The Body in the Thames: A Thomas Chaloner Adventure
Susanna Gregory. Sphere (IPG, dist.), $29.95 (352p) ISBN 978-1-84744-253-6
Negotiations between the English and Dutch in 1664 aimed at preventing war figure prominently in Gregory's engaging sixth historical featuring intelligencer Thomas Chaloner (after 2010's A Murder on London Bridge). Among those in St. Margaret's Church observing Chaloner's wedding to Hannah Cotton, lady-in-waiting to the queen, is a shabbily dressed uninvited guest, Philip Alden, a Royalist spy during the Commonwealth. As the bride and groom proceed up the aisle after the ceremony, a woman sitting next to Alden screams; someone has fatally stabbed Alden in the back. Soon after, Willem Hense, the Dutch brother of Chaloner's late first wife, is found floating in the Thames. Multiple plot lines%E2%80%94involving a blackmailer, sabotage aimed at the Dutch delegation, and a shadowy figure who may be behind all the mayhem%E2%80%94make close reading a must. As usual, Gregory does a fine job integrating fact and fiction. (July)
Details
Reviewed on: 05/23/2011
Genre: Fiction
Analog Audio Cassette - 978-1-4079-2572-1
Compact Disc - 978-1-4079-2573-8
MP3 CD - 978-1-4079-2574-5
Open Ebook - 480 pages - 978-0-7481-2820-4
Other - 978-1-4079-4171-4
Paperback - 480 pages - 978-0-7515-4183-0