The Rival Queens: A Novel of Artifice, Gunpowder and Murder in Eighteenth-Century London [Hardcover]

In her second bawdy, madcap adventure (after 2001's Unnatural Fire), the incomparable Anastasia, Lady Ashby de la Zouche, Countess of Clapham, Baroness Penge (and former mistress to Charles II), aided by her faithful maid, Alpiew, faces "a brace of murders, an illicit marriage ceremony, an escape of a prisoner from the Tower, bribery, corruption at the highest level, a burglary and an abduction." When she doesn't run fast enough, bailiffs temporarily deposit the Countess in a "sponging house" for debtors. At other times such blackguards as Lord Giles Rakewell and his hooligans, the Tityre-tus gang, harass her. Morgan, a British actress and expert on Restoration comedy, brings 1700 London intensely to life, from the filth-ridden Thames to teeming Covent Garden, home to pickpockets, actors and writers. The Countess and Alpiew eke out a livelihood writing gossip for the London Trumpet, as well as planting "puff," or publicity. A lot of the fun derives from walk-ons by real people, such as the actor and playwright Colley Cibber, famous in his day for "improving upon the work of a barbarous Elizabethan third-rater named Shakespeare." Living nearby is an incorrigible old lecher who gives the Countess his memoirs. She figures it may prop a table-surely no one will ever read Samuel Pepys. Restoration England will never be the same after this romp.
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Lady Ashby de la Zouche, countess of Clapham, has seen better times. A former mistress of Charles II, she is now penniless and makes her living as a gossip reporter--albeit ably assisted by the buxom, brainy Alpiew, her former maid. When they witness the murder of a beloved actress, the two women, desperate for cash, accept money from the prime suspect to solve the crime. Amidst an ever-changing cast of actors, hooligans, servants, noblemen, and lunatics, the identity of the murderer remains a true mystery until the end. The Restoration era is re-created with some license: Samuel Pepys makes a cameo appearance and much is made of his lechery and the idea that such a boring man would bother to keep a diary. There are other anachronistic in-jokes, but primarily the humor comes from the characters and situations. Although this is the second novel of Morgan's to feature the crime-solving duo, readers will not feel lost if this is their first encounter with the countess and Alpiew. Marta Segal
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'Fidelis Morgan's tale of love and greed and alchemy in 1699 is a heady compound of wit, wisdom and wildness. It's an unsentimental warts-and-all portrait that reeks of authenticity, written with a brio that reflects the age' Val McDermid 'Hilarious 17th century romp, which combines an authentic slice of history with a tantalising storyline. An authority on the era, Morgan has created an inventive book which wears its learning lightly. Colourful turns of phrase and witty descriptions like a bawdy P.G. Wodehouse leave you with a keen sense of the period' Daily Mail 'A lusty, audacious historical romp ...all the bawdiness of London at the turn of the 18th century is brought to life' Maxim Jakubowski, Guardian 'Thigh-slapping, exclamatory stuff ... loudly, lustily, enthusiastically done' Literary Review 'The perfect autumn read' Marie Claire

London 1699. Countess Ashby de la Zouche and her maid, the faithful Alpiew, are dashing around, plying their trade as scandal-mongers. Happily, scandals are falling in their laps like ripe plums. But scandal takes on some gravitas when the Countess and Alpiew are hired to solve the murder of a popular leading lady. And things get yet more serious when they stumble into a mess of corruption with connections to the very furthest reaches of society.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Fidelis Morgan is an actor and an expert in Restoration comedy. Acclaimed for her stage plays, Pamela and Hangover Square, she also collaborated with Lynda la Plante on England's Channel 4's tense pschological thriller Killer Net. She has written nonfiction studies of charismatic female figures from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and contributed to the bestselling Virago anthology Wicked. In her first novel, Unnatural Fire, she combined historical interest with her life-long passion for crime fiction.