Unnatural Fire: 1 (Countess Ashby de la Zouche) - Softcover

MORGAN; FIDELIS

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1934609501 ISBN 13: 9781934609507

Publisher: Felony & Mayhem, 2010

Synopsis

It is the end of the 17th century, and the Countess Ashby de la Zouche is having rather a bad time. The money is long gone, along with the Count, and while the Countess has no mealy-mouthed scruples about renting out her person, fewer gentlemen than one might think appreciate the mellow, nuanced charms of a mature lady. In short, it's looking like a very hungry winter, until a new possibility arises: A job as a professional gossip columnist for one of London's daily tabloids. Peering into bedroom windows may not be the most respectable of occupations, but respectability loses a certain amount of its allure when the alternative is debtors? prison.

About this title

Review:

"A lusty, audacious historical romp ...all the bawdiness of 17th-century London is brought to life" -- The Guardian [UK]?"Like a bawdy P.G. Wodehouse" -- The Daily Mail [UK]?"A rollicking tale of alchemy, murder, and heaving bosoms, with a tantalizing sense of period" -- Times of London

A lusty, audacious historical romp all the bawdiness of 17th-century London is brought to life The Guardian [UK] Like a bawdy P.G. Wodehouse The Daily Mail [UK] A rollicking tale of alchemy, murder, and heaving bosoms, with a tantalizing sense of period Times of London"

From the Back Cover:

London 1699. The Countess Ashby de la Zouche, former mistress to Charles II, has fallen on hard times – in fact she has fallen into the notorious debtors' prison, the Fleet. In order to scrape a living, she embarks on a career gathering salacious information for one of London's scandal sheets, assisted by her ex-maidservant Alphiew. A welcome additional source of income opens when they are approached by a stranger who wants them to follow her husband for proof of adultery. But the uncomfortable job of trailing after the handsome merchant in the depths of winter, whether to the half-constructed St Paul's Cathedral or through the notorious dives south of Fleet Street, ends abruptly in a Covent Garden Churchyard.

The Countess and Alpiew, now implicated in the murder, get sucked into a complex labyrinth of deceit and violence, the key to which might lie in the abstruse science of alchemy. The more they investigate, the more involved the picture become, involving everyone form the lowest of the low backstreet criminals to some of the most influential people in the land.

'Unnatural Fire' is a wonderfully, lively, audacious novel with a cast of characters that leap off the page. But underlying the vivacity and humour is a riveting mystery which perfectly captures the darker side of London at the turn of the 18th Century.

PRAISE FOR FIDELIS MORGAN
'The Well Known Troublemaker'
'A book crammed with bright ideas – fascinating'
LORNA SAGE, 'Observer'

'The Female Wits'
'Overdue and delightful restoration of women playwrights of the Restoration'
'The Times'

About this edition

• Publisher: Felony & Mayhem
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1934609501
• ISBN 13: 9781934609507
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352