Hannah Rosefield
A Clockwork Beehive
In a warehouse somewhere on the banks of the Thames, Joe Spork spends his days repairing clockwork and trying to forget that he is the son of legendary East End gangster Mathew ‘Tommy Gun’ Spork. But Edie Banister, octogenarian ex-spy, has other ideas. She is determined to involve Joe in the activation of a machine that has the potential to destroy mankind. Before he knows it, Joe is doing battle with a shape-shifting Eastern dictator, a mass murderer, a secret society dedicated to the artistic tenets of John Ruskin, and two unscrupulous government officials. With the help of Edie and the devastatingly attractive Polly Cradle, Joe Spork can avert apocalypse – but only if he embraces his identity as the heir to London’s criminal underworld.
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'Only in Britain, perhaps, could spy chiefs – conventionally viewed as masters of subterfuge – be so highly regarded as ethical guides.'
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https://literaryreview.co.uk/a-gross-indecency
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https://literaryreview.co.uk/good-gad