Newly returned from years of secret work in Paris, Lieutenant Holcroft Blood, a brilliant but unusual gunnery officer in His Majesty’s Ordnance, must now face King James II’s enemies on the gore-drenched battlefields of the British Isles.

But after the victory at Sedgemoor – and its cruel aftermath, the Bloody Assizes, in which the Duke of Monmouth’s rebellion was ruthlessly crushed – many powerful men have grown tired of Catholic James’s brutal, autocratic rule and seek to invite William, the Protestant Prince of Orange, to seize the thrones of the Three Kingdoms.

While revolution brews in the gentlemen’s clubs of London, Holcroft discovers that a sinister French agent, known only by his code name Narrey, has followed him across the Channel and intends to murder him. Worse, Holcroft must decide whether to join the conspirators, including his old friend Jack Churchill, now Lord Marlborough, and support Dutch William’s invasion – or remain loyal to his unpopular king.

Holcroft Blood is my hero!

What a fabulous character Angus Donald has created in this fabulous new series set during the Stuart era. Holcroft is not your typical swashbuckling hero, he is a young man who struggles with personal connections and the nuances of human traits. He is more comfortable with mathematics and his cannons, but he has a remarkable knack for sniffing out trouble and unravelling conspiracies. In Blood’s Game, the first book in this new series, Holcroft was a young boy thrown into the heart of the court as a page to the Duke of Buckingham. Now he is an officer in the Royal Ordnance of the Stuart army and in Blood’s Revolution, his loyalty to his king is tested as the country and society turn against the Catholic king James II (VII in Scotland).

Blood’s Revolution is set some 15 years after the conclusion of the first book, Blood’s Game, which means it can easily be read as a standalone – though for anyone who hasn’t read Blood’s Game I can heartily recommend it!

Opening with Monmouth’s rebellion and the Battle of Sedgemoor, the early action sets the pace for the rest of the book, barely leaving the reader any opportunity to breathe, as Holcroft attempts to unravel the plots against the King and expose the plotters – and the French masterspy backing them. And at the same time, Holcroft has his own personal life to deal with; changing friendships, marriage and an errant brother all serve to upset the young man’s well-ordered life.

Matthew was standing now, red-faced, shaking with anger. ‘I will speak no more to you about Father Palmer nor about any other matter. I would rather hang!’

Holcroft lowered his head, he looked at his big hands, ignoring the threat of the angry boy standing over him and listening only to his words. He was not naturally skilled at this – the passion and poetry that resided in other men’s hearts had always been  something of a mystery to him. Yet he knew of his shortcomings and had trained himself, as far as it was possible, to listen to what men said and to test their words for truth or falsehood. To his ear, this was the voice of truth. The outrage was not false, so far as he could tell. This boy believed the Jesuit priest was innocent.

Holcroft looked up.

‘Sit down, and calm yourself. Or I will see that you do hang. I have one more question for you before I go. Sit down, be quiet and listen to me.’ Holcroft waited. Eventually, Matthews subsided and sat back down on the bed.

‘Tell me, John, why did you attempt to steal the keg of gunpowder from the magazine? Tell me truly and I will leave you here in peace, and do all I can for you with Lord Dartmouth at the court martial, as I have sworn on my honour to do.’

…

The fiction is seeded with real historical characters, ranging from Holcroft’s friend John Churchill – the future Duke of Marlborough – to the doomed Duke of Monmouth himself. Holcroft’s story itself is woven within the historical narrative, so that it is hard to tell where the facts end and fiction takes over; always a sign of a good book – and an opportunity for research that is hard to ignore. And the author’s note at the end also helps to distinguish between the fact and the fiction.

Angus Donald is a superb storyteller, drawing the reader in to the wonderfully wicked world he has recreated for Holcroft Blood to navigate his way through. It is hard to find a negative. The story is clever, imaginative and addictive. The characters are fascinating, full of life and vigour. The locations, especially 17th century London, are painstakingly recreated and brought to bustling life, the smells, sounds and atmosphere of a London, that is almost-recognisable to the 21st century reader, enhancing the story further.

It is going to be hard for the author to top this story with the next book in the series, but I cannot wait to find out what happens to Holcroft next…..

And at least I now know what to get my dad for Christmas – he’s gonna love this!

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Blood’s Revolution is available from Amazon in the UK from 18 October 2018.

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About the Author:

Angus Donald was educated at Marlborough College and Edinburgh University. He has worked as a fruit-picker in Greece, a waiter in New York and as an anthropologist studying magic and witchcraft in Indonesia. For many years he was a journalist in Hong Kong, India, Afghanistan and London. He is married to Mary, with whom he has two children, and he now writes full time from a medieval farmhouse in Kent.

He is the author of the bestselling Outlaw Chronicles, a series of eight books set in the 12th/13th centuries and featuring a gangster-ish Robin Hood and his loyal lieutenant Sir Alan Dale. His new Holcroft Blood series stars a mildly autistic artillery officer who was the son of notorious 17th-century Crown Jewel thief Colonel Thomas Blood. The series begins with Blood’s Game and continues with Blood’s Revolution (to be published in October 2018) and Blood’s Campaign (out October 2019). The author has also written an epic Asian fantasy novel Gates of Stone (out February 2019) under the pseudonym Angus Macallan. He is always happy to chat to readers on Facebook, Twitter and via his website http://www.angusdonaldbooks.com

 

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Coming in November!

Tracing the fortunes of the women who had a significant role to play in the momentous events of 1066, Silk and the Sword: the Women of the Norman Conquest will be released in the UK on 15 November 2018 and is available for pre-order on Amazon UK,  Amberley Publishing and Book Depository. It is scheduled for release in the US on 1 March 2019 and is available for pre-order from Amazon US.

Also by Sharon Bennett Connolly:

Telling the stories of some of the most incredible women from Medieval history, Heroines of the Medieval World,  is now available in hardback in the UK from both Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK, in the US from Amazon US  and worldwide from Book Depository. It will be released in paperback in the UK from 15 March 2019 and is available for pre-order on Amazon.

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©2018 Sharon Bennett Connolly