The Fire Court by Andrew Taylor

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 very amicable 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

I enjoyed this first in this series, with some reservations about some sexual violence. I enjoyed this instalment - but again there's an undertone of sexual violence that I know means it won't work for some people. BUT that aside, this is a clever and twisty mystery with several strands and two interesting and flawed main characters. I've read a fair few Tudor-set mysteries and enjoyed them and I liked the Restoration setting of this and the way the post-Great Fire city was portrayed. I would (will?) happily read more of this series, and in fact I have the latest one on my Kindle already - the only question is whether I will read the ones in between first!

Love love love this series! The taint of the fire of London raised from the pages, I could almost smell the singed atmosphere of the old city mixed with the shavings of new timber. Excellent to be reunited with Cat and our faithful observation protagonist. The story holds curiosity from the outset and contains characters we, the reader, care about.

Another welcome book to the series. 5 stars.

London is slowly recovering from the Great Fire but James Marwood has found himself once more embroiled in something dangerous. His ailing father claims to have seen a dead woman and then a body is found but his father dies before he can find out more. Her death is just the start and Marwood is about to put his life at risk to find the truth.

Forgot I had this to read and as book 3 is out I suddenly came across this and it brought me back into the world of London and the great fire. Another great story. It's a slow start but there is some real drama in this. The writing and description of London during these times is so good, the plot builds to a clever and interesting ending. I love James, he's such a complex character yet you cant help but want him to succeed. I like that this isn't about him and Cat falling in love, yet a part of me still wants them too. A great book and I'm so glad I have the next one to read.

The sequel to Ashes and London was great- the list of characters at the front of the book was very helpful and I was able to follow the story easier.

There is also a lot of character development in this book, especially from the character of Jane/Cat- she’s a lot less stabby in this one than in the last one.

There were some really dramatic moments in this book that made me want to keep reading in order to find out what had happened. There’s also a lot of death too.....giving a book set in the 17th century a very sombre feel.

I love historical fiction and I’m really glad that Netgalley gave me to the opportunity to read the first two books in this series.

There were some moments I felt were a little over the top, but they didn’t make the story feel any less.

3.5 stars!
I really liked this book

I love historical fiction but this just didn't grab me somehow. I think it's the prose style, a bit chewy and long-winded. I felt disengaged from the characters and the story. DNF

This was a very readable but ultimately quite forgettable novel that didn't quite match up to the intrigue of the first book in the series for me. This tells the continuing story of James Marwood as he navigates through post-great fire London and the political intricacies of the Restoration court, along with Cat Lovett and her attempts to become an architect in a purely male world. Once again, Cat is incredibly compelling and her feisty nature has not been dulled at all in this second instalment. For me however, there just wasn't enough of her in this narrative, which focuses quite closely on the proceedings of the Fire Court, which was set up to make rulings regarding the legality of new building proposals following the Great Fire. Although this is a fascinating institution, I don't think that Taylor went into enough detail about the intricacies of the Court, choosing instead to include a rather lacklustre murder and blackmail plot which left me a little cold. Absent too was any further discussion about the religious upheavals of the time that had been such an interesting aspect of the first novel. With that being said, this is a good book that is very readable and those who liked the first book, will find much to enjoy here too. For me though, it just didn't have the depth of The Fires of London, but I will definitely be continuing with the series.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Next in the Ashes of London series, a historical thriller based around the courts that dealt with the aftermath of the Great Fire of London. Gripping and enjoyable.

The Fire Court is the sequel to the Ashes of London, set in the aftermath of the Great Fire of London. James Marwood, a government official and Cat an architect's assistant once more team up when a woman is murdered. An atmospheric and compelling historical thriller.

In the ruins of London after the Great Fire the city and its inhabitants are trying to rebuild, with the Fire Court in session, how far will citizens go to protect what they believe is theirs?

I must admit it was with some trepidation that I picked The Fire Court up to read. I had requested this book back in April when it first came out but also received the first book (The Ashes of London) to read to give it some context. I really didn’t enjoy the first book in the series, in my one star review I called it ‘dull and unappealing’, with characters that were ‘unengaging and unrelatable’ and a setting that should have been used so much better than it was. The first book actually put me off reading for a month as I struggled to be bothered to pick up my kindle. I can happily confirm, therefore that we have learnt from previous mistakes – upon finding this book much the same I picked up other books to read in the meantime instead of losing the will to read completely before finally finishing it several months later!

There are similar problems with this book, it’s not that it’s bad or cringe worthy, it should be a very interesting story in fact. It’s set just after the Great Fire of London, there’s murder and politics - it’s just so very dull. Cat, who I found a bit sparky and interesting in the last novel, seemed to have lost all personality and become a side character in this one. Marwood is aptly named as he has such a wooden personality. I didn’t really care what was going on at court or who saw who do what and the outcome wasn’t particularly satisfying either.

Overall I definitely won’t be picking up another of these books, I’ve found the series to be bland and uninspiring I’m afraid. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for a (very) honest review.

The Fire Court left me a little cold unfortunately. The first instalment didn't enthuse me enough for me to really relish this one and it was harder for me to overlook its faults. Everything that was good about the first one was still good in this one but also everything that was weak/boring about the first only seemed more so in its sequel. The descriptions were, for me, dry, overdone and repetitive and the author seemed determined to make the reader dislike the two MCs. But it was mildly entertaining and largely inoffensive so it was still worth the reading though I won't be reading the next one.

I was sent a copy of The Fire Court by Andrew Taylor to read and review by NetGalley.
As a sequel to the compelling The Ashes of London by the same author I had high hopes for this novel and it didn’t disappoint. Set shortly after the events of the previous book we follow James Marwood and Cat Lovett as the race to rebuild London after the great fire continues. The Fire Court has been set up to decide who should pay for the construction and who should reap the benefits, the freeholders or the leaseholders. This leads to more intrigue and ultimately murder which directly affects our protagonist. Written in the same first person/third person style this novel is fast paced, sometimes heart stopping, and full of action. Not one to be missed!

In order to fully appreciate ‘The Fire Court’ by Andrew Taylor, you need to read ‘The Ashes of London’ first. Otherwise, references and subtleties will pass you by. This is definitely a trilogy to read in order. The threats and risks are not always clear on the page and I had a couple of ‘oh, now I get it’ moments. But as with the first book, Taylor writes about post-Fire London with all the smoke, heat and rotting smells vivid on the page.
The first chapter sets up the central mystery to be solved. James Marwood’s elderly confused father wanders in the city and follows a woman he believes to be Rachel, his deceased wife. He is brought home by a kindly roadsweeper. Marwood listens to his father’s confused ramblings and fears his wits are disappearing. The next day, Nathaniel Marwood is dead and his son attempts to recreate his father’s movements to see if there was truth in his ramblings; into the heart of the rookery at Clifford’s Inn to see if there really is a chamber of the ant and inside it, a sinful woman. Instead he meets an objectionable man called Gromwell.
Two women are key to Marwood’s story. Jemima, Lady Limbury, stays close to the house and struggles to be familiar with her husband Philip who is busy with affairs of business. Except the wealth of the marriage belongs to Jemima and Philip unfortunately lets money slip through his fingers. Jemima dislikes the company he keeps, particularly a slimy lascivious man called Gromwell. The second woman is Catherine Lovett, my favourite character from ‘The Ashes of London’. We first see her sitting in the chamber at the Fire Court, the chamber set up to resolve legal, property and construction issues between freeholders, leaseholders and tenants with the aim of rebuilding London fast. Cat is taking shorthand notes, practicing her skill, though really she longs to design buildings for her mentor, the infirm Simon Hakesby. Jemima and Cat do not meet for most of the novel when the two sides of the mystery finally become entangled. I admit to being impatient about this, I found Jemima’s storyline less than captivating though at the end I wished I had grasped her significance a little earlier. Taylor’s novels move fast but are dense with detail and I need to read both these books again before attempting the third.
At the centre of the story is the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire. Amongst the rubble there is destitution, opportunity, greed and hopelessness. It is a toxic mix, a dangerous place in which to start asking awkward questions. Which is exactly what James Marwood does. In the first book he was asking questions for two masters, in ‘The Fire Court’ he seeks answers to his father’s puzzle. And when his life is in danger, he realises there must truth woven in his father’s nonsense words after all.
No word yet on when book three will follow, but I will definitely be reading it. Taylor is a new author for me and I look forward to exploring his other books. He is a historical writer rich in his period but with the twists and turns of a thriller. He creates mysteries that you want to puzzle out.
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Set just after the Great Fire of London this book follows on from "The Ashes of London". We meet again with James Marwood the slightly fussy son of a traitor. His elderly Father saw something that he really shouldn't have but James isn't sure exactly what and whether or not this hastened his Father's death. Meeting again with Cat Lovett, Marwood intends to find out exactly what is going on around The Fire Court.

This book is a real slow burner - pun intended. In fact I felt it really struggled to get going at all and my interest did wane at various points. You really have to stick with this book to get the reward of the story progressing. It did seem to get rather bogged down with large sections of the book where nothing happened to move the story onwards.

There can be no denying that the author's historical research is excellent. I had very much enjoyed the in depth historical background in the first book of the series and it is mirrored in this book. I was fascinated by The Fire Court - a great idea but hampered by inefficient staff, paperwork and a lack of money. Nothing changes in bureaucracy does it? Andrew Taylor can really bring the historical period to life - you can envisage & smell Londonin the 1660s. The characters are also very detailled - Marwood a bit of a fussy man always concious of his past & Cat a very much more modern woman with her eyes on the future.

However excellent the historical background and characters were they could not compensate for a rather slow story which failed to grip me sufficiently. I have read other books by this author and was prepared for a slower pace than many books but this one never quite got off the ground for me.

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley

Historically set crime fiction is a genre which in theory could capture a couple of niche readers. Some do it superbly - Sansom's Shardlake series the obvious one

I read Andrew Taylor's first Restoration set book, The Ashes of London, with its just post the Great Fire of London setting, and whilst there were certainly things which interested me, the whole lacked something in narrative drive

The two central characters, one the son of a religious dissenter, one the daughter of another, whose separately told stories, one in the first person, one in the third,, will turn out to feature again, with similar structure. Marwood and Catherine Lovett, will again be in some fashion involved in unravelling shadiness in high places.

I had hoped that the second outing would have tightened and tautened. Unfortunately this was not the case for me. The plot is quite convoluted, and the cutting back and forth between the far more intelligent, but in some ways improbably modern Lovett and Marwood, a somewhat less principled, flabbier man, anxious to rise in status, and willing to pander to his two moderately influential employers, once again felt as if it was too drawn out.

To be honest, I found myself at the halfway stage definitely skim reading. And when this happens, it means I need to move on.

Great storyline with good strong characters. Very well written. I would recommend this book to anyone.

4.5 stars / B+

The Fire Court is the sequel to Andrew Taylor’s The Ashes of London, an historical mystery that opened dramatically during the Great Fire of London and then proceeded to unravel a tale of murder and betrayal stretching back decades, to the reign of Cromwell and Charles I. This novel reunites the protagonists of the earlier book – James Marwood and Cat Lovett – as they become entangled in the complicated business of the Fire Court, a body set up to oversee and settle any disputes that arise as a result of the rebuilding of the city after the fire. With so many buildings damaged or destroyed, Parliament is eager to rebuild as soon as possible, and the Fire Court is charged with helping that along by settling legal disputes about leases, land boundaries and other matters pertaining to property ownership. With greed and corruption snaking through the business of the court, the stakes are high for many – and for some, are high enough to commit murder.

Seven months after the events of the previous book, James Marwood is comfortably settled and is prospering financially in his posts as clerk to Joseph Williamson (Under-Secretary of State to Lord Arlington) and clerk to the Board of Red Cloth, a department attached closely to the king’s household. He is still caring for his elderly, mentally unstable father, but early in the story, Mr. Marwood senior dies in an accident leaving his son with little other than some confused ramblings about his mother, the rookeries and a woman decked out like a cheap whore in a yellow dress.

Cat Lovett, who ran from her well-to-do family in order to avoid marriage to her smarmy cousin (who raped her) is still in hiding and has adopted the name and persona of Jane Hakesby, cousin and servant to Simon Hakesby, a well-respected architect. Cat is a talented draughtsman herself, although as a woman, the profession is barred to her, but Hakesby – who is not in the best of health – allows her to assist him on occasion and to make her own designs under his auspices. At the beginning of the novel, she is attending the proceedings of the Fire Court, partly to take notes (and to practice her newly learned shorthand) and partly to attend her master, who is there to watch out for the interests of one of that day’s petitioners.

Marwood and Cat have not encountered each other in the intervening months and don’t expect to do so, as they move in very different circles. But they are drawn together again after Williamson instructs Marwood to accompany him to view the body of a woman found dead in the ruins of what seems to have been the cellar of a house. The woman’s garish clothing suggests she may have been a whore, but that isn’t the case; she’s identified as a wealthy widow, which explains the government’s interest in the woman’s fate. Charged with finding out as much as he can about the murder, Marwood is suddenly reminded of his late father’s last ramblings – which it seems may not have been ramblings at all. But while Williamson wants answers, Chiffinch, Keeper of the King’s Private Closet (and Marwood’s other employer) wants things left alone; but Marwood is already too involved to stop looking for answers – which come at a very high personal cost.

As in the previous book, Marwood’s portions of the tale are told in the first person, while Cat’s are in the third, and I had no problems whatsoever with the juxtaposition of styles. We find out a little more about both characters here, as they do about each other; in The Ashes of London, they encountered each other only briefly although their stories intersected frequently, and in the dramatic climax of the story, Marwood saved Cat’s life. It’s this that prompts her to go against Hakesby’s wishes when Marwood asks for her help, and leads to her being drawn into intrigue and danger as she, too, becomes involved in the investigation into the murder.

My one criticism about The Ashes of London was that I didn’t quite feel as though I got to know either Cat or Marwood, but here, they’re starting to feel more fleshed out. Marwood is a pleasant young man who just wants to live a comfortable, quiet life as he tries to live down his father’s reputation as a radical and former Fifth Monarchist. I sympathised with his conflicting feelings for his difficult, sometimes demanding father, and with the dilemma of his divided loyalties and the need to make a choice between his two employers. Cat continues to be prickly and defensive, but her position is a precarious one; she cannot risk being found by her family or she will be forced into an unwanted marriage. She’s observant and sharp-tongued, brave and loyal, and I was pleased to see the slowly developing trust between her and Marwood.

Although I found the book a little slow to start, I was hooked within a few short chapters and eager to see where things were going. Mr. Taylor’s research is impeccable and has clearly been extensive; his descriptions of post-Fire London are incredibly evocative, and he paints a wonderfully vivid picture of a city in a state of flux, where poverty is rife and life is a daily struggle for many. It’s not essential to have read The Ashes of London in order to enjoy and understand this novel, although I’d recommend it in order to gain a fuller appreciation of the historical context and of the evolution of the relationship between Cat and Marwood. The Fire Court is a complex, absorbing read, full of political and legal intrigue, high-stakes situations for our two protagonists, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Fans of intricate, well-written historical mysteries will find much to enjoy, and I’m eager to see what’s in store for Marwood and Lovett in the next book in the series.

This was a sequel to The Ashes of London and a much better read. Lots of historical detail which was relevant to the story and easier to identify with the protagonists. Lots of twists and turns and a good conclusion.

A gripping and evocative follow up to The Ashes of London. Once again James Marwood and Cat Lovetts lives are drawn together by murder and courtly intrigue. A great read however not as instantly gripping as The Ashes of London. Regardless though still a great mystery read for lovers of literary twists and historical fiction.

brilliant follow up to the first book in the series. it kept the historical content high but the story was thrilling and engaging!!