A compelling story.
Many thanks to Tenderfoot and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Calumny has an original voice. His narration of his story and how he became a coffee racketeer in the late 1600's. His father is so cruel to him. The story is complex involving trade, slavery, religion and royal loyalties. There's a lot to handle in the book, but Alexander does it well and keeps the story moving and organized.

I found the subject interesting, the tale of a young man brought up in the silk trade who moves to London and becomes a 'coffee racketeer' to help his father. At first I found it well written, evocative of its era, but then came the grammatical errors ... These (very) common errors should have been edited out, and while they are bad enough in a modern story I found them particularly jarring in a historical one. I tried to overlook them but there were really too many, and I'm afraid I gave up about a third of the way through.
Thank you to the publisher for a review copy.

Amazing,fabulous and poignant. I devoured it in one sitting. The book is perfect for every mystery reader. I loved it and would recommend it to everyone. The plotvwas engaging with strong and mind blowing twists,deep characters and a captivating prose. The book was awesome