1594, Bishopsgate Ward, London. Within the walls and without, unease and uncertainty lurk beneath the noise and bustle of a smoky, teeming city.
Matthew Cutler, newly widowed and caring for two spirited daughters, takes his position as constable for the parish of Spitalfields very seriously. So when Paulo Brisco, a quiet Venetian perfumer is found brutally murdered in his own shop, Cutler throws himself into his first major crime, and one which threatens to set all Bishopsgate alight. 🔥
Being a humble parish constable, Matthew Cutler’s powers are slight – and yet he possesses a skill which most others do not. As a former actor, he can employ disguise, to considerable effect and to his
unique advantage…
Plunged into a treacherous world of notorious rakes, angry tradesmen and a community seething with anti-foreigner sentiment and suspicion, Cutler must decipher shattered clues and confront a
killer whose motive remains a baffling mystery – until the very last.
Step into the dangerous world of Elizabethan London with this cracking murder mystery!🩸🔍
A writer for over forty years, John Pilkington was born in Lancashire and worked at many jobs including laboratory assistant, farm worker, weaver, shipping clerk, picture frame-maker and cabaret
musician before taking a degree in Drama and English and finding his true vocation.
He has since written plays for radio and theatre, television scripts for a BBC soap, a short-lived children’s series and numerous works of historical fiction, concentrating now on the Tudor and Stuart eras. He also
ventured into speculative fiction with his biography of Shakespeare’s famous jester, Yorick.
He now lives in a village on a tidal estuary in Devon with his long-term partner Elisabeth; they have a son who is a psychologist and musician. When not at the desk he walks, swims, listens to music, and tinkers with DIY. projects, and is enjoying being a grandfather.
Bookbub profile: @jpscript
My thoughts: Elizabethan London was full of danger, although murder was rarely one of them, you were far more likely to fall into the Thames or die of plague. However, it’s murder that concerns Matthew Cutler, constable of Bishopsgate in the City of London. A perfumier, an Italian (people from other countries were known as strangers, hence the title) has been killed in his shop.
While Matthew’s powers are limited, it is up to him to find the killer. No proper police force exists, and there’s an obvious political angle as the victim was not only foreign, but Catholic, religion being the current main issue in England. Could one of his customers have killed him? He certainly seems to have popular.
As Matthew and his friend Margaret investigate, Matthew uses his player’s skills to gain access to some of Brisco’s higher-class clients and discovers that far from merely supplying scent, the Italian was also involved with some of the ladies he sold to. Perhaps an angry husband might be the killer. Until they discover that the pillow talk Brisco engaged in could have compromised England’s defences.
There’s a lot of intrigue and the more Matthew investigates the more suspects he finds, Brisco was clearly more than just a good salesman and the suspicion of strangers that Matthew has tried to avoid, may in this case, be justified. Can he find a way through the many strands of Brisco’s life and actually find a killer or will the threats to his family make him stop?
Full of historical details brought vividly to life, thankfully without the odours of 16th Century London, this is a clever, engaging read with a really interesting plot and characters.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 