The Butcher of Smithfield

In 1663 the summer in London was chill and wet, a bleak contrast to the sun of Portugal and Spain from where Thomas Chaloner has just returned. He finds that much has changed during his four months' absence. A tax on printed newssheets has led to a plethora of handwritten pamphlets and the coffee houses are abuzz with the rivalry between the two main producers, and with the hypocritical activities of L'Estrange, a man appointed to censor the news, but who also profits by its dissemination. Then, to his deep sorrow, Chaloner learns that his friend Maylord is dead, reputedly from eating green cucumbers but he has to put his grief to one side while he reports to his employer. He is immediately given a task: to investigate the strange death of one of L'Estrange's lackeys, a solicitor named Newburne who died after partaking of some cucumber
· Eminent physicians might claim such food is dangerous, but Chaloner's own experience tells him that two such deaths within days of each other are no coincidence. Why should a sensitive musician and a shady solicitor have met such similar ends?