London, 1728. A young, well-dressed man is driven through streets of jeering onlookers to the gallows at Tyburn. They call him a murderer. But Tom Hawkins is innocent and somehow he has to prove it, before the rope squeezes the life out of him.

It is, of course, all his own fault. He was happy settling down with Kitty Sparks. He should never have told the most dangerous criminal in London that he was bored and looking for adventure. He should never have offered to help, the king's mistress. And most of all, he should never have trusted the witty, calculating Queen Caroline. She has promised him a royal pardon if he holds his tongue but then again, there is nothing more silent than a hanged man.

Based loosely on actual events, Antonia Hodgson's new novel is both a sequel to The Devil in the Marshalsea and a standalone historical mystery. From the gilded cage of the Court to the wicked freedoms of the slums, it reveals a world both seductive and deadly. And it continues the rake's progress of Tom Hawkins - assuming he can find a way to survive the noose...

"She is one of the most impressive practitioners of the historical crime genre." - Independent online

"A fast-paced adventure that places Hawkins amongst criminals, court intrigue and conspiracies." - Woman & Home

"Hodgson has again married immaculate research to the rip-roaring pace of the modern thriller and come up with a triumphant slice of historical fiction." - The Independent on Sunday

"[A] rip-roaring historical thriller . . . I look forward to seeing what scurries out of the dark and grimy streets in Hodgson's next masterpiece." - Daily Express

"Intelligent and engrossing reading." - The Sunday Times

"A rip-roaring ride through Georgian London's back streets ...wonderfully atmospheric and entertaining" - Good Housekeeping

"A fun, twisting, shock-riddled masterpiece" - The Bookbag

"Full of character, suspense and atmosphere." - Woman & Home

"Tom Hawkins, The most engaging rake to appear in a historical novel since George Macdonald Fraser's Flashman. This is history brought brilliantly to stinking, screaming life." - Sunday Express

"Georgian London in all its gritty reality seeps from the pages of this exciting historical mystery. Told in flashbacks, it has plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader intrigued." - Choice

"A lively plot, an engaging hero and a vividly recreated city with all its stench and pleasures. Great fun." - The Times

"This magnificent story with its multiple twists and turns, part social history with an informative afterword, an exploration of many faces of evil, with a genuine romantic hero and heroine, is a book to linger over" - Crime Review

"Something new in the world of historical crime fiction, with mesmerising detail and atmosphere" - Financial Times

"Hodgson has a knack for convincing dialogue that crackles with period cadence and flavour" - Daily Mail

"Hodgson shows the seamy underbelly of Georgian London, and does for this era what C.J. Sansom and Rory Clements have done for Tudor times" - Historical Novel Society

"At times Hodgson even rivals Dickens" - Daily Express

"Any historical fiction enthusiast who isn't a Tom Hawkins fan, has probably just not read any yet" - The Bookbag