Review: Andrew Taylor's The Ashes Of London is a brilliant historical mystery from one of Britain's best

The Great Fire of London forms both the opening and the backdrop of this brilliant historical mystery by Andrew Taylor (The American Boy, The Scent of Death), one of Britain's best authors. It's 1666 and the charm of the Restoration is wearing thin. Religion still holds the country in thrall. There are continuing fears of plague and then comes the conflagration. James Marwood saves a boy from certain death in a fire in St. Paul's and thus opens the door to a very different future.

Meanwhile, a man is dead, possibly murdered, in the charred ruins of the cathedral. Marwood is a pauper, his father's printing business ruined by the Restoration and his father imprisoned and then released to his custody. He supports the two of them on his salary as a minor clerk, but someone has an eye on him and knows he can be frightened or blackmailed .

As a reluctant government informant, he is brought into the world of a woman who dreams of architecture and Dr. Christopher Wren, who plans a new London from the ashes. This novel has everything one could want in a summer book.