As you might expect from the title, this book takes as its subject the assassination of Spencer Perceval, the prime minister of Britain at what turns out to have been a crucial period in history: a time when the slave trade was beginning to be abolished, the former American colonies were chafing under onerous trade restrictions, and Napoleon was wreaking havoc on the Continent. When Perceval was assassinated on May 11, 1812, his killer was known and made no attempt to deny what he’d done. The assassin, John Bellingham, argued, however, that the killing was a political necessity and was therefore not wrong (or done with malice aforethought). Bellingham maintained that he acted alone, but certain facts about his circumstances leading up to the assassination suggest a conspiracy might have been at work.

This is certainly an interesting premise, although at times I felt unconvinced. It’s hard to prove definitively who might have moulded Bellingham into a political assassin, and the use of the conditional left me doubtful. I found it especially vexing to read in this grammatical tense with regard to John Vickery, one of the Bow Street Runners and an early investigating officer. References to Vickery includes statements such as “Vickery must have noticed such and such” or “A man like Vickery would likely have noted this inconsistency”. Mm, I’m going to need more than that to fully buy this premise. Linklater does endnote his work, and I suppose that if you were interested in pursuing this thread yourself, you could with the sources he provides.

Mainly, I found this interesting background reading to the Poldark novels — book 9, The Miller’s Dance, takes place beginning in 1812 and will likely cover some of the fallout of this assassination. ( )