The Piccadilly Plot

Thomas Chaloner is relieved to be summoned home from Tangier. Back in London, and reunited with his new wife, he is nonetheless exasperated by the reason for his return. His master, the Earl of Clarendon, has recalled him to investigate petty theft from the construction site of Clarendon's embarrassingly sumptuous new house near Piccadilly.

However, within hours of his return, Chaloner is embroiled in rumours of assassination, a stolen corpse and a scheme to frame the Queen for treason. Gradually he realises that all these events have links to the violence and corruption he has witnessed on the north African coast, and all are rooted at the heart of the capital's establishment. Courtiers vying for a share of the riches to be had from trading overseas are not going to have their ambitions thwarted by anyone, least of all by Chaloner ...