History in Mystery
Sir Christopher Wren’s Stamp on a NEW London
In 1666 when London caught fire, Christopher Wren wasn’t the city’s most famous architect—not by a long shot. Just thirty-three years old, Wren was considered an amateur in the field, albeit a passionate one. His actual job was as a Professor of Astronomy at Oxford (where he’d also been commissioned to design and build a…
Read MoreHelping London Rise Again . . . Allegorically
While London’s Monument to the Great Fire is, as a whole, splendid, its most significant artistic element is Caius Gabriel Cibber’s stunning bas-relief stone panel on its West face. So lets have a closer look (see, told you in my Monument Post that I’d get back to it). Cibber’s carving is allegorical, depicting post-Great-Fire London…
Read MoreLondon Circa 1666—oh the smell!
And By Fire is a dual timeline crime novel. While Nigella and O’Leary race around modern London trying to stop a brutal killer, a second pair of unlikely detectives (a lady-in-waiting to the Queen and a royal fireworks maker) search for a missing friend—a bookseller who disappeared into the smoke of London’s Great Fire some…
Read MoreLondon “Hot Spots”—Sir Christopher Wren’s Monument to The Great Fire of London
In And By Fire Detectives Nigella Parker and Colm O’Leary race through London tracking a murderous arsonist who makes sculptures using burnt flesh along with burnt wood. You may not be able to hop a plane or train to follow in my DI’s footsteps, but in a string of posts I am calling “London Hots…
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