Having loved the first book in this series – and wondered how it had taken me this long to discover them! – I knew I would love this sequel. And I wasn’t wrong.
From the first page you, as the reader, are thrust back into the world of 18th-century London, with all of its noises, smells, and hazards. Thomas Hawkins, our hero, is a loveable rogue, who in this story is getting ever closer, literally, to the hangman’s noose… and the tense finale right there at the gallows is enough to keep you reading long past bedtime!
The author’s real skill is to bring London of the 1700s alive without ever making it feel like you’re in a history lesson – it’s perfectly crafted historical fiction.
London, 1728. A young, well-dressed man is driven through streets of jeering onlookers to the gallows at Tyburn. They call him a murderer. But Tom Hawkins is innocent and somehow he has to prove it, before the rope squeezes the life out of him.
It is, of course, all his own fault. He was happy settling down with Kitty Sparks. He should never have told the most dangerous criminal in London that he was bored and looking for adventure. He should never have offered to help, the king's mistress. And most of all, he should never have trusted the witty,…
Another historical novel, this time we go even further back to London and Portsmouth in the 1660s and our hero this time is none other than diarist Samuel Pepys himself.
However, in this book, he’s a go-getting 30-something with a mission to find the killer of one of the navy’s clerks – and it brings him into scraps and scrapes with all sorts of characters. This is a skillfully crafted adventure, with everything from highwaymen, hidden agents, and hijinx on the high seas, with the perfect amount of in-depth character work to really get you invested in the story and characters.
If you think historical fiction can’t be as exciting as modern action-adventure – think again…
It is the summer of 1669 and England is in dire straits. The treasury's coffers are bare and tensions with the powerful Dutch Republic are boiling over. And now, an investigator sent by the King to look into corruption at the Royal Navy has been brutally murdered. Loathe to leave the pleasures of London, Samuel Pepys is sent dragging his feet to Portsmouth to find the truth about what happened. Aided by his faithful assistant, Will Hewer, he soon exposes the killer. But has he got the right man? The truth may be much more sinister. And if the real…
My heart almost broke when I found out that this fifth book in the Butler & West series by Louisa Scarr would be the last.
I fell in love with grumpy Robin Butler and diligent Freya West, two police detectives who the reader can’t help but become invested in. And Scarr finishes off the series’ narrative arc perfectly, while delivering a cracker of an investigation (this time into an arsonist) to boot. The Butler & West books are that brilliant mix of police procedural and out-of-the-box adventure, with characters that you can really believe in, and root for.
Definitely worth a try if you haven’t delved into this sort of thriller before.
Stalking. Arson. Murder.Butler and West are back together... and the stakes have never been higher.
When an old friend tells DS Freya West that she's being stalked by someone she met online, Freya promises to help. But there are no leads, and the dating site refuses to give up their data.
To make matters more complicated, DI Robin Butler is back in town. He's investigating a string of arson attacks that have escalated to murder, and the cases seem to be connected somehow. They're going to need their wits about them...
After an eventful trip to the Scottish Highlands, Cressida Fawcett is looking forward to being back among her society friends in London. Enjoying an ice-cold martini in the lounge car of the express train, loyal pug Ruby on her lap, she’s ready to blow off some steam!
But Cressida’s hopes for a relaxing journey are dashed when a gunshot resounds through the carriages. Industrial tycoon Lewis Warriner has been shot dead in his cabin. And as this train has been racing through the countryside, the culprit must be among Cressy’s fellow passengers…
