Cry of the Hangman, The

This is truly an excellent novel! I have read the other books in the series and this lastest addition is just as good if not better than the others. It’s expertly written with such vivid prose and great historical detail. Lucy is both a likable and relatable character. The mystery itself is interesting and contains lots of twists and turns dispersed throughout the novel. I relished every moment of this novel and highly recommend!

A compelling Restoration mystery set in London with lots of twists and turns taking place among the very competitive world of urban book printing and peopled with some very fiendish and pitiless pamphleteers holding lots of big venomous grudges, some very dangerous blackmail shenanigans and violent murderous intents to keep the reader on the edge of his or her seat for a few hours....
A magnificent 17th century tapestry of a great city still dealing with the disturbing wounds left by the plague and the Great Fire that wreaked its world at the beginning of the 1660s and teeming with a vast and wonderful cast of higly colorful but often very sinister characters and great and fascinating historical details.

The delicious Lucy Campion Mystery series keeps getting better with each new episode and Ms Calkins keeps dazzling me with her magnificent prose and rollicking imagination!
I simply can't wait for the next installment👍👍

Historical fiction at its best that truly deserves to be enjoyed without any moderation whatsoever!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Canongate/Severn for giving me the opportunity to read this wonderful novel prior to its release date.

Susanna Calkins' Lucy Campion mysteries give me the opportunity to re-visit a time and place I love: 17th century London. This latest book is no different. I loved it.

Susie was kind enough to agree to an interview for my youtube channel in November.

The Cry of the Hangman is the 6th Lucy Campion historical mystery by Susanna Calkins. Released 2nd Nov 2021 by Severn House, it's 240 pages and is available in hardcover and ebook formats. Paperback due out in late Sept 2022. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is a very well written and engaging historical mystery with an intelligent female protagonist who is a printer's apprentice. Set in the second half of the 17th century, the sense of place and verisimilitude give as much character and background as any of the human characters. The story and settings are clearly very well researched and meticulously rendered.

The plot is convoluted and well engineered and I never found my interest waning or lost my suspension of disbelief during the read. The story, climax, denouement, and resolution are well paced and satisfying.

Although the mystery is self contained, a great deal of the plot revolves around Lucy's previous life as a servant in the household of a magistrate - so I would recommend that readers who are new to the series begin with at least some of the earlier books.

Four stars. This is a very well written story and highly recommended for fans of historical mystery. There are 6 books extant in the series, making it a good candidate for a long weekend binge read.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.