Destroying Angel

Although this book, the third in the Damian Seeker series, won the prestigious Cloak and Dagger Award, I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the previous two. It may be that I missed the London setting and some of the London characters.

Seeker has been sent up to Yorkshire, the place where he grew up, to find Thomas Faithly, a Royalist and favorite of Charles Stuart (son of the executed king, Charles I). Faithly had been captured but was freed by a coach attack en route to prison. Seeker is sent to find him and also to help root out Royalists in the area. When he arrives in a small town near Faithly manor, he finds the citizens all focused on the arrival of a trier, a kind of itinerant judge sent to hear evidence against the local show more minister/teacher who apparently isn't doing his job by the new standards set by Cromwell. Bess Pullam, mother of the local commissioner, is busy preparing a meal for the visiting trier and his wife, and she invites Damian to join them. The trier never shows up, but the day after the meal, Bess's young ward suddenly falls ill and dies. Seeker suspects foul play, but if everyone ate the same soup as young Gwendolyn, how could she have been poisoned? And who would do such a thing, and why?

As in the other books in the series, MacLean gives us a lot of fascinating characters. There's the local wise woman, whom people call mad but nonetheless call upon when they need a midwife or doctoring. The local busybody and her constable husband. Edward Faithly, older brother of the escapee, and his disinterested wife. The minister, a dandy with an eye for the ladies. And the trier and his wife, both of whom Damian has known in his past.

The book ends up with Damian back in London, where the fourth installment picks up. I have to say, I'm glad to be back there! I did enjoy Destroying Angels--just not quite as much as the last two books. On to [The Bear Pit]! show less

Government enforcer and spymaster Damien Seeker has been charged with finding out whether an exiled Royalist has returned to his family home in North Yorkshire. For Seeker this is a return to his home county and his own past. However when a young girl dies Seeker feels that there is more going on in the village of Faithly and then he is confronted with the realisation that he is close to his own truths than he expected.

I have really enjoyed the past two books in this series and this no less so. Seeker is a flawed hero and all the better for it, in this book the reader gets more of his backstory and sees his vulnerabilities. The setting is interesting, as the 'heroes' are those puritans upholding the Commonwealth of Cromwell agains the show more enemy Royalists. Usually books set in and after the Civil War take a more romantic Cavalier standpoint. As ever the historical detail is spot on and the setting in and around York and the North York Moors is an added bonus. show less

Third in series focussed on Damien Seeker, feared leader in Cromwell's army. Sent to Yorkshire following the events of book two, he's asked to root out royalists in the county via new powers for local Puritan leaders. Thrown into a village all but torn apart by local grievances, Seeker finds familiar faces, some welcomed, others not. As for the previous two series, the historical detail is richly done for a dramatic period following the (English) civil war. I was swept along with Seeker's investigation. (Netgalley)