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    The Fire Court
    The Fire Court
    The Fire Court
    Audiobook12 hours

    The Fire Court

    Written by Andrew Taylor

    Narrated by Leighton Pugh

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    From No.1 bestselling author Andrew Taylor comes the sequel to the phenomenally successful The Ashes of London

    Over 1 Million Andrew Taylor Novels Sold!

    A time of terrible danger…
    The Great Fire has ravaged London. Now, guided by the Fire Court, the city is rebuilding, but times are volatile and danger is only ever a heartbeat away.

    Two mysterious deaths…
    James Marwood, a traitor’s son, is thrust into this treacherous environment when his father discovers a dead woman in the very place where the Fire Court sits. The next day his father is run down. Accident? Or another murder…?

    A race to stop a murderer…
    Determined to uncover the truth, Marwood turns to the one person he can trust – Cat Lovett, the daughter of a despised regicide. Then comes a third death… and Marwood and Cat are forced to confront a vicious killer who threatens the future of the city itself.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateApr 5, 2018
    ISBN9780008119157
    The Fire Court
    Author

    Andrew Taylor

    Andrew Taylor is the author of a number of crime novels, including the ground-breaking Roth Trilogy, which was adapted into the acclaimed drama Fallen Angel, and the historical crime novels The Ashes of London, The Silent Boy, 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 Ellis Peters Historical Award (the only author to win it three times) and the CWA’s prestigious Diamond Dagger.

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    Reviews for The Fire Court

    4/5

    58 ratings4 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Annoying to get important new information at the very end.
    • 4/5
      This is the second installment of a historical crime fiction series set in 1660s London. The first book began in September 1666, during London’s Great Fire. This second novel takes place eight months after the first, in 1667.In this book we learn about the Fire Court, which was created by the British Parliament to resolve disputes arising from the 1666 Great Fire of London. Who was responsible for the rebuilding costs: the landlords or tenants? Who would be awarded contracts to rebuild, and on what basis? The Fire Court was given exceptional powers to settle all such disputes, and because of this, the possibilities for bribery and corruption were manifold.James Marwood, the fictional protagonist, worked in the service of two [actual historical] masters. One was William Chiffinch, Keeper of the King’s Private Closet. Chiffinch was the closest of all King Charles II’s advisors and his influence at court was said to have been incalculable. Chiffinch called upon Marwood to investigate dicey matters that happened in London and in which the king was taking an interest.The second was Joseph Williamson, Undersecretary to Lord Arlington, Secretary of State for the South and one of the King’s most powerful ministers. Williamson, who also figures largely in this series, is said to have made himself indispensable to Arlington, due to his enormous capacity for hard work, much of which is done by the fictional Marwood. Williamson was also involved with the foundation of the London Gazette in 1665; Marwood handles many of the Gazette duties as well.Marwood, increasingly caught between the sometimes competing demands of the two ambitious and powerful men, observed:“There are no friends at Whitehall. [The Palace of Whitehall was the main residence of the English monarchs from 1530 until 1698.] Only allies and enemies. Among the great, power ebbs and flows according to their conjunctions and oppositions. And the rest of us are tossed about in the current, helpless to direct our course, let alone navigate our way to safety.”Marwood was asked to look into a murder that seemed related to a case due to come before the Fire Court, a competition to develop Dragon Yard, which remains a popular residential and commercial area in London to this day. Two entrepreneurs were competing for the contract to redevelop the area after the fire, and both had influential friends and enemies. Catherine Lovett, an acquaintance of Marwood’s, also became involved because her employer, Simon Hakesby, was representing one of the parties in the matter. Cat and Marwood seemed fated to be drawn together, and once again collaborated in ferreting out what was going on as more bodies start piling up.As before, Marwood understood that he took orders from people “who preferred not know precisely how their wishes were carried out, especially beforehand . . . .”Evaluation: This series has much to offer in terms of interesting historical details as well as some page-turning tense and dangerous moments for the characters. I don’t believe the books do well as standalones, but it is an entertaining series, and worth reading in order.
    • 4/5
      Seven months after the Great Fire of London there are signs of regeneration in the capital, despite the large number of refugees who have lost everything. To address the urgent matter of rebuilding, the government has set up the Fire Court, which settles disputes between freeholders and leaseholders. Prime locations are very much in demand, and large amounts of money are involved in property speculation.James Marwood's father becomes entangled in the affairs of the Fire Court when he happens to chance on the body of a woman in one of the chambers of Clifford's Inn, where the Court resides. The next day he is run over by a wagon on busy Fleet Street – but was it truly an accident? James begins to investigate. During his investigations he renews his acquaintance with Catherine Lovett, the daughter of an infamous Regicide, now going by the name of Jane Hakesby, and her master, the surveyor Simon Hakesby. But a ruthless killer doesn't shy away from ensuring that certain mouths are shut for ever, and James and Cat are in danger of paying with their lives.While I thought that the first volume in the series, The Ashes of London was somewhat lacklustre, I enjoyed this second volume more. Even though it still relied on an unrealistic degree of coincidence in my opinion, the characterisation was much more developed and the end result more convincing. The improved characterisation was especially in evidence in the character of James Marwood, who I felt was rather pale and passive in the first instalment and here becomes much more a character of flesh and blood who takes matters into his own hands.I was very interested to read about the proceedings of the Fire Court; it had never crossed my mind before that such an institution would have existed. I'm grateful to Mr Taylor for adding fascinating historical notes relating to the rebuilding of London and the added freedoms that were granted to women during Charles II's reign in the appendix.I already have the third volume, The King's Evil on the shelf, and hope to read it later this year.
    • 4/5
      A second Cat Lovett/James Marwood mystery, this one focusing on the intricate and complicated Fire Court proceedings which governed the post-fire rebuilding on London. Another good speedy quarantine distraction-read.