The true story of a sensational marriage and murder in 17th-century London.

Lady Bette, the 14-year-old heiress to the vast Northumberland estates, becomes the victim of a plot by her grandmother, the Countess Howard, to marry her off to the dissolute fortune-hunter Thomas Thynn, a man three times her age with an evil reputation. Revolted by her new husband, Lady Bette flees to Holland. Within weeks, Thynn is gunned down in the street by three hired assassins.

Who is behind the contract killing? Is it the Swedish Count Coningsmark, young and glamorous with blond hair down to his waist? Or is it a political assassination as the anti-Catholic press maintains? Thynn was, after all, a key player in the Protestant faction to exclude the Catholic James, Duke of York, as his brother Charles II's successor.

Nigel Pickford creates a world of tension and insecurity, of constant plotting and counter-plotting and of rabid anti-Catholicism, where massive street demonstrations and public Papal burnings are weekly events. The action moves from the great landed estates of Syon and Petworth to the cheap taverns and brothels of London, and finally to Newgate and the gallows - the sporting spectacle of the day. In the process, the book gives us a vivid and deeply researched portrait of Restoration society.

'This book deserves fulsome praise for challenging the academic silence surrounding this area and for reminding us that it is possible to conduct rigorous, scholarly and interventionist work without becoming dependent or involved with the managerial gatekeepers of the criminal justice system.' Journal of Law and Society

This textbook covers the Criminal Law option of the A-level law syllabus, and provides at the same time an ideal introduction for anyone coming to the subject for the first time. The book covers all A-level syllabuses/specification requirements in the UK, and is written by the principal examiner and principal assistant examiner in Criminal Law for one of the major examination boards. It contains extensive case illustration, and a range of examination related questions and activities. There is a special focus on key skills, and on the new synoptic assessment syllabus requirements. This fully updated third edition builds upon the success of the first two editions, including important new cases such as Andrews, Bollom, G & R, Rowland, Safi and others, Weller, Z, and important new legislation like the Sexual Offences Act 2004 and its implications.