Blood on the Strand

Blood on the Strand is the second investigation by Susanna Gregory's Restoration spy Thomas Chaloner. The title comes from the opening scene where Mathew Webb, a wealthy merchant, is murdered as he returns to his home in The Strand following a dinner given by the Guinea Company at Africa House. The killing of a beggar outside Westminster Abbey during a service celebrating the third anniversary of the restoration of King Charles the Second whilst Chalenor is on security duty diguised as a street sweeper could not possibly be connected to the muder of Webb or could it? Why are members of the wealthy and powerful Company of Barber-Surgeons so often found where Chaloner is searching for answers to the complex riddles of which Restoration politics is composed? The Surgeons are allowed to disect corpses of felons for scientific purposes but as the faces are always covered who can be sure which corpse is which. As Chaloner digs deeper into the morass of plot and counter plot he is constantly beset by the quandary of spies through the ages - who to trust. Once again Susanna Gregory leads us through a labyrinth of inventive schemes via a narrative that keeps the pages turning until we arrive at a satisfying conclusion. One thing does have me puzzled. Why does Chaloner, and presumably Miss Gregory, look back with nostalgia to the brutal, dour and bigoted regime of Cromwell. True, King Charles may never have won prizes for efficient administration but surely he had to be an improvement on what went before!