1666.

London has been destroyed by fire and its citizens are looking for somebody - preferably foreign - to blame. Only the royal court, with its strong Catholic sympathies, is trying to dampen down the post-conflagration hysteria. Then, inconveniently, a Frenchman admits to having started the fire, together with an accomplice, whom he says he has subsequently killed.

John Grey is tasked by Secretary of State, Lord Arlington, to prove conclusively that the self-confessed fire-raiser is lying. Though Grey agrees with Arlington that the Frenchman must be mad, he is increasingly perplexed at how much he knows. And a body has been discovered that appears in every way to match the description of the dead accomplice.

Grey's investigations take him and his companion, Lady Pole, into the dangerous and still smoking ruins of the old City. And somebody out there - somebody at the very centre of power in - would prefer it if they didn't live long enough to conclude their work . . .

Praise for L. C. Tyler

'Tyler juggles his characters, story wit and clever one-liners with perfect balance' The Times

'A dizzying whirl of plot and counterplot' Guardian

'I was seduced from John Grey's first scene' Ann Cleeves