Unnatural Fire
-
- 7,99 €
-
- 7,99 €
Publisher Description
A whodunit set in the filthy, rat infested, foggy London of 1699. Anastasia Ashby de la Zouche, Baroness Penge, Countess of Clapham, former mistress to Charles II, is an aristocrat on her uppers. Cast into the Fleet Prison, she is forced to turn to journalism. But the Countess and her maidservant encounter more intrigue than they bargained for.
'Hilarious 17th century romp, which combines an authentic slice of history with a tantalising storyline. An authority on the era, Morgan has created an inventive book which wears its learning lightly. Colourful turns of phrase and witty descriptions –like a bawdy P.G.Wodehouse leave you with a keen sense of the period. This is a frolicking good read.' DAILY MAIL
TESS GERRITSEN: A delicious, rollicking romp of a mystery that kept me enthralled. Fidelis Morgan writes just the sort of story I love, full of sensuous details that make history come alive. I can't wait to read her next one
VAL MCDERMID: A heady compound of wit, wisdom and wildness
PETER LOVESEY: I challenge you to open a Fidelis Morgan at any page and not to be grabbed and plunged into a story where the action is non-stop and outrageous. The Countess Ashby de la Zouche books are a joy, written with tremendous energy and flair. It goes without saying that Fidelis has done her history homework, but no one ever made history more fun
THE GUARDIAN: A perfect historical menu of crime and mystery, with the bonus of laughs aplenty
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
British actress and playwright Morgan's (Hangover Square) love of Restoration comedy fires her first novel, a bawdy romp featuring a pair of unlikely female sleuths: the intrepid 60-year-old Lady Anastasia Ashby de la Zouche, who was once Charles II's mistress, and her former personal maid, the buxom, alluring Alpiew. Desperate for money, the countess and Alpiew join forces to write articles for a London scandal sheet, but get sidetracked following a well-to-do merchant, Beau Wilson, at the behest of his worried wife, who is suspicious of his long, unexplained absences from home. As they trail Beau around London's seedier districts, the countess and Alpiew attend a play or two as well as a lecture on the eclipse of the sun (due later that year of 1699), comment wittily on the state of the theater and scientific learning and eventually stumble on their quarry, his throat cut from ear to ear, one night in Covent Garden. Like a comic Restoration play, the action proceeds pell-mell, replete with bad puns and knockabout farce. The discovery of a secret "elaboratory" where Beau dabbled in the "hermetic arts" (alchemy), a fishing outing to the country, the murder of the Wilsons' loyal servant, Betty, and a cipher in alchemical symbols all lead in the end to a surprising plot involving King William himself. Fans of light historical mysteries are sure to be amused.
