Leonora Nattrass

Based upon historical facts, this book is set in Helston at the time of a vote for members of parliament but not as we know it. Prior to 1832 the gentry nominated people to be MPs and then they paid off others to vote for them and work for them. Cornwall, home of tin mining, once sent 42 MPs to Parliament where as Manchester and Birmingham sent none. Amidst this electoral mess, Jago and Philpott arrive back from America to find the village in uproar and a dead man locked in a cupboard with no key on the inside. So, we have political mayhem, a murder mystery and social unrest. There is also a pig that reads the future.

The history is worn lightly and the writing is fluent and immersive, engaging us as soon as we start. In 1796 Helston was known as a 'rotten borough', a small electorate but two men returned to Parliament. As the coach arrives in Helston,

. . . a strange new wave of movement was now approaching up the street, accompanied by shouts and screams that verged on panic. The crowd parted to reveal a posse of running men, mouths horribly agape in blood-red painted faces. They were in some strange ecstasy beyond noticing pain or fear as they bore down on us, wildly drunk.
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Welcome home.

Into this chaos the mystery of the dead body must be solved and Nattrass leads us down dead alleys and round in rings with poisonings of critical people and what appears to be a love triangle where jealousy makes those who should know better behave badly. The plot is as messy as the times.

This is the third book in a very readable series - Black Drop, Blue Water and now Scarlet Town.… (altro)

Having only just escaping from America, Laurence Jago is headed home to Cornwall. When he and his employer, the publisher Philpott, arrive in Helston they find the town in the grip of election fever. Helston has only two voters and they are in the grip of the Duke of Leeds, benefactor to the town, but others want to change the vote for their parties and when one of the elderly voters is found dead, foul play is called. Jago is known to the Duke and is tasked to solve the mystery and ensure the election can continue despite all the unrest.
There are two main reasons that I really loved this books. Firstly having read Nattrass' previous books about Laurence Jago, I knew I was going to be entertained by a great story. Secondly the focus is on the politics of late 18th century England and this is the time fo the 'rotten boroughs'. I was not disappointed. This is deeply researched book, drawing together several stories of real events at the time and bundling complex intrigue with high comedy. Loved the pig!… (altro)

It is a truth universally acknowledged that, in a manner similar to the way in which any house, however magnificent and accommodating, is always improved by the simple addition of a cat, any novel, however wonderful, can only be enhanced by the presence of a bear. That is certainly the case here - an already entertaining and engrossing book receives a dusting of gilt on the gingerbread when, about halfway through, Bruin the bear cub is introduced. But more of him later.

This novel follows on closely from the events narrated in Black Drop. It is late 1794 and Laurence Jago, formerly a civil servant working in the Foreign Office, is sailing to Philadelphia aboard the Tankerville, accompanying liberal journalist and news editor William Phillpotts. They are accompanied by Frederick Jenkinson, an official from the War office (the ‘man from the ministry’) who is commissioned with ensuring that a copy of a treaty signed in London between the American Ambassador and the British Government is safely conveyed to the American administration. Their fellow passengers include two French aristocrats, fleeing from ‘The Terror’ as inflicted by the Revolutionaries now in power in Paris.

The passage is difficult, and any vessel viewed on the horizon might be a French warship or privateers. Not far into their crossing, they take on a new passenger – Lizzie McKendrick, an Irish actress hoping to find success on the American stage. She is the owner of Bruin, whom she hopes to train as ‘glamorous assistant’ to support her stage shows. She does not have much authority over the cub, however, and he is left to roam free about the boat.

There are several layers of intrigue to this book, and the story is very gripping – I spotted some twists, but far from all of them. It is also rich in historical detail, although this is never allowed to compromise the flow of the story.… (altro)

I found this historical novel absolutely fascinating, not least because a fair amount of the action takes place in the building in which I currently work.

Laurence Jago is a civil servant working in the Foreign Office in the final decade of the eighteenth century, a period of considerable unrest, exacerbated by war between Britain and France. The French were still attempting to attain some degree of political stability following the Revolution of 1789 and the rampant bloodshed that ensued. Napoleon Bonaparte is already a prominent figure within the French military establishment, and is starting to achieve success.

Jago has his own secrets – one of these is that he has never revealed to his employers that his mother is a French refugee, and that, as a consequence, he is fluent in the language. This becomes significant as, following a promotion, his duties involve transcribing messages secretly intercepted from within the French forces which have a huge intelligence value. It becomes evident that the content of some of these messages has been leaked to French agents operating in London, and Jago becomes a prime suspect.

The novel gives a fascinating insight into the machinations of the Foreign Office, and the rampant political intriguers of the day. One of the principal protagonists is George Canning, subsequently briefly Prime Minister, and commemorated by a statue in Parliament Square visible from my office. There are several statues in the Square commemorating a number of figures including Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln and Nelson Mandela, but Canning is the only one who appears to be on his way to a toga party. Perhaps nowadays, Canning is principally remembered for having fought a duel with his fellow Cabinet Member, Lord Castlereagh. This side of his personality is evident in the book, and he certainly emerges as a fairly repellent character.

Leonora Nattrass has done a marvellous job, weaving a complex, yet always plausible plot, that ranges across the war with France, strained relationships with the relatively newly independent USA and political unrest at home, with growing cries for constitutional reform( that would eventually come to limited fruition in the 1832 Reform Act). Jago is an excellently drawn character, and one who is far from flawless. After all, the Black Drop of the title refers to a laudanum-based compound to which Jago has become addicted. He is also stricken with indecision, and many of the problems with which he has to contend spring from his almost morbid inability to act upon his resolutions.

This was a highly engrossing and entertaining novel, and I am delighted to learn that one sequel has already been published, and a further is expected later this year.… (altro)