Blue Water: the Instant Times Bestseller (Laurence Jago)

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On New Year’s Eve, Rhys Lloyd has a house full of guests. He’s celebrating the success of his lakeside holiday homes and has generously invited the village to drink champagne with their wealthy new neighbours. By midnight, Rhys will be floating dead in the freezing waters of the lake. On New Year’s Day, DC Ffion Morgan has a village full of suspects. She grew up in the tiny community, so the murder suspects are her neighbours, friends and family – and Ffion has her own secrets to protect. With a lie uncovered at every turn, soon the question isn’t who wanted Rhys dead . . . but who finally killed him. There's a warmth throughout suggesting a writer at ease and enjoying her craft and such is her success bringing characters to life that it'd be easy to see a film director snapping up the rights for this one. I would recommend this one to fans of historical fiction, history in general, it's not so much thriller and as political intrigue disguising a murder.

The majority of the book is set on the Tankerville, following its journey from Falmouth to Philadelphia in 1795. On board is a very important signed treaty, destined for the British Ambassador in Philadelphia. Jago has been tasked with working undercover to help protect the treaty. Underneath all the political upheaval and threats of war, this is a murder mystery at it's heart. Jago just wants to know who killed his friend and make others believe that it wasn't a suicide. His real mission is to deliver the Jay Treaty, a document of great importance to the peace between the US and Britain. A sparkling evocation of a distant time which is remarkably similar to the current one. I loved it' - TREVOR WOOD Jago works in a minor role for the British government, but he finds himself getting attention from many parties.

marks out this novel, like its predecessor, is its mixture of rip-roaring adventure and comedy, as well as the But then things get interesting when he stumbles upon the body of a colleague that had supposedly taken his own life. The dead man is soon blamed for the leak but Laurence is certain that his friend is innocent and that he had been killed. My Lord, affairs aboard this ship have gone worse than I could ever have imagined when I accepted your commission. You will hear as many accounts of this voyage as there are passengers aboard but I think it my duty to give my own report, to counter the wilder stories you will no doubt receive in good time. Death arrived with the cormorant. It came aboard on the seventh day of our voyage…….” -

Blame for the leak is shifted to the dead man, but even as the body is taken to the anatomists, Laurence is certain both of his friend’s innocence, and that he was murdered. But after years of hiding his own secrets from his powerful employers, and at a time when even the slightest hint of treason can lead to the gallows, how can Laurence find the true culprit without incriminating himself? Set during a voyage from Britain to Philadelphia in 1975, we follow Mr Jago on a hunt to find the Treaty between the Brits and Americans that has gone missing aboard their ship. Never knowing who to trust, and always suspecting someone, Jago tries his best to discover which of his fellow shipmates has the most incentive to steal the treaty and, dare we say it, commit murder to get their hands on it! What an historical delight this was! An immersive experience as if you are there in London in 1794. It's all set in the corridors of political power and the Foreign Office. It's a very unstable time and to be honest, if this had been set in 2020,2021 you would have believed the shenanigans that take place. Turns out history really does repeat itself and power, control and money as well as influence never lose their gravitas over time. When the civil servant meets an unfortunate 'accidental' end, Laurence becomes the one person standing between Britain and disaster. It is his great chance to redeem himself at Whitehall - except that his predecessor has taken the secret of the treaty's hiding place to his watery grave.Death arrived with the cormorant. It came aboard on the seventh day of our voyage, and settled itself at the bowsprit, wings akimbo, to dry its feathers in the brisk wind. It was too far from shore – probably blown out to sea by the tremendous gale we had met at the mouth of the English Channel, … The poor bird was exhausted, and not at all inclined to take to the wing again, despite all the efforts of the superstitious crew.” - ‘Blue Water’ by Leonora Nattrass. he raised his snout as if suddenly electrified by a new smell, woofed three times, and then set off at a gallop down the hill towards the town. We could not hold him and we let go of the rope slipped around his collar. It waved like a banner for a moment before he sloughed it off. His plump hams twinkled from us down towards the crossroads where the crowd was waiting. This time, Jago, a disgraced Foreign Office clerk, is working undercover for Lord Grenville, the current Foreign Secretary. Jago’s mission is to help the civil servant who has been charged with delivering a treaty to the United States Congress to persuade them against joining with the French to fight Britain.