The Butcher of Smithfield: Chaloner's Third Exploit in Restoration London (Thomas Chaloner Mysteries)

Thomas Chaloner, just returned from Spain and Portugal, finds London dank and grey under leaden skies. He finds many things changed, including the Government slapping a tax on printed newspapers. Hand written news reports escape the duty, and the rivalry between the producers of the two conduits of news is escalating. It seems that a number of citizens have come to untimely deaths. Chaloner is despatched to investigate the death of a lawyer with links to "the Butcher of Smithfield', a shady trader surrounded by a fearsome gang of thugs who terrorise the streets well beyond Smithfield market.