I had the pleasure of meeting the author of The Fire Court, Andrew Taylor, a few years ago back in Oxford when we were both participating in an author conference and he was most affable and signed my hardback copy of The Ashes of London, his first book in the series. I wish I had read that book first, as it would have probably been better to continue the story as envisaged by Taylor, but The Fire Court nevertheless can be read as a stand-alone because there was enough about the first book’s major events to understand the dynamic between two of the main characters in this story.
This is a murder mystery, set in the aftermath of the Great Fire of London, and is beautifully written. I enjoyed the book greatly and listened to the audiobook version which was superbly performed by the talented voice artist, Leighton Pugh. The final reveal of who the killer was did surprise me, but then it made perfect sense. I loved how this was done.
Throughout the book, I was pleasantly reminded of other works I had previously enjoyed, namely: An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears and the whole Christopher Redmayne mysteries by Edward Marston. Like those, this book combined two things I really love: the seventeenth century and mysteries. So, if that’s your cup of tea as well, don’t miss out on this fantastic whodunnit.
AZ