Hapless clerk, Laurence Jago did not think to mention his French roots when he was first employed, and now is definitely not a good time to own up, in the current climate of suspicion of spies amid the war with France.

When an acquaintance is found dead, and is subsequently blamed for a leak of important government information, Jago is convinced that he is not guilty and determines to find the true culprit.

Of course, one of the reasons he is so sure there is a spy is because he himself is one.

Ome i read for me and not for a
School. A great historical fiction about a period that I have not read much about. Thank you

“If I am taken tonight – whether by law, murder or the devil himself – these papers must speak for me. … I will give you, reader, ‘The Confession of Laurence Jago, clerk to the Foreign Office’, … Though time is pressing, I will write down everything I remember, for it is only in such details that you will understand my story.”

My thanks to Serpent’s Tail Viper for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Black Drop’ by Leonora Nattrass. It was originally published in October 2021. My apologies for the late feedback. I had since purchased its ebook and audiobook editions.

This is the first in the series of political thrillers set in the late eighteenth century featuring reluctant spy Laurence Jago. To date two further adventures have been published: ‘Blue Water’ (2022) and ‘Scarlet Town’ (2023). I plan to read both.

In July 1794 the streets of London are filled with rumours of revolution. Political radical Thomas Hardy is about to go on trial for treason, Britain’s war with the French is not going well, and negotiations with the recently independent American colonies are at a delicate stage.

Laurence Jago is a Foreign Office clerk, who is becoming ever more reliant on the Black Drop (an opiate). When a highly sensitive letter about troop movements is leaked to the press, Laurence quickly becomes a suspect. He also discovers the body of a fellow clerk, who appears to have taken his own life.

While blame for the leak is shifted to the dead man, Laurence is convinced of his friend’s innocence and that he had been murdered. For years Laurence has had to conceal his own secrets from his powerful employers. Can he discover the truth without incriminating himself?

‘Black Drop’ proved a lively adventure as Jago seeks to navigate the corridors of power, find justice for his colleague, and avoid ending up in the Tower of London.

I was immediately impressed with how effectively Leonora Nattrass portrayed 18th century London. As a result, I found myself quickly immersed in the narrative. Laurence Jago proved a sympathetic protagonist as he detailed his confession to the reader.

Nattrass opened the novel with a handy list of characters, many of whom are historical figures. There is also a closing Historical Note in which she advises her readers that most of the historical events in the novel really happened, though with a little tweaking for the “exigencies of the story”.

Overall, I was impressed with ‘Black Drop’, finding it engaging and a promising start to the series.

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

I read this one not long after reading The Spirit Engineer and, while set in different time periods, there are definite similarities between the two stories in both style and content.

The main character here, Laurence Jago, is a well-meaning clerk who is gradually drawn out of his depth – in the world of espionage, rather than paranormal investigations – and inexorably spirals downwards into addiction and paranoia.

I found the reading induced acid-anxiety, as poor Jago does his best to do the right thing at every turn, but inevitably gets it wrong and sabotages himself. I felt so much pity for his inept flailing towards justice and happiness!

The story is based on true events around the French Revolution and the trial of Thomas Hardy for treason, with some of the characters here fictional and others real historical figures. And I couldn’t tell the difference, to be honest, unless I specifically recognised the name (Pitt, for example). Yet again, a narrative that seamlessly blends history with story to great effect.

Overall, an interesting and entertaining historical mystery fiction, if painful to read for anyone with an ounce of empathy!

I really enjoyed that you get to meet a plethora of different characters however it really helped to round the book off and took it to another level. Along the way we get to learn about power imbalance, corruption, vulnerability, sabotage, rumours and privilege. It has a layer of complexity to it around politics especially if it is not your forte but it made it more interesting, but also it set on the back drop of the war against France.
Full review on my blog

This was an intriguing, atmospheric and unsettling book with a twist in the tail. I was unaware of some of the historical and political aspects that went on during this period so it was fascinating to find out more and understand what an unstable backdrop there was to this mystery. Jago's story got me hooked and I raced through the pages eager to find out how it ended. Definitely one to get you thinking.

Really enjoyed this book, found it was unique to anything I previously read. This has captured my interest from the beginning and been a book I have struggled to put down.

An ambitious and fully developed piece of historical analysis even as its fictional narrative drive engages us fully. The ins and outs of foreign policy in those early days of Europe's encounters with the developing US are worked through with modern sensibility which makes it even more compelling. Very impressive piece of work .. good story and full characters .. excellent... engaging in extreme.

Set in London in 1794, we meet and soon realise that Laurence Jago, a clerk in the Foreign Office, has secrets that if discovered, could find himself charged with treason and suffer the consequences.

In 1794 the French Revolution was 1 year old and suspicion was rife in the Foreign Office that spies were abound and could pass on confidential information. A highly sensitive letter is subsequently leaked to the press this coincides with the suicide of a colleague of Jago’s. Although suspicion falls on Jago as the source of the leak, it is easier to blame the deceased colleague. Jago, however, is not convinced and he believes his colleague was murdered. Determined to find the culprit Jago must walk a fine line in order to guard his own secrets and keep safe, particularly difficult in the confined and distrustful atmosphere of the Foreign Office.

Meticulously researched, this foray into Georgian politics makes for a fascinating and gripping mystery. The characters are well defined and the Georgian setting is brought vividly to life.

I enjoyed this book and would definitely read more from this author.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Serpent’s Tail/ Viper Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

What better than a novel expertly mixing history, politics, espionage and murder? It's all here in Black Drop, a rather impressive feat of research and invention. It is 1794 and our man Laurence Jago is a low ranking clerk in the English Foreign Office. An unassuming young gentleman, he has more than a few secrets to safeguard if he doesn't want to find himself executed for treason.

The world is out of sorts – the war with the French is not going well and negotiations with the freshly independent Americans is on equally tenuous footing when a sensitive letter is leaked from the office. Add to that one of Laurence's colleagues is found hanging in his flat. Suicide or murder staged to look like suicide? Laurence is keen to find out to protect himself.

The characters and sense of place are utterly delightful in Black Drop with great turns of phrase as you might expect from this period. Gentlemanly conduct is of utmost importance when dealing with people of all stations, women and slaves included. I loved it. Society had a code of conduct and civility ruled the day...more often than not. Much better than our modern ways.

This was a fun read full of intrigue and danger and feels very much like the start to a new series. Let's hope that is the case!

Jago works in a minor role for the British government, but he finds himself getting attention from many parties.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The story follows Laurence Jago, a minor clerk whose life is about to change when he is promoted to work with an American representative. He is pressured into providing information by a rather formidable woman; and one of his colleagues has just committed suicide.

Unfortunately, I could not get on with this book.
The writing is stodgy and boring.
Jago is a dull character, with no agency of his own, and just drifts along with what everyone else says or does. I can kinda understand that being a bland and overlooked character makes him a perfect mole, but it made for such hard reading.
The rest of the cast are dull and completely forgettable. They all started to blur together and failed to make a lasting impression.

Plotwise, I didn't get far enough to make an honest assessment. I found the reading such a hard slog, and I kept coming back to it over several weeks, trying to give it another chance, but no.
The death of Jago's friend/colleague caught my interest, as it seemed that the book was finally picking up. But alas, despite Jago's suspicions that it wasn't as it appeared, it was straight back to dull political dinners and discussions that just droned on.

On a positive note, I thought it was historically accurate.

(I received a free review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley and thank you Serpent's Tail/Viper Books! I'm sorry this is so late!)

Black Drop is a political thriller set in 1794 presented as the confession of Laurence Jago, a government clerk and one-time spy for the French, whose self-appointed mission to investigate the 'suicide' of a fellow clerk lands him in various messes and threatens to reveal his many secrets. A leaked government document, murders, a controversial political trial and a visiting diplomat's wayward son all add to Laurence's woes, situations not at all helped by his increasing reliance on Black Drop, an opium-based drug...

Despite taking ages to read it (university commitments!), I really enjoyed Black Drop. Every time I picked it up, it sucked me in. Nattrass is a very talented writer; I enjoyed her prose and the story's many threads wove together smoothly as the story clipped along apace. It's hard to believe it's her debut novel! She clearly knows her stuff (I think she's a historian?), both in terms of the historical events and people that inspired the novel and all its little period details. (I especially enjoyed Laurence's visits to a Zoo and 18th century London cruising district, for example.) I'm a big fan of Regency Romances, so I loved getting a different, historical thriller take on the period (technically immediately before the regency). It's certainly a lot grubbier than anything Georgette Heyer ever dreamed up! I don't know that much about the era, but Nattrass got me invested in the corruption, political machinations and struggle for political reform (I did not expect that last one, going in!). On top of that, it was atmospheric and so richly detailed, you could practically smell the corpses. (There were many references to corpses, including one standout scene involving flies that could have come straight out of the Body Horror Handbook. It was so brilliantly executed, I genuinely wondered if Black Drop was about to turn into a horror novel.)

Nattrass does a great job of bringing the period to life, including real people like William Pitt and Lord Grenville. I also loved Laurence's neighbour and ally, Mr. Philpott, an investigative journalist and comic relief side character who helps pull the various plot threads together (and suffered a mishap at the aforementioned Zoo that apparently was based on true events?!). He was based on William Cobbett, a real MP and journalist, whom Nattrass has studied and written about, showing that she can absolutely make the leap from academic writing to fiction. Students of the period would probably get a lot out of it.

That said, I got a bit annoyed with Laurence by the end. On the whole, I liked him as a protagonist, so his obliviousness and poor decision-making became frustrating. Granted, some of that was down to the Black Drop but, to be honest, I didn't always see the point of that element of the plot? It seemed to be more of a plot device to justify Laurence doing stupid things than anything else. Personally, I'd have preferred to focus on the politics.

A few side characters also felt a little underdeveloped. I liked Anne, Laurence's love interest, though, again, the romantic subplot felt unnecessary. Still, she was an original character and one of the only women in the book and allowed Nattrass to make a few points about the constraints on women, especially ambitious women, in the 18th century. On the other hand, I honestly felt more chemistry between Laurence and the novel's other most underused character, Peter William (or was it James?), the African American slave and personal assistant of the American envoys brokering a treaty. (My review copy has expired, so apologies if I got his name wrong!) He flits around and show up for a few memorable scenes and I would have loved to have seen more of him. (I especially appreciated the point he made about the hypocrisy of the US Founding Fathers, in that his owner was supposedly anti-slavery. The poor guy deserves better.)

Still, Black Drop seems to be setting itself up for a sequel, so perhaps we will see more of him, and perhaps Laurence will kick his habit and be a bit more sensible next time. I would definitely read it, or anything else from this author!

Laudanum what a temptation that must have been. The description of its effects are beguiling and terrifying.
Poor Lawrence Jago, trying to better himself by working for the government, hiding his unfortunate parentage. He becomes a spy to protect himself and a victim of his conscious.
An evocative and somewhat complicated read, loved the descriptions, smells, sounds and roughness of London in the 1700's, the dangers of politics and unscrupulous people.
An entertaining fast paced read.

Fascinating story, brimming with historical and political intrigue. Nattrass paints the murky, underbelly world of late 18th century London.

The story sounded good and a lot of true history is woven into the plot but I found it difficult to remain focused on the murder thread due to so much else happening. They were almost incidental to what was happening to the main character Jago and the pace of the narrative dragged in places. But not a bad first novel all in all 3.5/5.

I received this ebook from netgallery in exhchange for an honest review as given above

Well-plotted historical thriller with murder, mystery, spies and double-crossing, a great read. The historical detail is brilliant and I particularly liked the dialogue and use of language. Very vivid descriptions, I felt I could see what Laurence Jago could see and was transported to Downing Street and its environs. Recommended!

A great peek into the paranoia and self-serving times of the late 18th century, when France was in a state of revolt, America had taken control of its own destiny and the ruling classes of England were fearful of our own underclasses getting ideas above their station - and maybe following suit, to a full democracy, if not the guillotine. I wasn't entirely sure of the point of the reluctant spy's addiction to opium, it added nothing to the storyline, but the rest worked well - a clever plot with a satisfying finish.

In the last years of the 18th century Laurence Jago, a clerk at the Foreign Office, has secrets. But then, so has everyone else.

One of Jago's secrets is his increasing dependence on the opiate, Black Drop. But it's not the most dangerous one.

Jago is drawn into a terrifying web of spies, murder and deceit and seems powerless to see justice done to a colleague whose death he's convinced is not suicide. But what's the connection between the dead man, a mysterious leaked letter, and the British Army's perilous situation in Revolutionary France?

This is a chilling, tightly-plotted book, written with great skill and a superb eye for detail.. Menace stalks every page and the twists are deliciously surprising..Excellent.

Before publishing her debut novel Black Drop, Leonora Nattrass wrote an academic work about William Cobbett – English farmer, journalist and MP who lived at the cusp between the 18th and 19th Centuries – and also edited several volumes of Cobbett’s writings. Her studies of that era of history, one marked by social upheaval and stirrings of revolt, provide her with plenty of material for her debut. But if you’re concerned that Black Drop reads like a dry academic text fear not – it’s definitely not.

Nattrass’ debut is, in fact, a rollicking tale of crime, spying and political intrigue, set at a time when the English political establishment was mightily afraid of the revolutionary wind blowing from France and wary of the diplomatic overtures of the newly independent Americans. The plot unfolds over the year 1794 and its protagonist is one Laurence Jago, a young clerk to the English Foreign Office. Jago cuts an eccentric figure, with his green-tinted glasses, penchant for getting into scrapes, and an increasing dependency on the eponymous opium-based tincture Black Drop. For some strange reason, I found myself imagining him played by Johnny Depp in a movie version of the book…

Jago, whose mother is French, is also a (sometimes) reluctant informer to the enemy, although he is becoming increasingly conflicted about this. When an explosive letter is leaked to and published by the press, Laurence comes under suspicion. His position becomes increasingly delicate following the mysterious death of a fellow clerk and other individuals involved in political and conspiratory circles.

Black Drop is an engaging, fast-paced thriller, enlivened with vivid descriptions evoking the sights, sounds and smells of a past era. For added authenticity Nattrass has her anti-hero interact with a colourful cast of both real and imagined characters, including Prime Minister William Pitt, Foreign Secretary Lord Grenville and under-Secretary George Aust, with whose daughter Jago is unrequitedly in love. Then there’s William Philpott who, though fictional, appears to be inspired by none other than William Cobbett. A larger-than-life Dickensian character, Philpott is a voice for justice, humanity, reason and good sense in a world marked by fear, violence, intolerance and political compromise.

Quite surprisingly, despite the dark subjects which make of Black Drop a sort of historical noir, there is also a humorous vein which runs through the novel: be it Jago’s witty and self-deprecatory comments, or the comedic set-pieces which have Theodore, the American envoy’s son, visiting prostitutes of either sex to convince them to abandon their debauched lifestyles.

An intelligent and entertaining read, Black Drop is a debut which leaves one wishing for a sequel.

An illustrated review, with some music to go with it can be found at:

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2021/11/black-drop-by-leonora-nattrass.html