The Butcher of Smithfield: Chaloner's Third Exploit in Restoration London (Thomas Chaloner Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Susanna Gregory (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 28, 2008 | Series: Thomas Chaloner Mysteries

Thomas Chaloner, just returned from a clandestine excursion to Spain and Portugal on behalf of the Queen, finds London dank and grey under leaden skies. Although he has only been away for a short while, he finds many things changed, including the government slapping a tax on printed newspapers. Handwritten news reports escape the duty, and the rivalry between the producers of the two conduits of news is the talk of the coffeehouses, with the battle to be first with any sort of intelligence escalating into violent rivalry. And it seems that a number of citizens who have eaten cucumbers have come to untimely deaths. It is such a death which Chaloner is despatched to investigate; that of a lawyer with links to "the Butcher of Smithfield," a shady trader surrounded by a fearsome gang of thugs who terrorize the streets well beyond the confines of Smithfield market. Chaloner doesn't believe that either this death or the others are caused by a simple vegetable, but to prove his theory he has to untangle the devious means of how news is gathered and he has to put his personal safety aside as he tries to penetrate the rumor mill surrounding the Butcher of Smithfield and discover his real identity.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Gregory brilliantly evokes 1663 London in her brisk third mystery to feature spy Thomas Chaloner (after 2007's Blood on the Strand). On returning to England after a perilous mission on the Iberian peninsula, Chaloner finds himself out of favor with his mercurial employer, the earl of Clarendon, England's Lord Chancellor. He gets a chance to return to the earl's good graces if he can solve the peculiar death of Thomas Newburne, a solicitor and newsman who died after eating a cucumber. Chaloner soon learns that others have recently perished after a similar meal. His inquiries into the murky world of journalism and propaganda bring him into conflict with the Butcher of Smithfield, a shadowy thug and associate of Newburne's. Gregory salts the plot with several tantalizing subsidiary puzzles, and has impressively integrated into the story line not only historical figures but debates about the content of the period's newsletters and newsbooks. (Sept.)
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Review

"A mine of historical information."  —Kirkus Reviews

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group (April 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1847440622
• ISBN-13: 978-1847440624
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,267,608 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 3rd in the Thomas Chaloner Series, February 2, 2009

By 

S. Schwartz "romonko" (alberta canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Butcher of Smithfield: Chaloner's Third Exploit in Restoration London (Thomas Chaloner Mysteries) (Paperback)

I love Ms. Gregory's long-running Matthew Bartholomew series, and this is a new series that she has begun. It is set in Restoration England, and there aren't a lot of fiction books set in this era. This book was set in the fall of 1663. Oliver Cromwell has been removed and executed and Prince Charles II has resumed his throne and been on it for about three years when the book was set. Chaloner is a spy. He actually worked for Cromwell's henchmen, but when the Restoration came, he switched allegiance to Royalists. I love the setting for these books, and I love the stories. Ms. Gregory mixes real historical people with her fictional ones, and everything is so authentic. In this book Thomas has recently returned London after a dangerous four month mission in Spain and Portugal. His patron has asked him to prove that a rather unsavoury lawyer was murdered. The cause of death was ruled as "death by cucumbers". Thomas finds himself in the middle of a number of these kinds of death, and he has to try to unravel what is going on. This is a great medieval page-turner.