The Shadows of London by Andrew TaylorMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
It's 1671, the Great Fire of London was only five years ago and much of London is still rubble. Mistress Cat Hakesby and her business partner Brennan have a lucrative commission to build a row of almshouses for a local businessman, Robert Hadgraft. But work is halted when a disfigured naked corpse is found amongst the rubble, and the local magistrate Mr Willoughby Rush insists the area must remain untouched until the Bishop whose aegis the land falls under has sent his own man to investigate the murder. Haemorrhaging money paying labourers and suppliers without getting any money back from their client, Cat turns reluctantly to James Marwood, clerk to Lord Arlington the current Secretary of State, to help in resolving the red tape and save her from being bankrupted.
As always, what seems to be a single incident spirals and Cat and Marwood are drawn into royal politics, treading a fine line between angering either Lord Arlington or his sworn enemy the Duke of Buckingham.
Yet another triumphant novel, exposing the corruption and power politics in the court of Charles II where lives are ruined at the whim of the aristocrats as they jostle to gain favour. Both Cat and Marwood are subject to the caprices of wealthy men pushing and pulling them in different directions. What I like about Andrew Taylor's novels is although the investigation process may be convoluted I often suspected the person from the start so the unveiling of the murderer's identity has a sense of rightness to it.
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
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