The Three Deaths of Justice Godfrey
Book Review
The Three Deaths of Justice Godfrey, by L.C. Tyler (Constable, 2024)
A new addition to L.C. Tyler’s superb John Grey series is always a very special treat, and this outing, set in the late 1670s, more than lives up to eager expectations.
The English Civil War is over, Charles II sits more or less securely on the throne, and Sir John Grey is settled in the county of Essex with his witty playwright wife Araminta, and is set, he hopes, to live out his days as a magistrate, administering justice, and his estate. Of course, such a peaceable state of affairs does not last long, and John soon finds himself summoned to Whitehall by the new Secretary of State, Joseph Williamson, to investigate the murder of Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey, who has been found beaten, hanged, and with his own sword thrust emphatically into his chest – murdered, it seems, three times.
It is a time when the fear of Catholic plots is rife, and this fear is seized on and fomented by the dastardly and deeply deceptive Titus Oates, of Popish Plot fame. John Grey has to tread carefully not to fall foul of Oates, and find himself facing the doubtful pleasures of the Little Ease prison cell. After many collisions, collusions and cul-de-sacs, John unravels the mystery, and is able, at last, to gather up Araminta and go home.
To say The Three Deaths of Justice Godfrey is well-researched is a bit like saying St. Edward’s Crown (made for Charles II and most recently worn by Charles III) is a bit glittery. Tyler’s knowledge of the period is wide-ranging and profound, and he evokes the sounds, the smells, the sheer awkwardness of the times, with almost invisible deftness and consummate wit.
It was a delight to learn, on reading Tyler’s ‘Factual Note’ at the end, that the existence of Justice Godfrey and the way (or ways) in which he died is absolutely historically accurate, and his murder still remains, to use the current vernacular, open and unsolved. And that has provided L.C. Tyler with a wonderful playground in which to frolic – for which all his readers will be truly grateful.
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