Disordered Daggers : The Seeker by S G MacLean (2015)
Damian Seeker, an Intelligence officer in the service of Cromwell, is feared and respected by friend and foe alike - remorseless in tracking down Royalist sympathisers, a man with a network of informants at his beck and call, and driven by his absolute faith in the Commonwealth cause. When a lieutenant in the New Model Army is murdered in Whitehall Palace, Seeker's investigation must discover if Cromwell is also in danger - despite the capture of a suspect, it seems, in flagrante delicto.
S G MacLean's well constructed and pacy thriller explores some dark corners of 1650s London (the Spirit trade) and has some striking supporting characters (particularly Lady Winter, Royalist, wife of the victim, and a devout visitor to the apothecary.) Seeker himself is intentionally opaque and a bit one note in his zeal, but gets a brownie point from me for utilising his formidable hand to hand combat skills in an Oxford church. S G MacLean has fun with her Scottish cast ('a creeping plague on this nation'), particularly the Presbyterian preacher. I would have liked a bit more of Cromwell, and a bit less of oppressive, shadowy, dark London. Perhaps Seeker can take a few more road trips in the next book.
S G MacLean's well constructed and pacy thriller explores some dark corners of 1650s London (the Spirit trade) and has some striking supporting characters (particularly Lady Winter, Royalist, wife of the victim, and a devout visitor to the apothecary.) Seeker himself is intentionally opaque and a bit one note in his zeal, but gets a brownie point from me for utilising his formidable hand to hand combat skills in an Oxford church. S G MacLean has fun with her Scottish cast ('a creeping plague on this nation'), particularly the Presbyterian preacher. I would have liked a bit more of Cromwell, and a bit less of oppressive, shadowy, dark London. Perhaps Seeker can take a few more road trips in the next book.