jago, Foreign Office clerk, is ever more reliant on opium - the Black Drop - to ease his nightmares.

• A highly sensitive letter, whose contents could lead to the destruction of the British Army, has been leaked to the press and Laurence is a suspect.

Then he discovers the body of a fellow clerk - a supposed suicide - and it seems clear where the blame truly lies.

• Betrayed by his own secrets and powerful employers, can Laurence find the true culprit without ending up on the gallows himself?