Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers 2019
Copyright © Andrew Taylor 2019
Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2020
Cover illustrations © Heritage Image Partnership Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo and Shutterstock.com
Andrew Taylor asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
Prelims show image of Clarendon House © Antiqua Print Gallery/Alamy Stock Photo
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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.
Source ISBN: 9780008119188
Ebook Edition © April 2019 ISBN: 9780008119171
Version: 2019-12-12
For Caroline
To that soft Charm, that Spell, that Magick Bough,
That high Enchantment I betake me now:
And to that Hand (the Branch of Heavens faire Tree)
I kneele for help: O! lay that hand on me,
Adored Cesar! and my Faith is such,
I shall be heal’d, if that my King but touch.
The Evill is not Yours: my sorrow sings,
Mine is the Evill, but the Cure, the KINGS.
Robert Herrick, ‘To the King, to cure the Evill’
(Hesperides, 1648)
‘A masterclass in writing for the genre’
Ann Cleeves, author of the Shetland and Vera Stanhope series
‘An absolute treat from start to finish – a hugely engaging, atmospheric historical thriller’
Antonia Hodgson, author of The Devil in the Marshalsea
‘This is a novelist of consummate skill at the absolute peak of his power’
Manda Scott, author of A Treachery of Spies
‘Taylor’s mantelpiece already groans under awards … and this latest is as striking as anything he has written’
Financial Times, Crime Books of the Year
‘Few historical novelists write with more authority and a greater sense of authenticity than Andrew Taylor’
Sunday Times
‘This is historical crime fiction at its dazzling best’
Guardian
‘Vivid and compelling’
Observer
‘A novel filled with intrigue, duplicity, scandal and betrayal, whose author now vies with another master of the genre, C. J. Sansom’
Spectator
‘Glorious’
Sunday Express
‘Another fine outing from one of the best historical novelists around’
Sunday Times
‘If you like C. J. Sansom, or Hilary Mantel, you’ll love Andrew Taylor’
Peter James
‘Effortlessly authentic … gripping … moving and believable. An excellent work’
C. J. Sansom
‘A breathtakingly ambitious picture of an era’
Financial Times
‘This is how historical crime should be written, with rich authenticity underpinning a twisting plot’
The Times
‘One of the most reliably enjoyable of historical novelists’
Sunday Times
‘Taylor brings the 17th century to life so vividly that one can almost smell it’
Guardian
‘Once again, Taylor combines his detailed research with a deviously twist-laden storyline’
Observer
‘This is terrific stuff: intelligent, engrossing and … wonderfully plausible’
Daily Telegraph
‘Thrilling … Gripping, fast-moving and credible’
Spectator
‘Finely wrought and solidly researched … The novel’s plot is fiendishly complex’
Sunday Telegraph
Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
Praise