Dark Threads of Vengeance

In this second book in the series, Mr Ashmole Foxe, Georgian dandy, bookseller and confidential investigator, finds himself alone and way out of his depth. The mayor is demanding he find the murderer of a prominent merchant and banker before the city is crippled by financial panic; Alderman Halloran is hounding him over the theft of some of his favourite books; and his much-loved companions, the Catt sisters, have left Norwich, unlikely to return. Poor Foxe has no clues, few ideas and very little hope. The dead man, Joseph Morrow, was both a prominent and unbending puritan and a constant preacher against the evils of alcohol. So why did his body reek of cheap brandy? What caused his corpse to be found in the hold of a wherry, moored in a little-used and down-at-heel area by Fye Bridge? And what could such a pompous, self-righteous and rigidly Christian man have done that would provoke someone to murder him? The Morrow family, headed by Joseph's father Ezekiel, had long been one of the leading yarn-merchants in the city. Recently, Ezekiel handed over the running of the business to his elder son, Joseph, while he retired to live in a grand house as a country gentleman. Joseph, disliking the rough-and-tumble of the yarn trade, promptly turned his attention to becoming one of the new breed of bankers in the city. A very successful one too, by all accounts. That's why his murder is sending shockwaves through the entire business community, and why the mayor is so afraid of a run on all the banks. Can Ashmole Foxe expose his killer before panic ensues and hundreds of people lose their livelihoods? Can he find the book-thief and return the alderman's books? Can he restore his reputation for high fashion and low morals without the Catt sisters? As he negotiates theMr Ashmole Foxe, Georgian bookseller and confidential investigator, has a new case: to find the murderer of a prominent Norwich merchant and banker before his businesses collapse and the city is crippled by financial panic.

What could the puritanical and rigidly teetotal Joseph Morrow have done to provoke someone to strangle him? Why was his body, reeking of brandy, found on board a wherry, moored in a rough area haunted by sailors and prostitutes? What is the secret linking one of the the city's grandest merchant houses to the wretches who drag out a brief existence in the slums and backstreets of the city?

As Foxe probes deeper, he finds disturbing evidence of cruelty, callousness and blackmail that will shock all those who knew the man. Aided by his rag-tag group of street children, Foxe steadily uncovers a sinister pattern of evil, whose dark threads reach out to snare the guilty parties and exact a fitting vengeance on all concerned.


Genre: Mystery