The Poison Machine (Hunt And Hooke Book Two) by Robert J. Lloyd

 

The Poison Machine (Hunt and Hooke Book Two) by Robert J. Lloyd.

Published 27th October 2022 by Melville House.

From the cover of the book:

1679. A year has passed since the sensational attempt to murder King Charles II. Harry Hunt - estranged from his mentor Robert Hooke and no longer employed by the Royal Society - meets Sir Jonas Moore, the King s Surveyor-General of the Board of Ordnance, in the remote and windswept marshes of Norfolk. There, workers draining the fenland have uncovered a skeleton. 

Accompanied by his friend Colonel Fields, an old soldier for Parliament, and Hooke's niece, Grace, Harry confirms Sir Jonas's suspicion: the body is that of a dwarf, Captain Jeffrey Hudson, once famously given to Queen Henrietta Maria in a pie.

During the Civil Wars, Hudson accompanied the Queen to France to sell the Royal Jewels to fund her husband s army. He was sent home in disgrace after shooting a man in a duel. But nobody knew Hudson was dead. Another man, working as a spy, has lived as him since his murder. Now, this imposter has disappeared, taking vital information with him. 

Sir Jonas orders Harry to find him. Harry's search takes him to Paris, another city bedevilled by conspiracies and intrigues. He navigates its salons and libraries, and learns of a terrible plot against the current Queen of England, Catherine of Bragança, and her gathering of Catholics in London. Assassins plan to poison them all...

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London, 1679. A year has passed since Hooke and Hunt managed to foil a deadly plot to murder Charles II. Harry Hunt is still trying to establish himself as a rising star at the Royal Society, but is frustrated by his lack of success. An uncomfortable distance has grown up between him and his former mentor Robert Hooke, and all it takes is one more failed experiment to cause Harry give up his place at the Society and reconsider his future as a scientist.

As fate would have it, an alternative presents itself in a lucrative offer from Sir Jonas Moore, the King's Surveyor-General of the Board of Ordnance, for Harry to aid him with a strange investigation. During the draining of the Norfolk fenland a remarkable skeleton has been found, and Sir Jonas needs Harry's rare talents to help identify the body. In the company of his friend Colonel Fields, an old soldier for Parliament, and Hooke's niece, Grace (who has invited herself along in the guise of a young man), Harry confirms Sir Jonas' suspicions that this appears to be the body of dwarf Captain Jeffrey Hudson, once famously given to Queen Henrietta Maria in a pie - and there has obviously been foul play involved in his demise.

This is rather odd, as a man claiming to be Captain Jeffrey Hudson has been living in a village near-by for some years. Clearly this dwarf is an imposter, and it seems that the discovery of the body has caused him to flee. Stories abound of the real Hudson's exploits, including his part in the disappearance of a very large diamond that has never been found. Could this imposter be in possession of the precious jewel? Could he be a spy? Sir Jonas orders Harry to find him and get him to reveal all he knows.

Harry is on the trail of dark deeds once more, and his findings lead him and Colonel Fields to the dangerous environs of Paris, where they uncover a dastardly plot to kill the current Queen of England, Catherine of Bragança, and everyone attending her upcoming gathering of Catholics in London. Can Harry foil another complex assassination attempt - this time one that involves deadly poison?

I thoroughly enjoyed the first part of this historical thriller series The Bloodless Boy, which introduced us to the unlikely crime busting pairing of Royal Society members Robert Hooke and his assistant Harry Hunt. Their first adventure was a twisty mystery around the body of a young boy, drained of his blood, that led to the discovery of a plot to kill Charles II.

Robert J. Lloyd takes us back to Restoration England to craft an even more intricately devious, literary thriller in this follow-up tale The Poison Machine, which finds Harry setting off without his former mentor to get to grips with another historical mystery cleverly based around real events. As in The Bloodless Boy, this is a setting filled with intrigue and distrust, as the battle lines based on religious and political ideology continue to cast a long shadow in the wake of civil war, but unlike the first book this burgeons delightfully out of a London setting into a story that has a much wider scope, taking in the eerie strangeness of the Norfolk marshlands, and the perilous streets of Paris where backstabbing plots also abound.

This new murder mystery comes with a different feel. Athough it begins with a revisit to the fierce competition between the men who are keen to make names for themselves in the world of science, it becomes much more of a rip-roaring historical escapade in double-quick time, with infamous dwarves, duplicitous duchesses, glittering baubles, murder and mayhem, all fuelled by the lingering religious hatred that hangs over the affairs of men and women - whether they be highborn or low. The pace ramps up notch by notch as the whispers of an audacious plot to poison all present at the Queen's upcoming Catholic gathering are revealed, and Harry has to somehow free himself from a very sticky situation in Paris and return to London (hopefully) in the nick of time. Throw in treachery, greed, many misunderstandings, long-held secrets, and the part played by that old green-eyed monster, jealousy, and you have the making of a very exciting tale indeed.

I loved the whole page-turner of a story from beginning to end, especially every lovely little echo of Parisian intrigue that whispered of classic Dumas, with the added twist of a delicious injection of science that looks very much towards the future. What a fun combination! I cannot wait to see what Lloyd comes up with next!

The Poison Machine is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Melville House for sending me a proof of this book in return for an honest review, and for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Robert Lloyd, the son of parents who worked in the British Foreign Office, grew up in South London, Innsbruck, and Kinshasa. He studied for a Fine Art degree, starting as a landscape painter, but it was while studying for his MA degree in The History of Ideas that he first read Robert Hooke's diary, detailing the life and experiments of this extraordinary man. 

After a 20-year career as a secondary school teacher, he has now returned to painting and writing. He is the author of The Bloodless Boy, which was selected by Publishers Weekly as a Mystery Book of the Year and The New York Times as a Best New Historical Novel of 2021.