We have updated our Privacy Policy Please take a moment to review it. By continuing to use this site, you agree to the terms of our updated Privacy Policy.
Benjamin Weaver is awaiting death in Newgate gaol. Mysteriously convicted for a murder he didn’t commit by a judge determined to see him hang, he is suddenly – and equally mysteriously – offered the means to escape. What, you may well ask, is going on?
It’s a question Weaver asks of himself as he slinks out into the London night on a mission to clear his name. In doing so, he steps straight into a labyrinthine plot that weaves, like Benjamin, across eighteenth century London. For the conspiracy against him is part of a grimmer and gaudier picture: one that encompasses double-dealings and dockworkers, the extorting of a priest – and a looming election with the potential to spark a revolution and topple the monarchy.
Handily, Weaver is a private investigator. He’s also an ex-pugilist, which is also a good thing when it comes to punching his weight in the ‘polite’ society of plotters and politicians, power-brokers, crime lords, assassins and spies. At the apex of which sits, rather precariously, a recent import from Hanover: The King.
It’s a question Weaver asks of himself as he slinks out into the London night on a mission to clear his name. In doing so, he steps straight into a labyrinthine plot that weaves, like Benjamin, across eighteenth century London. For the conspiracy against him is part of a grimmer and gaudier picture: one that encompasses double-dealings and dockworkers, the extorting of a priest – and a looming election with the potential to spark a revolution and topple the monarchy.
Handily, Weaver is a private investigator. He’s also an ex-pugilist, which is also a good thing when it comes to punching his weight in the ‘polite’ society of plotters and politicians, power-brokers, crime lords, assassins and spies. At the apex of which sits, rather precariously, a recent import from Hanover: The King.
Newsletter Signup
By clicking ‘Sign Up,’ I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
Reviews
A tightly plotted, engrossing read.
The end of the story is both surprising and unexpected. I would recommend this book highly as both a straightforward mystery and for the picture it paints of early 18th century politics and society.