A Cruel Necessity

  • Historical; Mystery

  • November 2014

    • UK & Commonwealth: Constable & Robinson

    • ​USA: Felony & Mayhem Press

John Grey Series Book 1

The theatres are padlocked. Christmas has been cancelled. It is 1657 and the unloved English Republic is eight years old. Though Cromwell's joyless grip on power appears immovable, many still look to Charles Stuart's dissolute and threadbare court-in-exile, and some are prepared to risk their lives plotting a restoration. 

For the officers of the Republic, constant vigilance is needed. So, when the bloody corpse of a Royalist spy is discovered on the dung heap of a small Essex village, why is the local magistrate so reluctant to investigate? John Grey, a young lawyer with no clients, finds himself alone in believing that the murdered man deserves justice. Grey is drawn into a vortex of plot and counter-plot and into the all-encompassing web of intrigue spun by Cromwell's own spy-master, John Thurloe. 

​So when nothing is what is seems, can Grey trust anyone?

Selected Praise

I was seduced from John Grey’s first scene
— Ann Cleeves
Tyler juggles his characters, story wit and clever one-liners with perfect balance.
— The Times

Other books by L. C. Tyler

  • Farewell My Herring (Elsie & Ethelred 9), April 2021

    The Maltese Herring (Elsie & Ethelred 8), July 2019

    Herring in the Smoke (Elsie & Ethelred 7), June 2017

    Cat Among the Herrings (Elsie & Ethelred 6), February 2016

    Crooked Herring (Elsie & Ethelred 5), May 2015

    Herring On the Nile (Elsie & Ethelred 4), January 2016

    The Herring in the Library (Elsie & Ethelred 3), January 2016

    Ten Little Herrings (Elsie & Ethelred 2), May 2015

    The Herring Seller's Apprentice (Elsie & Ethelred 1), May 2015