The Bear Pit by S.G. MacLean was published in 2019 and it’s the fourth in the author’s Captain Damian Seeker series. The setting is 1656, Cromwellian London.
The book begins with a botched attempt on Cromwell’s life, he has become so unpopular because it has become obvious that a large part of his reason for ousting the Stuart dynasty and having King Charles I executed was so that he could have the throne for himself. His regime hasn’t led to improvements in the lives of most of the ordinary people. Damian Seeker is kept busy sniffing out the many plots against Cromwell.
While chasing after one of the would-be assassins, Seeker discovers the horribly mutilated body of a man. He had been shackled to a wall by his neck, it looks like it must have been a bear that had attacked him, but all the bears had been shot on Cromwell’s orders, bear baiting has been banned. Who would do such a thing to an old man? Seeker is determined to track the perpetrator down, he’s a busy man.
I’m still enjoying this series. This one won the CWA Sapere Historical Dagger.
I have a stack of books waiting to be read, so could only devote a few minutes to the first two chapters of this book. I found myself having to go back and re-read sentences. The sentences are fine, it’s just that I have difficulty parsing some of them.
The next book in my stack is an account of the Earl of Peterborough’s expedition to Spain, 1705 to 1706. Fictional, but based on contemporary records, and with dozens of pages of historical information in the appendices.
Janusz,
I think it sometimes takes a wee while to get into the rhythm of some writers. I also have stacks of unread book here but still borrow books from the library, and buy yet more. I don’t think I had even heard of the Earl of Peterborough. I’m keen to find out what happened after Charles II was brought back after Cromwell’s death. I have requested from the library a book about that era by Charles Spencer – it turns out it IS that one, it remains to be seen how good it is.