The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins

Book excerpt: A lively tale of “pitch-perfect suspense” set in eighteenth-century England—one of Publishers Weekly’s Top Ten Crime/Mystery Novels of the Year. Winner of the CWA Historical Dagger Award London, 1728. Tom Hawkins is headed to the gallows, accused of murder. Gentlemen don’t hang, and Tom will be damned if he’s the first—he is innocent, after all. It’s hard to say when Tom’s troubles began. He was happily living in sin with his beloved—though their neighbors weren’t happy about that. He probably shouldn’t have told London’s great criminal mastermind that he was in need of adventure. Nor should he have joined the king’s mistress in her fight against her vindictive husband. And he definitely shouldn’t have trusted the calculating Queen Caroline. She’s promised him a royal pardon if he holds his tongue, but there’s nothing more silent than a hanged man. Now Tom’s scrambling to save his life and protect those he loves. But as the noose tightens, his time is running out.