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This is a story set in the England of the 1760s, a time of rigid class distinctions, where the rich idle their days away in magnificent mansions, while hungry children beg, steal and prostitute themselves on the streets. An era on the cusp of revolution in America and France; a land where outward wealth and display hide simmering political and social tensions; a country which had faced intermittent war for the past fifty years and would need to survive a series of world-wide conflicts in the fifty years ahead.
Faced with no less than three murders, occurring from the aristocracy to the seeming senseless professional assassination of a homeless vagrant, Ashmole Foxe must call on all his skill and intelligence to uncover the sickness which appears to be infecting his city’s very soul.
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Category Archives: Tid-bits
Don’t Mess with Eighteenth-Century Doctors!
Here’s a delightful story from The Norfolk Chronicle of 26th March, 1796, concerning a quarrel between a doctor and an army officer over the officer’s demand that the doctor should play his flute when he didn’t want to. Since it’s … Continue reading
The Georgian Way with People ‘Passing off’ or Short Measure
Giving short measure or trying to pass-off substandard goods is not a modern phenomenon. As the following notice from The Norwich Mercury of December, 1757 shows, the masters of the trade guilds sometimes took strong action against those who threatened … Continue reading
A Quarrel at the Dinner Table
Here‘s proof that feelings about the correct ordering of meals could run high, even amongst genteel Georgian ladies. The piece comes from a Norwich newspaper of 1772. “I went a few days ago to dine in the country with … Continue reading
Private Education in 18th-century Norfolk
The following advertisement appeared in the Norfolk Chronicle for 27th June, 1780. EDUCATION. Mr RIVETT, Writing-master, Accountant, Teacher of Mathematical and Philosophical Sciences at East Dereham, in Norfolk, tenders his respectful Acknowledgements to those Gentlemen and Ladies who have obliged … Continue reading
“Concerning Buggs”
Katherine Windham’s Book of Cookery and Housekeeping of 1707, transcribed by my friends Bonnie Lovelock and Roger Sykes, contains much more than cooking recipes. There are also various medicines, human and animal, and practical household tips such as these. In her … Continue reading
A True Gentleman of the Road
From the Ipswich Journal. Highwaymen were rarely this kind. August 7th 1773 On Friday evening last as two ladies and a gentleman were coming by post chaise from Ingatestone to Chelmsford, they were attacked by a highway man within a … Continue reading
An Intriguing Variant on Wife Selling
The following item was printed in the Ipswich Journal. It could be a variant form of the well-attested practice of wife-selling, or it could have been a ploy all along to get hold of a fine animal to sell, since … Continue reading
