A Christopher Radcliff Short Story

The River

Andrew Swanston read law at Cambridge, but was inspired to write by his lifelong interest in early modern history. His Thomas Hill novels – The King’s Spy, The King’s Exile and The King’s Return – are set against the backdrops of the English Civil War, Cromwell’s Commonwealth and the early Restoration respectively. He is also the author of Waterloo: The Bravest Man and Beautiful Star and Other Stories. His first historical thriller set during the reign of Elizabeth I – Incendium (published in paperback as The Incendium Plot) – introduced readers to the academic, lawyer and intelligencer Dr Christopher Radcliff, whose adventures continue in Chaos. Andrew Swanston lives in Surrey.

A FREE short story introducing readers to Elizabethan academic and intelligencer Dr Christopher Radcliff, hero of the historical thriller, The Incendium Plot . . . 
 
Cambridge on the morning of a day in April, the year of Our Lord 1569. 
 
And Christopher Radcliff, Doctor of Civil Laws at Pembroke Hall and recruiter of clever young men to the service of the Earl of Leicester, is amongst a crowd of excited townsfolk and university scholars gathered on a field to watch a game of foot ball. It is to be played between the apprentices of the town and pupils of the colleges and it is hoped it will reconcile differences between town and gown. Bets are placed, wagers made. On the field long-standing animosities surface and violence breaks out but not before the college team is victorious, thanks to the skill of a Pembroke Hall man, John Groom. 
 
Later that day, Radcliff is summoned to the senior tutor’s rooms. It transpires that John Groom has been locked up on a serious charge of assault – he’d nearly caused a cobbler’s apprentice to drown. If found guilty, Groom would be expelled from college and face imprisonment. But Christopher smells a rat. He believes the charge to be the fabrication of someone with a serious grudge against the young man, and yet it does seem as if Groom is hiding something. Enlisting the help of his friend Edward Allington and his wife Katherine, Dr Radcliff knows the truth lies somewhere within the infamous den that is Slegge’s gaming house…

The Incendium Plot

For readers of C J Sansom and S J Parris, and fans of the BBC drama 'Gunpowder' starring 'Game of Thrones' Kit Harrington - The Incendium Plot is a tense historical thriller set against a backdrop of treason and terror in Elizabethan England . . .

A fantastic tale of spies, deceit and murder in the Elizabethan age

Swanston clearly knows the period well and Radcliff is an engaging hero

Radcliff is a wonderful character, resourceful and intelligent . . . perfectly combines history and fiction . . . I loved every page

Beautifully done. All the sights, sounds and smells of Elizabethan England are there, along with an intriguing range of characters . . . Radcliff is clearly destined to appear in future books, and I think he's likely to gain some loyal fans

A colourful and gripping read . . . you can almost smell the filthy Tudor River Thames

Lawyer Christopher Radcliff is an erudite outsider with an unusual past, who turns state spy in this colourful and gripping historical novel.

Beautifully evokes the grimy and filthy streets of Elizabethan London and the plot canters along from the very first page . . . I cannot wait for the next one.

Historical fiction has never been hotter, and fans of S J Parris and Rory Clements will gulp it down in one.

I loved it . . . refreshing, engaging and never faltered from the first page to the last.

Really rich and beautifully written . . . if you’re a fan of Swanston’s other books, you’re going to absolutely love this.

'A fantastic tale of spies, deceit and murder in the Elizabethan age' S. D. Sykes 
 
England in 1572 is a powder keg of rumour, fanaticism, treachery and dissent. All it would take is a single spark . . . 
 
In the England of Elizabeth I, the fear of plague and invasion, and the threat of insurrection are constant. As the Earl of Leicester's chief intelligencer, lawyer Dr Christopher Radcliff is tasked with investigating rumours of treachery at home and the papist threat from abroad. And with heresy and religious unrest simmering beneath the surface of a country on the brink, Radcliff is under pressure to get results. 
 
Then two brutal and seemingly motiveless killings point alert Radcliff to the whisper of a new plot against the queen. There are few clues, and all he and his network of agents have to go on is a single word: incendium. But what does it mean - and who lies behind it? Christopher Radcliff must find out before it's too late . . . 
 
(Please note: The Incendium Plot was first published in hardback as Incendium)

A D Swanston

February 1574 and London is in a fervour of paranoia, superstition and rumour. Mob violence is commonplace. A whispered word is all it takes to condemn a woman to burn as a witch. 
 
Having foiled the 'Incendium' plot against the Queen, intelligencer Dr Christopher Radcliff's standing within court is high. However, he has no time to reap any reward. Counterfeit coins bearing the likeness of his master, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, are circulating on London's streets. This in itself is a treasonous offence, but now slogans have begun to appear on walls and doorways, implying that Leicester harbours treacherous intent. 
 
So Radcliff and his team of informants and amateur spies are sent out into the city's markets, drinking dens and brothels to track down who might be behind such outrageous and subversive acts. It will take them down a murderous path in pursuit of an elusive foe with an extraordinary agenda. And time is running out: for when rumour and fear catch fire, then surely violent insurrection and bloody chaos will follow . . . 
 
'A fantastic tale of spies, deceit and murder in the Elizabethan age' 
S. D. SYKES (about The Incendium Plot)

A D Swanston

Chaos

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