The Ashes of London. Andrew Taylor

      

      

       Copyright

      HarperCollinsPublishers

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2016

      Copyright © Andrew Taylor 2016

      Andrew Taylor asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

      Cover design by Dominic Forbes © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2017

      Cover shows The Great Fire of London 1666 (woodcut), English School, (17th century) © Museum of London, UK /Bridgeman Images

      Prelims show ‘A map of the area of London affected by the Great Fire of London in 1666’ © The British Library

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

      This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it, while at times based on historical fact, are the work of the author’s imagination.

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books

      Source ISBN: 9780008119096

      Ebook Edition © APRIL 2016 ISBN: 9780008119065

      Version: 2018-09-21

       Dedication

       For Caroline, as always

       Map

       Praise for The Ashes of London:

      ‘One of the most reliably enjoyable of historical novelists … Taylor demonstrates his usual command of plot and historical background’

       Sunday Times

      ‘Finely wrought and solidly researched. The novel’s plot is fiendishly complex’

       Sunday Telegraph

      ‘In this elegant, engrossing novel set during an extraordinary period, Taylor skilfully presents a London in which so many must still pay the price for the Civil War and the murder of King Charles I’

       Sunday Express

      ‘An atmospheric and compelling tale for tumultuous times’

      The Times, Summer Books

      ‘The author conveys the confusion and uncertainty of the times in a pacy story of Charles II’s desire for vengeance, the struggle to rebuild a stricken city and the hunt for a murderer’

       Daily Mail

      ‘A complex weave of history and mystery and the first of a new series from Andrew Taylor’

       The i

      ‘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 description of London in 1666, as the Great Fire is at last dying down, is unforgettable’

       Literary Review

      ‘The Ashes of London is a chilling murder mystery and an equally transporting historical novel. A genuine pleasure from start to finish’

      Peter Swanson, author of A Kind Worth Killing

       Praise for Andrew Taylor:

      ‘Taylor’s mastery of plot and character show to great effect in a story that has a depth few other historical crime novels can match’

       Sunday Times

      ‘Effortlessly authentic … gripping … moving and believable. An excellent work’

      C. J. Sansom

      ‘As a writer, Taylor wears his learning lightly and shares with Hilary Mantel the capacity to take the reader directly into a vanished world’

       TLS

      ‘The most consummate writer of historical fiction today. He achieves to perfection the crucial balance between the mystery to be solved and the historical context surrounding it’

       The Times

      ‘Andrew Taylor has been quietly producing superb historical fiction since long before Hilary Mantel’s Man Booker wins bestowed literary respectability on the genre’

       Daily Telegraph

      ‘If you liked C. J. Sansom, or Hilary Mantel, you’ll love Andrew Taylor’

      Peter James

      ‘Taylor is as good at this period as C. J. Sansom is at Tudor England, and like him pulls off novels that work both as literary fiction and detective stories’

       Independent

      ‘Hugely entertaining, beguiling and atmospheric’

       Observer

      ‘Andrew Taylor is one of the most imaginative historical novelists writing today’

       Globe and Mail

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Map

Praise for