Hi Karen,
My Next review is:-
“The Black Friar:The Seeker 2”, written by S.G.MacLean and published in paperback by Quercus on 27 July 2017. 464 pages. ISBN-13: 978-1782068471

London, 1655, and Cromwell's regime is under threat from all sides. Damian Seeker, Captain of Cromwell's Guard, is all too aware of the danger facing Cromwell. Parliament resents his control of the Army while the Army resents his absolute power.
In the east end of London, a group of religious fanatics plots rebellion. In the midst of all this, a stonemason uncovers a perfectly preserved body dressed in the robes of a Dominican friar, bricked up in a wall in the crumbling Black Friars.
Ill-informed rumours and speculation abound, but Seeker instantly recognises the dead man. What he must discover is why he met such a hideous end, and what his connection was to the children who have started to disappear from around the city. Unravelling these mysteries is challenging enough, and made still harder by the activities of dissenters at home, Royalist plotters abroad and individuals who are not what they seem...

In 'The Black Friar' the body of a government agent, bizarrely dressed in the garb of the Blackfriars, is discovered in the derelict monastery on the Thames. Seeker recognises him and Thurloe tasks the 'Seeker' to find the killer and uncover whether treason is afoot. Seeker comes face to face with some old adversaries and his mission plunges him into the midst of non-conformists and royalists who wish do him harm and hinder his investigation at every turn.
These are dangerous times; royalist plots and dissident republican and Puritan factions creating an uneasy submission to Cromwell's reign, (there were several attempts during the years of the interregnum; to crown Charles II, to usurp power or to assassinate the Lord Protector). The Seeker in pursuit of his mission has a nose for the importance of the apparently insignificant hence the disappearance of a simple serving girl draws his attention. The very survival of the Commonwealth depends upon Seeker's delicacy and determination as the population is not to be alarmed or inflamed.

The previous novel in this series, “The Seeker” won the prestigious 2015 CWA Endeavour Historical Dagger and this story is just as good if not better. S.G.MacLean, (a Scottish historian) is the author of a previous historical series featuring Alexander Seaton set in Scotland (Banff and Aberdeen) some 25/30years earlier than the events of The Black Friar in London.
The author is very thorough in her historical research and I was swept away reading this very gripping and finely written historical mystery story. Strongly recommended.

Best wishes,
Terry