The Ashes of London Book Reviews

The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor Book Summary

The first book in the No. 1 Times bestselling series

‘This is terrific stuff’ Daily Telegraph

‘A breathtakingly ambitious picture of an era’ Financial Times

‘A masterclass in how to weave a well-researched history into a complex plot’ The Times

Over 1 Million Andrew Taylor Novels Sold!

A CITY IN FLAMES
London, 1666. As the Great Fire consumes everything in its path, the body of a man is found in the ruins of St Paul’s Cathedral – stabbed in the neck, thumbs tied behind his back.

A WOMAN ON THE RUN
The son of a traitor, James Marwood is forced to hunt the killer through the city’s devastated streets. There he encounters a determined young woman, who will stop at nothing to secure her freedom.

A KILLER SEEKING REVENGE
When a second murder victim is discovered in the Fleet Ditch, Marwood is drawn into the political and religious intrigue of Westminster – and across the path of a killer with nothing to lose…

Reviews

‘Ashes of London is terrific’ Sarah Hilary

‘The Ashes of London presents a breathtakingly ambitious picture of an era … the multiple narrative strands are drawn together in a brilliantly orchestrated finale’ Financial Times

‘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

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

'A complex weave of history and mystery and the first of a new series from Andrew Taylor' The i

‘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

‘This is terrific stuff: intelligent, engrossing and, in its evocation of a long-vanished London, wonderfully plausible.’ Toby Clements, Daily Telegraph

'The Ashes of London weaves a pacy story from the framework of true events. A new Shardlake may rise from the ashes' The Times

‘Andrew Taylor provides a masterclass in how to weave a well-researched history into a complex plot.’ The Times, Books of the Year

‘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

‘Finely wrought and solidly researched… The novel’s plot is fiendishly complex’ Sunday Telegraph

About the author

Andrew Taylor is the author of a number of crime novels, including the ground-breaking Roth Trilogy, which was adapted into the acclaimed TV drama Fallen Angel, and the historical crime novels The Silent Boy, The Scent of Death and The American Boy, a No.1 Sunday Times bestseller and a 2005 Richard & Judy Book Club Choice.

He has won many awards, including the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger, an Edgar Scroll from the Mystery Writers of America, the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Award (the only author to win it three times) and the CWA’s prestigious Diamond Dagger, awarded for sustained excellence in crime writing. He also writes for the Spectator.

He lives with his wife Caroline in the Forest of Dean.

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