The Audacious Crimes of Colonel Blood

Hardcover / ISBN-13: 9780297870180

Price: £20

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‘THE AUDACIOUS CRIMES OF COLONEL BLOOD is television mini-series material … the clash of blades, the whizzing bullets and galloping hooves guarantee nonstop adventure.’ Jonathan Keates, LITERARY REVIEW

One morning in May 1671, a man disguised as a parson daringly attempted to seize the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. Astonishingly, he managed to escape with the regalia and crown before being apprehended. And yet he was not executed for treason. Instead, the king granted him a generous income and he became a familiar strutting figure in the royal court’s glittering state apartments.

This man was Colonel Thomas Blood, a notorious turncoat and fugitive from justice. Nicknamed the ‘Father of all Treasons’, he had been involved in an attempted coup d’état in Ireland as well as countless plots to assassinate Charles II.

In an age when gossip and intrigue ruled the coffee houses, the restored Stuart king decided Blood was more useful to him alive than dead. But while serving as his personal spy, Blood was conspiring with his enemies. At the same time he hired himself out as a freelance agent for those seeking to further their political ambition.

In THE AUDACIOUS CRIMES OF COLONEL BLOOD bestselling historian Robert Hutchinson paints a vivid portrait of a double agent bent on ambiguous political and personal motivation, and provides an extraordinary account of the perils and conspiracies that abounded in Restoration England.

Reviews

Robert Hutchinson's latest book is proof that truth really is stranger than fiction. The story of Colonel Blood not only introduces us to one of the most audacious men in history, but uncovers a much darker tale of spies, conspiracy and murder. A must-read for lovers of history, biography or simply a good yarn
Tracy Borman
[A] rattling but carefully researched piece of popular history ... Hutchinson sifts the various theories with characteristic thoroughness and lightness of touch
James Walton, DAILY MAIL
A marvellous romp
THE TIMES
A rigorously researched account ... Hutchinson's biography draws extensively on surviving primary sources, including eye-witness accounts of Blood's many scrapes and court cases ... a colourful tale of life in the shadow of the gallows
Matthew Dennison, SPECTATOR
[A] nailbiting chronicle of a thoroughly unrespectable life ... Robert Hutchinson, thoroughly at home in the smoke-and-mirrors world of Tudor and Stuart espionage, commends this doughty old desperado to us for his panache, effrontery and audacity. The Audacious Crimes of Colonel Blood is television mini-series material ... the clash of blades, the whizzing bullets and galloping hooves guarantee nonstop adventure
Jonathan Keates, LITERARY REVIEW
Hutchinson paints a compelling portrait of a country hectic with sedition ... Rambunctious ... richly researched
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
An extraordinary, stranger than fiction story
CHOICE
[Hutchinson] writes with great gusto ... These were violent times as this riveting book reveals
TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT