by Leonora Nattrass
SYNOPSIS
This is the confession of Laurence Jago. Clerk. Gentleman. Reluctant spy.
July 1794, and the streets of London are filled with rumours of revolution. Political radical Thomas Hardy is to go on trial for treason, the war against the French is not going in Britain's favour, and negotiations with the independent American colonies are on a knife edge.
Laurence Jago - clerk to the Foreign Office - is ever more reliant on the Black Drop to ease his nightmares. A highly sensitive letter has been leaked to the press, which may lead to the destruction of the British Army, and Laurence is a suspect. Then he discovers the body of a fellow clerk, supposedly a suicide.
Blame for the leak is shifted to the dead man, but even as the body is taken to the anatomists, Laurence is certain both of his friend's innocence, and that he was murdered. But after years of hiding his own secrets from his powerful employers, and at a time when even the slightest hint of treason can lead to the gallows, how can Laurence find the true culprit without incriminating himself?
REVIEW
In 1794 Laurence Jago, a clerk to the Foreign Office, is becoming more and more dependant on Black Drop or Laudanum. As a fellow clerk is found dead of suspected suicide, Laurence is convinced that it was actually murder – but with his addiction making it harder to make the right decisions, will he be able to discover what really happened?
Despite the fact that I am not familiar with London or this particular time period, the setting and atmosphere created were incredibly believable and I was fully transported to the gritty, darker side of Georgian life in the city. This, together with all of the corruption, sabotage and politics in the story made it a very complex but captivating mystery.
Laurence Jago was a really interesting character and I was pleased that the story has been left open for a possible sequel. Black Drop is the perfect choice for this time of year, and a must for any fans of political or historical thrillers.
Leonora Nattrass pursued her enthusiasm for late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth century literature and politics to PhD level, and lectured in English for nearly ten years. She now lives in a seventeenth-century Cornish farmhouse with seventeenth-century draughts, writing historical fiction and spinning the fleeces of her traditional Ryeland sheep into yarn.
Thanks to @ViperBooks and @LeonoraNattrass for the opportunity to read and review.
Fiction: Historical Fiction / Thriller / Mystery
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 978-1788165914
Pages: 352 pp
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