The Butcher of Smithfield (The Butcher of Smithfield - Susanna Gregory)

Member Name: mogdred

Product:	The Butcher of Smithfield - Susanna Gregory
Date:	05/03/09 (369 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good twists, a lot of historical detail

Disadvantages: Can get a bit confusing and convoluted.

"The Butcher of Smithfield" is the third in the new series Susanna Gregory is writing - the Thomas Chaloner stories. This comes after the success of the Matthew Bartholomew series set in 14th Century Cambridge.
The Thomas Chaloner books are set in Restoration London and the main character is a spy who previously worked for Cromwell's government and has had to find employment with the new government after the Restoration of the Monarchy.

The political backdrop of the new series is interesting and adds danger to Chaloner's exploits as he does not know who to trust.
In "The Butcher of Smithfield" Chaloner has just returned from spying in Portugal and Spain on behalf of the Queen. His relatively new master, the Earl of Clarendon, is displeased with him and sets him to find the killer of a highly unpopular lawyer who was also corrupt and worked for the powerful butcher of the title. He also worked for the editor of the government news books.

Chaloner has to investigate this death along with the suspicious death of his father's old friend - both of which have been blamed on the victims eating cucumbers. This is also set amongst the backdrop of serious rivalry between the government newsbooks (printed) and the uncensored newsletters (handwritten).
Chaloner is warned off by everyone he questions - the news book editor, the newsletter editor, the printer, colleagues of the murdered lawyer and the Butcher's gang - the Hectors.

There are so many characters and storylines in this book that it can get quite confusing. This could be intentional in that Gregory is trying to show us how overwhelming the whole situation would be for one man to investigate. However it could be quite off-putting.
I did like the character of Chaloner but there wasn't as much humour as is evident in the Matthew Bartholomew series. I missed this humour as it often kept the plots fresh.

The character of Leybourn was faintly amusing as was his infatuation with a woman determined to swindle him out of his property. The character of Thurloe, the ex-spymaster was helpful in explaining some of the political situations.
I enjoyed this book but it wasn't as good as I expected it to be and wasn't as enjoyable as the first in this series. I hope that Gregory rounds out the characters more as the series progresses and interjects more humour as all the politics made it hard-going at times.

I would recommend this book if you have read the other Thomas Chaloner books but it's not a good one to start with as it could put you off. I would actually recommend that new Gregory readers start with the Matthew Bartholomew series as it is more enjoyable and easier to read.
This was a bit of a slow starter and it took me a while to get into which is not usually the case with Susanna Gregory. I enjoyed it but it wasn't one of her best.

This review is also on Ciao.co.uk under mogdred1.

Summary: Not a bad read, but not as good as previous work.