The Rival Queens: A Novel of Murder in Eighteenth-Century London - Couverture souple

Fidelis Morgan s tale of love and greed and alchemy in 1699 is a heady compound of wit, wisdom and wildness. It s an unsentimental warts-and-all portrait that reeks of authenticity, written with a brio that reflects the age
Val McDermid

Hilarious 17th century romp, which combines an authentic slice of history with a tantalising storyline. An authority on the era, Morgan has created an inventive book which wears its learning lightly. Colourful turns of phrase and witty descriptions like a bawdy P.G. Wodehouse leave you with a keen sense of the period Daily Mail

A lusty, audacious historical romp ...all the bawdiness of London at the turn of the 18th century is brought to life Maxim Jakubowski, Guardian

Thigh-slapping, exclamatory stuff ... loudly, lustily, enthusiastically done Literary Review

The perfect autumn read Marie Claire

London 1700. The intrepid and impecunious heroines Countess Ashby de la Zouche and her maidservant, Alpiew, are scavenging for scandal for that scurrilous rag, the London Trumpet. With the bailiffs, as ever, in hot pursuit, the Countess and Alpiew escape to a philosophical lecture at the York Building's concert hall. But their dull evening is confounded when one player staggers onto the stage, hands dripping with blood. A doyenne has been decapitated under their very noses!

The unlikely sleuths find an abundance of suspects: players, fanatics, a Punch-and-Judy man -- not to mention a painter with a silver proboscis. They pursue their quarry from the Tower of London to Bedlam, with a brief detour to the wilds of Wapping, uncovering a shocking web of intrigue and corruption extending to the highest echelons of society and the judiciary.