Review: "The Ashes of London," Andrew Taylor

By Paul Carrier

It’s 1666, six years after Charles II restored the monarchy in England, Scotland and Ireland. Most of the dissenters who fought with the Parliamentarians during the recently concluded English civil war have been pardoned.

But as the search goes on for the “regicides” who actually signed the 1649 death warrant of Charles’ father, Charles I, a massive fire destroys much of London.

When two men are found murdered in the devastated city, James Marwood, a government clerk and the son of a traitor, is forced to investigate the killings and search for Catherine Lovett, a young woman whose father, a regicide, remains at large.