The Ashes of London (James Marwood & Cat Lovett, Book 1)

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Most of the characters try to think ahead and calculate how a recent bit of information could affect their situation, but of course they miscalculate and you want to yell at them, especially Catherine whose first reaction to anything bad is to run as far and fast as she can. Story Behind The Scent of Death". Upcoming4.me. 18 October 2013. Archived from the original on 20 October 2013 . Retrieved 18 October 2013. Enter the story’s two main protagonists. James Marwood is the son of a Republican, who lost everything when Charles II regained the throne. Catherine Lovett is daughter of a regicide – one of that small circle directly involved in the trail and execution of the king’s father. Both are affected and their actions shaped by forces beyond their control. She is a spirited teenager who dreams of becoming an architect and escaping an unsatisfactory marriage her aunt and uncle have arranged. Marwood, the son of another old puritan, is a minor civil servant whose only desire is to live down his notorious name and make his way in the world. When Cat is raped by her cousin, she tries to kill him and is forced into hiding. Thrilling... Gripping, fast-moving and credible... It's a well-constructed political thriller with moments of horror, admirable and enjoyable. Taylor has done his research so thoroughly as to be unobtrusive' Spectator

THE ASHES OF LONDON | Kirkus Reviews

Even if you've read Pepys on the Great Fire you don't get as vivid a portrait as Taylor gives in this novel. The heat, the winds, the burning embers, the almost spontaneous flaming and the fact that it went on for months after the main fire was subdued are all vividly portrayed in this novel, which is apparently the first in a series.An Old School Tie” is the fourth novel in the “Dougal” series and was released in the year 1986. James Hanbury has reformed himself. Or he would like to. He plans to marry a respectable bride, hoping that he will be respectable by extension. This is due to the fact that his bride, Molly, comes from both money and a good family. The day they return from their honeymoon, she is electrocuted. So the question remains, was it murder or was it an accident? Charleston Parva’s residents believe that it was murder, and accuse James of killing her as soon as he got her money. Feelings in the village soon grow tense. Hansbury turns to Dougal (his old friend and rival) for help, but Dougal is not even close to being convinced the guy is innocent. Dougal knows better than anyone that he is capable of murder. Andrew Taylor provides a masterclass in how to weave a well-researched history into a complex plot.' The Times, Books of the Year

The Ashes of London- free sampler by Andrew Taylor | Goodreads

Recent crime fiction". The Spectator. 311 (9446): 36–37. 12 September 2009. Archived from the original on 22 September 2009 . Retrieved 20 June 2011. The Ashes of London weaves a pacy story from the framework of true events. A new Shardlake may rise from the ashes' The Times Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival. Our Fathers’s Lies” is the third novel in the “Dougal” series and was released in the year 1985. There is some unfinished business that Dougal and his father have that they have to sort out. It has a little to do with Celia Prentisse, who is William’s ex-girlfriend. Her father, a historian, is found drowned and the whole thing is called a suicide. Celia does not buy it for a minute, because his clothes (which he abandoned) were found with a brand of gin he did not drink, and a short volume of Schopenhauer’s essays. That really is not a lot to go off of, but it is enough to send his father (and her godfather) British intelligence officer Major Ted Dougal, who is retired and William off on the case. They find an arsenic poisoning that happened in the 1930s and a court martial that is still classified from World War One. There were a couple of things that bothered me. The protaganists had a rather too modern outlook and view of the world, especially in their attitude to religion. Religious people were depicted as either mad or bad, with very little in between and I think this is a very over-simplistic and silly depiction, especiallly in the context of the time.The Great Fire rages in London. James Marwood, the narrator, who works as an underling reporter for Joseph Williamson, who in turn is in the employ of the Earl of Arlington, is despatched to discover what the feelings on the streets are amongst the populace about the conflagration. James’s father, a printer, was a convicted Fifth Monarchist, who had been imprisoned for participating in Thomas Venner’s 1661 uprising, but is now entering senility. The story behind The Silent Boy". Upcoming4.me. 4 September 2014. Archived from the original on 6 September 2014 . Retrieved 6 September 2014. Andrew Taylor (born 14 October 1951) is a British author best known for his crime and historical novels, which include the Lydmouth series, the Roth Trilogy and historical novels such as the number-one best-selling The American Boy and The Ashes of London. His accolades include the Diamond Dagger, Britain's top crime-writing award. The Ashes of London presents a breathtakingly ambitious picture of an era ... the multiple narrative strands are drawn together in a brilliantly orchestrated finale' Financial Times Hannah’s new novel is an homage to the extraordinary courage and endurance of Frenchwomen during World War II.