Showing results by author "Leonora Nattrass" in All Categories

Susan Bell spends her days within the confines of Westminster Abbey, one of many who live in the grounds of the ancient building. Her father, the kindly but foolish Dean of Westminster, is always busy keeping the many canons and vergers in check, when not being romantically pursued by forceful widows. Life at the abbey is uneventful, even after the unwelcome arrival of Susan's cousin Lindley and his unusual scientific demonstrations. That is until the Society of Antiquaries come armed with a letter from King George III.

This is the secret report of disgraced former Foreign Office clerk Laurence Jago, written on the mail ship Tankerville en route to Philadelphia. His mission is to aid the civil servant charged with carrying a vital treaty to Congress that will prevent the Americans from joining with the French in their war against Britain. When the civil servant meets an unfortunate end, Laurence becomes the one person standing between Britain and disaster. It is his great chance to redeem himself—except that his predecessor has taken the secret of the treaty's hiding place to his watery grave.

July 1794, and the streets of London are filled with rumours of revolution. Laurence Jago - clerk to the Foreign Office - is ever more reliant on the Black Drop to ease his nightmares. A highly sensitive letter has been leaked to the press, and Laurence is a suspect. Then, he discovers the body of a fellow clerk, supposedly a suicide. Blame for the leak is shifted to the dead man, but Laurence is certain both of his friend's innocence and that he was murdered.

Disgraced former Foreign Office clerk Laurence Jago and his larger-than-life employer the journalist William Philpott have escaped America - and Philpott's near imprisonment for libel - by the skin of their teeth. They return to Laurence's home town of Helston in Cornwall in the hope of rest and recuperation, but instead find themselves in the middle of a tumultuous election. Only two men may vote in this rotten borough, and when one of them dies in suspicious circumstances, Laurence is ordered to investigate on behalf of the town's political patron, his old master the Duke of Leeds.

Rok 1795. Jago ma za zadanie pomóc urzędnikowi państwowemu w dostarczeniu do Kongresu kopii traktatu, który ma uniemożliwić Amerykanom zawarcie sojuszu z Francją przeciwko Wielkiej Brytanii. Kiedy jednak urzędnik ginie w niefortunnym – i najwyraźnie „przypadkowym" – wypadku, a traktat znika, Laurence uświadamia sobie, że tylko on może zapobiec nadciągającej katastrofie.

Jest lipiec 1794 roku. Ulice Londynu wypełniają plotki o rewolucji. Laurence Jago, urzędnik Ministerstwa Spraw Zagranicznych, jest coraz bardziej uzależniony od leku na uspokojenie Black Drop, czyli Czarnej Kropli, który łagodzi jego koszmary. Laurence odkrywa ciało kolegi urzędnika, rzekomo samobójcy. Kilka dni później do prasy przedostaje się treść poufnego listu, co może doprowadzić do zniszczenia brytyjskiej armii.