Notes of Change

In the autumn of 1829, the body of a wealthy young man is found dumped in a dust-pit behind one of London's most exciting new venues. Constable Sam Plank's enquiries lead him from horse auctions to houses of correction, and from the rarefied atmosphere of the Bank of England to the German-speaking streets of Whitechapel. And when he comes face to face with an old foe, he finds himself considering shocking compromises...The new and highly organised Metropolitan Police are taking to the streets, calling into question the future of the magistrates' constables. Sam's junior constable, William Wilson, is keen, but what is an old campaigner like Sam to do when faced with the new force and its little black book of instructions? I have been in love with words ever since I realised, at age three, that those squiggles on the page actually meant something. I edited the school newspaper (is here the place to confess that I was also the author of the section giving all the gossip on who was going out with whom?) and did lots more reading and writing at university (where, of course, I studied English).For twenty-five years I ran my own anti-money laundering consultancy, which gave me almost limitless opportunity to write about my very favourite subject: money laundering. And the obsession with understanding the mechanics and motivations of financial crime has only grown.I have spent years haunting the streets of Regency London, in the company of magistrates' constable Sam Plank. He is the narrator of my series of historical financial crime novels set in consecutive years in the 1820s - just before Victoria came to the throne, and in the policing period after the Bow Street Runners and before the Metropolitan Police.The fourth Sam Plank novel - "Portraits of Pretence" - was given the "Book of the Year 2017" award by influential book review website Discovering Diamonds. And the fifth - "Faith, Hope and Trickery" - was shortlisted for the Selfies Award 2019.And I am now researching the first in a new series set in Cambridge in the 1820s, narrated by a university constable called Gregory Hardiman. Constable Sam Plank is a magistrates' constable working in London in the 1820s. He tries to understand the "why" of crime as well as the "what", and has a particular interest in financial crime. He is aided at work by his junior constable, William Wilson, and at home by his wife Martha.