Cavaliers and Corruption Book 2 - Final Words

The investigation of Mike Townley"s death by DI Marland and his small team has extended with global implications, widening suspicions beyond local protests about his building plans for a small Devon village, Derscott. Mike has also speculated rashly abroad to invest in land, winning few friends but gaining vengeful enemies. In a final message for his wife, bereft and grieving, he admits, "My risk"s inflated gradually... I"ve used money gains to purchase land and to offset losses... But with global instability I"ve come a cropper... now my days are numbered." In the seventeenth century, the night-time mission to the small north Devon town of Great Torrington by Ellie, who has ridden from her home, a nearby farm, coincides with a huge explosion: "Embers of burning thatch fell from the sky, it was as bright as day. Men and horses screamed and the smell of burning flesh leaked through alleys... Rumour spread like evil mist upon the river." The historical tale, while fictional, is crowned by the infamous, and true, battle of Great Torrington in 1646 and also provides the key to the heart of the modern plot.