In the rough-and-tumble London of the late 1600s, Hannah Devlin carries on her father's legacy as a doctor (although unlicensed), struggling to keep her small household together. Her life changes when she is forcibly taken to Whitehall Palace by none other than Lord Arlington, Secretary of State, who blackmails her into treating Charles Stuart's mistress. When the king himself takes notice of her, Hannah is reluctantly drawn into the intrigues of the court -- including the brutal murders of some of its prominent members. The men were viciously stabbed and left with strange carvings in their flesh. Hannah soon discovers a complex conspiracy in the highest levels of government that not only may have led to the murder of her father, but puts her own life in danger.
Meanwhile, at Cambridge in 2008, Claire Donovan is trying to fit in as an American fellow at the illustrious Trinity College. Although Dr. Andrew Kent, a noted historian, had arranged for her position (out of what she thought was more than professional courtesy), he now barely acknowledges her. Instead, she attracts the attention of Derek Goodman, a charmer on the surface who turns out to be a two-faced schemer. After a public confrontation with Claire, Derek turns up dead. Although the police don't seem to consider her a suspect, Claire wants to clear her name among her colleagues. When she discovers Hannah Devlin's diary among Derek's research and begins translating the entries, it appears that someone in the present is trying to keep the secrets of the past from coming to light. As liaison between the college and the police, Andrew helps Claire investigate, despite the friction between them.
This entertaining mystery travels smoothly between past and present. While I thought Hannah was more intriguing than Claire was, the locations, characters and details from both time periods are fascinating. Hannah travels between the lowest and the highest of London's social levels. Claire isn't sure where she stands as an American female at a venerable English college. The book's structure gives readers a peek inside the royal court of Charles Stuart and a peek inside the modern "royal court" of academia. I liked Andrew and Claire's tentative relationship and the romance that developed between Hannah and Dr. Edward Strathern. For me, the romantic elements added to, rather than detracted from, the story. This book should please fans of historicals and mysteries, as well as Anglophiles and anyone else looking for a good read!
From the acclaimed author of The Rossetti Letter
comes a dazzling novel of intrigue, passion, and royal
secrets that shifts tantalizingly between Restoration-era
London and present-day Cambridge.
London, 1672. The
past twelve years have brought momentous changes: the
restoration of the monarchy, a devastating plague and
fire. Yet the city remains a teeming, thriving metropolis,
energized by the lusty decadence of Charles II's court and
burgeoning scientific inquiry. Although women enjoy
greater freedom, they are not allowed to practice
medicine, a restriction that physician Hannah Devlin
evades by treating patients that most other doctors shun:
the city's poor.
But Hannah has a special knowledge that
Secretary of State Lord Arlington desperately needs. At
the king's Machiavellian court, Hannah attracts the
attention of two men, charming courtier Ralph Montagu and
anatomist Dr. Edward Strathern, as well as the attention
of the powerful College of Physicians, which views her
work as criminal. When two influential courtiers are found
brutally murdered, their bodies inscribed with arcane
symbols, Hannah is drawn into a dangerous investigation by
Dr. Strathern, who believes the murders conceal a far-
reaching conspiracy that may include Hannah's late father
and the king himself.
Cambridge, 2008. Teaching history
at Trinity College is Claire Donovan's dream come true --
until one of her colleagues is found dead on the banks of
the River Cam. The only key to the professor's unsolved
murder is a seventeenthcentury diary kept by his last
research subject, Hannah Devlin, physician to the king's
mistress. With help from the eclectic collections of
Cambridge's renowned libraries, Claire and historian
Andrew Kent follow the clues Devlin left behind,
uncovering secrets of London's dark past and Cambridge's
equally murky present, and discovering that events of
three hundred years ago may still have consequences
today....
A suspenseful and richly satisfying tale
brimming with sharply observed historical detail, The
Devlin Diary brings past and present to vivid life.
With wit and grace, Christi Phillips holds readers
spellbound with an extraordinary novel of secrets,
obsession, and the haunting power of the past.
© 2003-2026