by Fidelis Morgan
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by Fidelis Morgan
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by Fidelis Morgan
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by Nicola Upson
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by C. S. Harris
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'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
The Countess Ashby de la Zouche is an aristo down on her luck but determined to live in a manner befitting her title, despite the fact that she doesn't have two farthings to rub together. She and her maid, the bosomy Alpiew, turned detective in earlier books in this ribald late-17th century series, and here they are at it again. Described by one critic as 'Cagney and Lacey in corsets', and by another as 'tart noir in petticoats', they set off for France acting as unlikely chaperones to a beautiful teenager. Their mission is to preserve the girl's virginity, and at 100 guineas plus a sojourn in the country of all-night gambling, they think their boat has really come in. The Countess also sees a way of making some extra brass by writing of her travels for The Trumpet, one of the new newspapers springing up in England. But things start to go horribly wrong when she sits down to her first French feast and finds it is poisoned. The Countess and Alpiew are the very antithesis of what 17th-century women were supposed to be like. No demureness or modesty here, and nor is their relationship of the mistress-servile-servant type. They can curse along with the best, they eye up all the incredible hunks, and caustic witticisms come with almost every utterance. Their latest whodunnit combines mystery with farce and decadence, plunging them into a plot involving three Kings and a madcap set of circumstances at the Court of Versailles. Not least of the mind-boggling incidents is a run-in with a crowd of burly blokes whose hobby is embroidery. Following on from Unnatural Fire and The Rival Queens, actress and comedy writer Fidelis Morgan has another winner here. (Kirkus UK)
The Countess Ashby de la Zouche is an aristo down on her luck but determined to live in a manner befitting her title, despite the fact that she doesn't have two farthings to rub together. She and her maid, the bosomy Alpiew, turned detective in earlier books in this ribald late-17th century series, and here they are at it again. Described by one critic as 'Cagney and Lacey in corsets', and by another as 'tart noir in petticoats', they set off for France acting as unlikely chaperones to a beautiful teenager. Their mission is to preserve the girl's virginity, and at 100 guineas plus a sojourn in the country of all-night gambling, they think their boat has really come in. The Countess also sees a way of making some extra brass by writing of her travels for The Trumpet, one of the new newspapers springing up in England. But things start to go horribly wrong when she sits down to her first French feast and finds it is poisoned. The Countess and Alpiew are the very antithesis of what 17th-century women were supposed to be like. No demureness or modesty here, and nor is their relationship of the mistress-servile-servant type. They can curse along with the best, they eye up all the incredible hunks, and caustic witticisms come with almost every utterance. Their latest whodunnit combines mystery with farce and decadence, plunging them into a plot involving three Kings and a madcap set of circumstances at the Court of Versailles. Not least of the mind-boggling incidents is a run-in with a crowd of burly blokes whose hobby is embroidery. Following on from Unnatural Fire and The Rival Queens, actress and comedy writer Fidelis Morgan has another winner here. (Kirkus UK)
Product Description
Next in Fidelis Morgan's hugely entertaining series featuring the irrepressible Countess Ashby de la Zouche and her stupendously bosomed former maid, Alpiew. It is the silly season. News is thin on the ground. Newspapers are proliferating and there are even rumours that a woman is trying to start a daily paper. The Cues are desperate to hook in new readers for The Trumpet. As luck would have it the new wife of an old friend of the Countess wants her to chaperone her beautiful step-daughter, Virginia, to France, and so, to kill two birds with one stone, the Countess proposes that she and Alpiew write their Trumpet column from the Royal Courts. Almost as soon as their feet touch French soil, a recent spate of poisonings at the Courts proves fatal, and the Countess and Alpiew are once again plunged into a murder hunt. All this while they struggle valiantly to protect the young girl's virginity from a string of rampant Frenchmen. Their trail leads through Huguenot plots against the king and Catholic plots against the English, through the intricacies of the new French Cuisine, bigotry, decadence, sexual depravity, grand living and burly men whose hobby is embroidery.
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