Intrigue in Covent Garden

London, 1666. The plague has almost disappeared, leaving its surviving population diminished and in poverty. The resentment against those who fled turns to outrage as the court and its followers return. While most of Thomas Chaloner's attention is on the continuing threat of war with the Dutch, the death of a well-connected physician, the mysterious sinking of a man-of-war in the Thames and the disappearance of a popular courtier are causing concern to his employer. Then he discovers common threads to all the cases, which seem linked to those planning to set a match to the powder keg of rebellion in the city.