Death in St James's Park

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More About This Title Death in St James's Park

English

Superspy of Restoration London Thomas Chaloner foils an uprising in his eighth outing

Five years after Charles II's triumphant return to London there is growing mistrust of his extravagant court and of corruption among his officials—and when a cart laden with gunpowder explodes outside the General Letter Office, it is immediately clear that such an act is more than an expression of outrage at the inefficiency of the postal service. As intelligencer to the Lord Chamberlain, Thomas Chaloner cannot understand why a man of known incompetence is put in charge of investigating the attack while he is diverted to make enquiries about the poisoning of birds in the King's aviary in St James's Park. He becomes even more suspicious of his employer's motives when he discovers that the witnesses he needs to interview have close links to the business conducted in the General Letter Office, activities more firmly centered on intercepting people's mail than delivering it. When human rather than avian victims are poisoned, Chaloner must ignore his master's instructions and use his own considerable wits to defeat an enemy whose deadly tentacles reach into the very heart of the government—an enemy who has the power and expertise to destroy anyone who stands in the way.

English

Susanna Gregory is a Cambridge academic and the author of the Thomas Chaloner series.

English

"Gregory's exciting, intrigue-filled fifth mystery featuring English spy Thomas Chaloner . . . reinforces this British author's place in the front rank of those penning historicals in the genre."  —Publishers Weekly starred review of A Murder on London Bridge"Brilliantly evokes 1663 London . . . Gregory salts the plot with several tantalizing subsidiary puzzles."  —Publishers Weekly starred review of The Butcher of Smithfield "Gregory has never been better at juggling multiple plots than in her superior seventh historical. . . . Crystal-clear prose and deliberate pacing ensure that the reader can follow the twisted trails to the truth as well as Chaloner can."  —Publishers Weekly starred review of The Piccadilly Plot
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