Susanna Gregory - Thomas Chaloner Adventure No. 14

 

First Sphere paperback edition

This is my fourteenth Thomas Chaloner 'Adventure (since A Conspiracy of Violence in 2007 [paperback]), to add to my twenty-four Matthew Bartholomew novels. Both Susanna (aka Elizabeth Cruwys, a Cambridge academic who was previously a coroner's officer) and I have shown stamina along the way. She is now 63 and has retreated to writing a Chaloner story every two years (as with Bartholomew). The latter series shows definite signs of 'flagging', having commenced in 1996, and more than one Amazon reviewer suggests she has run out of steam. Chaloner is faring slightly better, but it is similarly becoming a little repetitive in plot line and dialogue.

Chaloner himself seems to be less effective and more tentative, worrying about his image and fearing his increasing association with the spymaster general's assassin, Swaddell. The latter is more fleshed out in this story, a more rounded character at last emerging out of the shadows. The two of them certainly take their time in finding the culprits. One reason for this is that the author has far too many characters popping in and out of the narrative. I found myself trying to work out who was who more than once. It is not helped by the book being so drawn out (and occasionally repetitive) - 456 pages in the paperback edition. It could have been shortened by 100 pages and been a much 'tighter' affair. Thurloe, once Cromwell's Spymaster, hardly figures this time; nor do other characters from previous books, such as the Earl of Clarendon; Spymaster Williamson; Surgeon Wiseman; Temperance North, Wiseman's paramour and her Hercules' Club; the Rainbow pub and its motley crew - Farr, Rector Thompson and Stedman. The Duchess of Newcastle may have been eccentric in real life, but her portrayal is uneven and quite unrealistic. The characters gathered around her are most unlikeable, as are the members of the Cockpit Club There are also worrying signs of 21st century issues being brought in - slavery, feminism, lesbianism, animal rights. Chaloner is, on every occasion, on the side of the Godly.

The explanation and unravelling of all the murders, on the roof of  the Newcastle house - taking a few pages to sort out the previous 400+, was tortuous and totally unlikely. Even when trying to rescue his nieces, Chaloner proves to be a failure. One begins to wonder why the Earl of Clarendown would ever employ him as his sleuth. Swaddell has a bit more about him.  Above all, the reader does not warm to any of the characters; something, surely, which helps a book along. I see the 25th Matthew Bartholomew book is due out in paperback in August 2022. And, of course, I'll be purchasing it.