The Foot on the Crown

Set during the Dark Ages (a time about which we know next to nothing), this is a story of London – a story that’s filled with myths reimagined, legends retold, seductions, executions, deceits, betrayals and perhaps – just perhaps – a little hope; a posthumous work of maverick genius from the unmistakable, mischievous imagination of the creator of Bryant & May.

It is said a legend is just a beautiful lie…

In the second half of the first millennium, the legends say that London disappeared for over four hundred years. We know almost nothing about what happened during that time. But if we could shine a light on the city’s ruined walls, we would be in for a shock.

The Romans are long forgotten. It is now King Scarabold who rules what little remains of the city, together with his over-entitled daughter Giniva, her effete brother Leperdandy and their wayward, lunatic relatives – all squabbling and fighting amongst themselves for the future of their corrupted dynasty while trying to hide their most terrible secret.

And ranged against Scarabold is a horde of bitter enemies from both without and within his dysfunctional household – the eerie Sheathwing, Lord Carapace Earl of Beetles, the warlike nuns of tranges Cadeaux, a primate called M’Lin, Orobus the serpent, the terrifying Mater Moribund and the sinister child-spies Spackle and Peut – united in their desire to bring king’s troubled reign to a bloody end.

But the arrival of a mysterious outsider into the midst of the beleaguered Scarabold’s snake-pit of a court that seems to offer a semblance of hope. The stranger’s name is Watborn and he is a birdcatcher – strong, silent, he will infiltrate the royal family for a purpose that is all of his own . . .

As fiendishly-armed warriors gather beneath the walls, the battle for London, its body and its soul as much as its bricks and mortar, is about to begin – and who will be left unscathed at the field’s end?

Author Biography

Christopher Fowler was the multiple award-winning author of almost fifty novels and short story collections, including the celebrated Bryant & May mysteries. His other novels include Roofworld, Spanky, The Sand Men and Hot Water. He has also written two acclaimed memoirs, Paperboy (winner of the Green Carnation Prize) and Film Freak, plus The Book of Forgotten Authors and Peculiar London, Bryant and May’s singular and eccentric guide to the city. In 2015 Chris was awarded the Crime Writers Association’s coveted ‘Dagger in the Library’ for his body of work. He lived in London and Barcelona. Diagnosed with cancer just as the UK went into lockdown in 2020, Chris died on 2nd March 2023.