Blood & Sugar by Laura Shepherd – Robinson

 

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Mantle; Main Market edition (24 Jan. 2019)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1509880771
• ISBN-13: 978-1509880775

 

 

 

 

 

 

Synopsis

June, 1781. An unidentified body hangs upon a hook at Deptford Dock – horribly tortured and branded with a slaver’s mark.

Some days later, Captain Harry Corsham – a war hero embarking upon a promising parliamentary career – is visited by the sister of an old friend. Her brother, passionate abolitionist Tad Archer, had been about to expose a secret that he believed could cause irreparable damage to the British slaving industry. He’d said people were trying to kill him, and now he is missing . . .

To discover what happened to Tad, Harry is forced to pick up the threads of his friend’s investigation, delving into the heart of the conspiracy Tad had unearthed. His investigation will threaten his political prospects, his family’s happiness, and force a reckoning with his past, risking the revelation of secrets that have the power to destroy him.

And that is only if he can survive the mortal dangers awaiting him in Deptford . . .

 

Review

Blood & Sugar is the fabulous debut novel from Laura Shepherd-Robinson.  Set in the late  eighteenth century this is a compelling crime thriller set against the horrors of the slave trade.  Narrated in the first person by Captain Harry Corsham, a war hero and best friend of the victim at the centre of this historical crime thriller, Tad Archer, who was tortured before he died.  He is dogged in his investigations, and like Tad finds himself in danger and at the centre of a conspiracy that takes in the highest offices of the realm, as well as those involved in the British slave trade.

Blood & Sugar is an apt title for this book which centres around the horrors of the slave trade: slaves were traded for sugar.  Laura Shepherd-Robinson certainly doesn’t sugar coat the issue of slavery, but exposes it in its full horror.  At the centre of this book is the shocking and appalling treatment of slaves on the ships that took them from Africa to the West Indies, and this particular case is based on the Zong Massacre, which makes this even more disturbing.

Captain Harry Corsham is a wonderful narrator, through his eyes we are taken from the brothels of Deptford to the political hierarchy of London, and party to the social, cultural and political values of the late eighteenth century.  Harry is willing to put his political career, and family in jeopardy in his investigations and as an abolitionist, which was an unpopular stance at the time.  There are some wonderful characters in this book, including Tad Archer’s disgraced sister Amelia, Frank Drake, a ruffian officer from the slave ships, Caesar John, a former slave turned villain, and the obnoxious Nicholas Cavill-Lawence, Harry’s patron and Under Secretary for the War Office.

It is hard to believe that this is Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s debut novel, it is accomplished, beautifully written and well researched.  The detail in character and plot make you feel like you are part of the story, with all its sights, smells, and conspiracies.  As a crime thriller it is gruesome, tense and utterly compelling with so many suspects with so many reasons to want Tad and Harry dead, you are kept guessing right until the end.

Blood & Sugar is an extraordinary read, and one I highly recommend.  It is bold in its characters and plot line, beautiful in its prose, and a gripping, tense and immersive read.  Horrifying at times, the historical research and plot line reminds us of a dark period of our history, whilst keeping the tension and suspense of a crime thriller.  An original, chilling and evocative read, I can’t wait to read the next book by Laura Shepherd-Robinson.  Fabulous!!!