Theft of life
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London, 1785. When the body of a West Indies planter is found pegged out in the grounds of St Paul's, suspicion falls on one of the victim's former slaves, who was found with his watch on the London streets. As Harriet and Crowther begin to investigate, however, they find the answer is not that simple. Together, they negotiate the interests of the British government, the secrets of the plantation owners, and a network of alliances stretching across the Atlantic. And they must confront the uncomfortable truth that some people are willing to do great evil when they believe their cause to be just.
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Originally posted on bluchickenninja.com.
The best way I could describe this book is CSI: Georgian London. This book does a really good job at being a murder mystery while also being a fantastic historical fiction novel. It tells the story of Harriet Westerman, a wealthy young widow and Gabriel Crowther, a brilliant, reclusive anatomist, as they investigate the death of former West Indies plantation owner. Slavery plays an importation role in this book which makes it feel very dark. It touches on the subject of England's extensive slave trade and plantation owners in Jamaica. It also focuses on the free slaves who started to build lives for themselves in the UK.
This book has a fantastically large number of interesting characters. However I am admittedly not that great with names and this resulted in me being confused because there were so many characters. While I enjoyed this book I couldn't help but feel that I would have understood who and what was going on much better if I had read the other books in the series first.
