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    A Masterpiece of Corruption
    The Plague Road
    A Cruel Necessity
    Ebook series4 titles

    The John Grey Mysteries Series

    By L. C. Tyler

    4/5

    ()

    About this series

    It’s the Autumn of 1666, and the Great Fire is still burning, the ashes of hundreds of houses and shops and St. Paul’s Cathedral choking the air. The people, too, are choking, raging at the French, the Dutch, at the foreigners who—they are certain—lit the torch. Lord Arlington, the Secretary of State, might conceivably be interested in harnessing this anger; it can be so useful, at times, to have the population united in loathing of a common enemy. But this is not one of those times. And inconveniently, a Frenchman—clearly an insane Frenchman—has confessed to setting the fire. He did it with an accomplice, he says. And he subsequently killed the accomplice. It’s all most irritating for Arlington, or it would be if he didn’t have John Grey on call. Go poke around the smoldering ruins, Arlington says. Find me a convenient fall guy. Make this problem go away.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateApr 1, 2017
    A Masterpiece of Corruption
    The Plague Road
    A Cruel Necessity

    Titles in the series (4)

    • A Cruel Necessity
      A Cruel Necessity

      A Cruel Necessity

      L. C. Tyler
      4/5 - 3 ratings
      4/5 - 3 ratings

      For fans of Lindsey Davis and Iain Pears—A lawyer stands accused of murder in this historical mystery series opener set in Cromwell’s England. Two-time Edgar nominee L. C. Tyler is best known for his series featuring Ethelred and Elsie— a third-rate novelist and his gloriously vulgar agent, respectively. And so he should be: He’s twice won Britain’s “Last Laugh” award for the Best Humorous Mystery of the Year. But with A Cruel Necessity, the first in the John Grey series, Tyler takes a sharp turn into the shadows. There are still some chuckles to be had, but not many . . . This is England in the year 1657, Oliver Cromwell is in power, and joy has essentially been outlawed. A young lawyer with a taste for beer and pretty women, Grey finds pleasures enough, even in this backwater Essex town, but he’d be wise to keep his amusement to himself: A Royalist spy has been found dead in a local ditch, and Cromwell’s agents are eager—distressingly eager—to explain to Grey that this is nothing to laugh about. Praise for A Cruel Necessity “Tyler juggles his characters, story, wit and clever one-liners with perfect balance.” —The Times (UK) “The characterization is good, it is well-paced, and the plot fits in beautifully with the historical events of the day. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will look out for this author again.” —Historical Novel Society

      For fans of Lindsey Davis and Iain Pears—A lawyer stands accused of murder in this historical mystery series opener set in Cromwell’s England. Two-time Edgar nominee L. C. Tyler is best known for his series featuring Ethelred and Elsie— a third-rate novelist and his gloriously vulgar agent, respectively. And so he should be: He’s twice won Britain’s “Last Laugh” award for the Best Humorous Mystery of the Year. But with A Cruel Necessity, the first in the John Grey series, Tyler takes a sharp turn into the shadows. There are still some chuckles to be had, but not many . . . This is England in the year 1657, Oliver Cromwell is in power, and joy has essentially been outlawed. A young lawyer with a taste for beer and pretty women, Grey finds pleasures enough, even in this backwater Essex town, but he’d be wise to keep his amusement to himself: A Royalist spy has been found dead in a local ditch, and Cromwell’s agents are eager—distressingly eager—to explain to Grey that this is nothing to laugh about. Praise for A Cruel Necessity “Tyler juggles his characters, story, wit and clever one-liners with perfect balance.” —The Times (UK) “The characterization is good, it is well-paced, and the plot fits in beautifully with the historical events of the day. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will look out for this author again.” —Historical Novel Society

    • A Masterpiece of Corruption
      A Masterpiece of Corruption

      A Masterpiece of Corruption

      L. C. Tyler
      4/5 - 1 rating
      4/5 - 1 rating

      In this mystery by the author of Crooked Herring, a lawyer in Cromwell’s England receives dangerous info that could stop a murder—or get him killed. John Grey is a newly minted lawyer and would-be ladies’ man with a bad habit of poking his nose into other people’s business and getting tangled up in intrigue. That’s unfortunate, because a mis-delivered letter from royalists has left Grey with more information about a murderous plot than it’s entirely safe to know. Can Grey prevent the murder? And of infinitely more importance, can he keep his mouth shut long enough to save his own skin? Praise for A Masterpiece of Corruption “Tyler cleverly marries plot and period in his sequel to A Cruel Necessity set during the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell . . .. Tyler’s judicious use of dry humor enhances a page-turning and plausible story line.” —Publishers Weekly “A dizzying whirl of plot and counterplot.” —The Guardian (UK)

      In this mystery by the author of Crooked Herring, a lawyer in Cromwell’s England receives dangerous info that could stop a murder—or get him killed. John Grey is a newly minted lawyer and would-be ladies’ man with a bad habit of poking his nose into other people’s business and getting tangled up in intrigue. That’s unfortunate, because a mis-delivered letter from royalists has left Grey with more information about a murderous plot than it’s entirely safe to know. Can Grey prevent the murder? And of infinitely more importance, can he keep his mouth shut long enough to save his own skin? Praise for A Masterpiece of Corruption “Tyler cleverly marries plot and period in his sequel to A Cruel Necessity set during the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell . . .. Tyler’s judicious use of dry humor enhances a page-turning and plausible story line.” —Publishers Weekly “A dizzying whirl of plot and counterplot.” —The Guardian (UK)

    • The Plague Road
      The Plague Road

      The Plague Road

      L. C. Tyler
      0 ratings
      0 ratings

      A politically sensitive murder is detected amid the chaos of a deadly plague in this “stellar . . . well-crafted” mystery set in Restoration London (Publishers Weekly, starred review). It’s 1665, and the Black Death has London in its hideous grip. It’s bad news for everyone . . . almost. For a mysterious killer, it presents an opportunity to hide a dead body among a city full of them. But as corpses are collected and brought to the burial pit, one of the bodies is revealed to have a knife in its back. When the victim is identified as an agent of the King’s spy network, fixer John Grey is called in to handle the situation—and, above all, locate the sensitive documents the agent had been carrying at the time of his demise. Now Grey must navigate the deadly pestilence as he uncovers a potentially explosive conspiracy.

      A politically sensitive murder is detected amid the chaos of a deadly plague in this “stellar . . . well-crafted” mystery set in Restoration London (Publishers Weekly, starred review). It’s 1665, and the Black Death has London in its hideous grip. It’s bad news for everyone . . . almost. For a mysterious killer, it presents an opportunity to hide a dead body among a city full of them. But as corpses are collected and brought to the burial pit, one of the bodies is revealed to have a knife in its back. When the victim is identified as an agent of the King’s spy network, fixer John Grey is called in to handle the situation—and, above all, locate the sensitive documents the agent had been carrying at the time of his demise. Now Grey must navigate the deadly pestilence as he uncovers a potentially explosive conspiracy.

    • Fire
      Fire

      Fire

      L. C. Tyler
      0 ratings
      0 ratings

      It’s the Autumn of 1666, and the Great Fire is still burning, the ashes of hundreds of houses and shops and St. Paul’s Cathedral choking the air. The people, too, are choking, raging at the French, the Dutch, at the foreigners who—they are certain—lit the torch. Lord Arlington, the Secretary of State, might conceivably be interested in harnessing this anger; it can be so useful, at times, to have the population united in loathing of a common enemy. But this is not one of those times. And inconveniently, a Frenchman—clearly an insane Frenchman—has confessed to setting the fire. He did it with an accomplice, he says. And he subsequently killed the accomplice. It’s all most irritating for Arlington, or it would be if he didn’t have John Grey on call. Go poke around the smoldering ruins, Arlington says. Find me a convenient fall guy. Make this problem go away.

      It’s the Autumn of 1666, and the Great Fire is still burning, the ashes of hundreds of houses and shops and St. Paul’s Cathedral choking the air. The people, too, are choking, raging at the French, the Dutch, at the foreigners who—they are certain—lit the torch. Lord Arlington, the Secretary of State, might conceivably be interested in harnessing this anger; it can be so useful, at times, to have the population united in loathing of a common enemy. But this is not one of those times. And inconveniently, a Frenchman—clearly an insane Frenchman—has confessed to setting the fire. He did it with an accomplice, he says. And he subsequently killed the accomplice. It’s all most irritating for Arlington, or it would be if he didn’t have John Grey on call. Go poke around the smoldering ruins, Arlington says. Find me a convenient fall guy. Make this problem go away.

    Author

    L. C. Tyler

    L. C. Tyler was born in Southend-on-Sea and educated at Oxford and City Universities. He has won awards for his writing, including the CWA Short Story Dagger and the Last Laugh Award (twice). He is a former Chair of the Crime Writers' Association. L. C. Tyler has lived and worked all over the world but more recently has been based in London and Sussex.

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