Fire of London

Very enjoyable. Well researched. I learned quite a bit about this period. This is a neglected period of history. I liked the main character but was a little perturbed by the character of Catherine. I think she was as ruthless as her father in her own way. The reader was very good. The voice used is really important to me.

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18 people found this helpful

Great listen

very well written and excellently narrated. historically accurate, it's obviously very well researched. I like this narrator. he is easy to listen to even when he is using womens voices. it's a long listen but I wasn't bored nor did my concentration waver at any point as often happens with long books.

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1 person found this helpful

Another Good Read

Found this book fascinating starting with the Great Fire of London entwining a Murder mystery

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Evocative, absorbing, superbly narrated

Brings the city and and times to life, with a story that skips along at a brisk pace, all brought together with fantastically performed narration.

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What a Glorious Find, and I am Hooked!

When Audible make their reduced price offers available, listeners can explore with little risk. A speculative purchase such as in this case turned into an adventure that got me hooked into this six book series with enormous and repeating pleasures. The various threads of the book are extremely well thought through, at the same time as characters being so well drawn. Listeners are well looked after and the author, Andrew Taylor, is sympathetic to listeners and readers in understanding their needs to be involved in working through the mystery. This novel satisfies and you quickly identify with key characters. You are left at the end of this novel that this is not the end of things, and – yes – you want more. Rare for me I launched into the second novel of the series without a break and was not let down. The audio-book is exceptionally well read and the voice characterisations spot-on as far as I am concerned. Any Audible member can select this novel with confidence, but be warned - you may be hooked into the full series too. A great find, and thankful for it.

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An entertaining and informative novel.

The storyline kept my interest, the characters being well rounded and the historical background well researched. I would certainly read another book by this author.

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Mystery and murder in 'the dunnest smoke of hell'

I picked this title not because of Andrew Taylor's awards for historical crime writing, but because it's read by Leighton Pugh. Having spent the first three months of last year mesmerised by Pugh's fantastic 116-hour unabridged narration of Samuel Pepys' Diary on Naxos (downloadable on Audible), I thought The Ashes of London set in Pepys' time read by Leighton Pugh had got to be a winner. And it is!

The backdrop is the Fire of London which has reduced the city around St Paul's to ashes amongst which James Marwood finds a dead body: not surprising, except that this one has had his thumbs tied together before being murdered. It is his job to uncover the crime. The ashy mud of the ruins still smouldering in places made me think of Lady Macbeth's prayer for the 'dunnest smoke of hell' to hide her regicide: in the same way the ash in this taut crime mystery is a cloak for murder and intrigue, a cover for eaves droppers and informants in these dangerous times of the Restoration. These are violent times and there are more murders and more deceit and cover-up.

No-one can be trusted - in politics, at court, in the ashy ruins picked over by desperate poor people- and least of all by blood relatives. Marwood is in danger because his father is a hunted regicide and young Cat Lovett, the parallel main character whose life becomes entwined dangerously with Marwood's, has fled following a scene of violence from the man she loathes whom her guardian uncle is forcing her to marry.

There are some magnificent filmic scenes throughout: Marwood's haunting memories of King Charles l's bleeding head held aloft at his execution, which he witnessed as a boy; the terrifying pursuit through stone passages to the roof-tops of St Paul's overlooking the devastation below which ends in more violence. A man is murdered whilst riding with his hounds, a man mistrusted by Cat. Why do the dogs wag their tails and not savage the murderer lurking in the bushes? The whole novel is intensely alive, teeming with visual and sensory detail, the historical background woven in seamlessly to heighten the tense atmosphere of threat, plot and intrigue.

And with his range of voices, mood and pace, Leighton Pugh drives forward the whole story in all its complexities. Definitely a winner!

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65 people found this helpful

Excellent book and a very good listen

I really enjoyed this book. It helped to have some knowledge of history and of London and to have watched a documentary about the Great Fire. The story was so dependent on its background that it seemed almost essential to have at least some sketchy knowledge in order to enjoy it to the full. The first/third person perspective worked well in this case, and I thought the choice of narrator was good as his delivery of the Marwood sections in particular was appropriately low-key.

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1 person found this helpful

Engaging story against an illustrated background

Historical, well not exactly a whodunnit, and not exactly a thriller, but walking with foot in both genres. Scenes are well drawn, characters are engaging and believable. Narration is top tier. Managed to engage me in an era i had little considered, and quick to find the next in the series.

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1 person found this helpful

Worth a Read

Ended up enjoying this book.Thought at the start it was going to be a bit clichéd but author took it in unexpected directions.Highly recommended.

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