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A review by brownflopsy
The Lost Diary of Samuel Pepys by Jack Jewers
4.0
Summer, 1699: Samuel Pepys is a man who knows how to enjoy himself - as his illuminating diaries can confirm. But he is considering whether he should continue recording his adventures for posterity now his wife Elisabeth has discovered not only their existence, but also the details of what he has been up to.
His personal and professional lives are proving to be a little stressful, and to top it all he finds he has been selected by his boss at the Navy Office, The Duke of Albemarle, for a mission that will require all of his ingenuity to complete. He must drag himself away from the pleasures of London to investigate the death of a Crown Agent who was looking into corruption in the Royal Navy in Portsmouth.
With England on the brink of war with the Dutch, it is vital that Pepys gets to the bottom of what is going on in Portsmouth, and he drags along his faithful assistant Will Hewer to help him in his investigation. What they are about to discover will embroil them in a deadly plot that involves espionage, secret societies and double dealing that reaches higher than they can imagine - and of course, he can't help himself from writing it all down, in a brand new diary...
In The Lost Diary of Samuel Pepys Jack Jewers reimagines all new adventures for one of the most famous diarists of them all, Samuel Pepys. The story picks up one week after Pepys' final known volume and details his secret mission in Portsmouth to get to the bottom of murderous shenanigans and apparent attempts to drag England into an ill-advised war with the Dutch.
The story starts as it means to go on, with a bawdy bang and rumours of intrigue, and develops into a fun-filled caper involving drama, passion, and competing secret societies with unfathomable loyalties in the streets of Portsmouth, London and on the high seas. Pepys takes on the role of somewhat of a bumbling Sherlock Holmes to Hewer's Dr Watson as they try to get to the bottom of the mystery here, while continuing Pepys' well-earned reputation as a diarist recording all sorts of fascinating information about the times in which he lived. There is so much lovely period detail, all mixed up with vivid characters from all levels of society, and more swashbuckling fun than you can poke a quill at. I really enjoyed how Jewers has Pepys not only casting his observant eye at those all around him, but makes him question what he thinks he knows about himself too.
This is such an immersive and entertaining debut novel that has the feel of the first part of a new series. It serves to establish an excellent cast of characters around Pepys that it would be delightful to see cropping up in further tales of more of Pepys' escapades - and there is a nice little hook at the end that promises a lot more dangerous missions to come!
His personal and professional lives are proving to be a little stressful, and to top it all he finds he has been selected by his boss at the Navy Office, The Duke of Albemarle, for a mission that will require all of his ingenuity to complete. He must drag himself away from the pleasures of London to investigate the death of a Crown Agent who was looking into corruption in the Royal Navy in Portsmouth.
With England on the brink of war with the Dutch, it is vital that Pepys gets to the bottom of what is going on in Portsmouth, and he drags along his faithful assistant Will Hewer to help him in his investigation. What they are about to discover will embroil them in a deadly plot that involves espionage, secret societies and double dealing that reaches higher than they can imagine - and of course, he can't help himself from writing it all down, in a brand new diary...
In The Lost Diary of Samuel Pepys Jack Jewers reimagines all new adventures for one of the most famous diarists of them all, Samuel Pepys. The story picks up one week after Pepys' final known volume and details his secret mission in Portsmouth to get to the bottom of murderous shenanigans and apparent attempts to drag England into an ill-advised war with the Dutch.
The story starts as it means to go on, with a bawdy bang and rumours of intrigue, and develops into a fun-filled caper involving drama, passion, and competing secret societies with unfathomable loyalties in the streets of Portsmouth, London and on the high seas. Pepys takes on the role of somewhat of a bumbling Sherlock Holmes to Hewer's Dr Watson as they try to get to the bottom of the mystery here, while continuing Pepys' well-earned reputation as a diarist recording all sorts of fascinating information about the times in which he lived. There is so much lovely period detail, all mixed up with vivid characters from all levels of society, and more swashbuckling fun than you can poke a quill at. I really enjoyed how Jewers has Pepys not only casting his observant eye at those all around him, but makes him question what he thinks he knows about himself too.
This is such an immersive and entertaining debut novel that has the feel of the first part of a new series. It serves to establish an excellent cast of characters around Pepys that it would be delightful to see cropping up in further tales of more of Pepys' escapades - and there is a nice little hook at the end that promises a lot more dangerous missions to come!