Really enjoyable

I devoured this in one day - everything about it is excellent.

The narration is superb. It's a series with complex and interesting characters. The period details seem excellent (though Kat is a potentially a little unlikely in the exact form of her very modern feminism, I'm sure many railed against the times). And the writing is excellent.

If you've followed the series before, you'll enjoy many familiar characters returning - and i think overall this book was better than the previous in the series. It's a while since i read that, but this has left a much better after taste. Strongly recommend the whole series if you're new to it

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4 people found this helpful

Great story and narration

Another fascinating plot weaving fact and fiction very subtly together. Narration makes these a joy to listen to, with distinctive voices and moods. This is a rare skill not often found in other narrators.

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1 person found this helpful

Another enjoyable Marwood & Lovett/Hakesby story

I really enjoyed this story between James Marwood and Kat Lovett/Hakesby. It was perhaps not as good or didn't enthrall/engage me as much as the previous stories but good none the less. I do like historical fiction & this period in time is very interesting. The narrator was excellent as ever.

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Better story this time, with a stellar narrartion

I was disappointed with the previous book in the series, but this was much improved. The story was a decent whodunnit, that immerses you in the period, and progresses the overall series arc nicely.
Pugh's narration is quite superb. His characterisations are excellent and really evoke a convincing historical atmosphere. A cracking performance.

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Love this series !

I have enjoyed all the books in this series and this book was no exception. Beautifully written and narrated , with characters you really care about. The historical detail is wonderful and fascinating, a true glimpse into the way both the rich and poor lived during the 17 Century. Of course the most important thing is that they are cracking stories !

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1 person found this helpful

A great read.

Andrews is great at setting the scene in medieval London and creating suspense and mystery.

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Thrilling

Another great story, beautifully read. This story had me binge-listening, on the edge from start to finish, laughing and crying, not wanting it to end while dying to know what will happen next. Loved it!

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2 people found this helpful

Excellent narration

Leighton Pugh is brilliant. I wouldn’t have enjoyed these so much without him reading them

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Another winner for Marwood and Cat!

This is the 5th in Andrew Taylor’s excellent historical mystery fiction novels involving investigator James Marwood and the feisty Cat Hakesby which began with the brilliant The Ashes of London in 2016. I loved it.

With The Royal Secret we’re now in the reign of Charles ll at the time of the Secret Treaty of Dover in 1670, the extremely murky proposed treaty between England and France involving the Charles’ conversion to Catholicism and his support for the French King Louis XIV in the war against the Dutch Republic. If listeners know nothing of this historical background, it is explained briefly after the end of the book, but the whole story can be enjoyed without knowing the details – the dangerous intrigues involved in the author’s intertwining plots are sufficient!

And what a great cauldron of interlinked duplicity, passions, suspicions, lies and murder this is! One of Andrew Taylor’s strongest skills is his creation of the contemporary everyday life with its filth, stench, blood, sickness, poisonings, kitchen work; markets, food, travel, money, animals, household drudgery; taverns, sleeping arrangements, the structure of houses and hovels, the ‘necessary house’ as a place of intrigue and refuge … It makes an intensely real background for all that is going on.

And there’s a great deal going on. There’s the witchcraft plotted between dangerous young girls which results in deaths by arsenic; the apparent ‘accidental’ death of a good strong lad; the home of the influential Fanshawe which houses a stinking, sick old lion as well as secrets; the ramshackle house of immigrants who are allowing the mysterious and dangerous Dutchman Van Riebeeck to lodge clandestinely. There’s also romance: Cat (widowed and now running her dead husband’s architect business – I’m not sure how likely that would be!) is attracted to the suave, lying Riebeeck who pursues her with oily declarations of love; Marwood steadfastly loves Cat (and has done since Book 1!) – perhaps Cat will recognise her feelings for Marwood in a future book. The scene moves to France with wonderful descriptions of the hideous sea crossings as Cat takes her architectural designs as requested to Charles ll’s sister who is married to Louis XIV’s brother. There is so much packed in that a second listening would probably yield details missed first time around.

And then there’s the narration by Leighton Pugh who can be relied on for a faultless and brilliant performance of every aspect which greatly enhances the book.

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1 person found this helpful

History brought to life …

.. trusting that the research has brought together facts and flowing fiction. The characterisations are everything: you are in these varied households scheming with them. History is human, after all

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1 person found this helpful