[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-114563-en":3,"doc-seo-114563-105":28,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":89},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":11,"is_downloadable":11,"audit_status":11,"page_count":20,"language":21,"language_code":22,"site_id":23,"html_lang":22,"table_of_contents":24,"faqs":25,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":26,"read_time":27},114563,13056703019404,"Miles","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_29158cc5080c5b710cf443261637dec0",1,"Story & Novel","The Chelsea Strangler - Prologue","A historical mystery unfolds in London as 10 June 1665 in Essex sets a tense prologue tone: naval conflict, mass casualties, and the grim aftermath of violence. Thomas Chaloner, already shaped by years of war, confronts the physical horror and moral unease left by burned wreckage and drowning deaths. As Captain Lester draws attention to Dutch prisoners held below deck, the story pivots toward danger beyond the battlefield and toward hidden motives that will drive the coming investigation.","About the Author  \nSusanna Gregory was a police officer in Leeds before taking up an academic career. She has served as an environmental consultant during seventeen field seasons in the polar regions, and has taught comparative anatomy and biological anthropology.  \nShe is the creator of the Matthew Bartholomew series of mysteries set in medieval Cambridge as well as the Thomas Chaloner books, and now lives in Wales with her husband, who is also a writer.  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nAlso by Susanna Gregory  \nA Plague on Both Your Houses An Unholy Alliance A Bone of Contention ADeadly Brew AWicked Deed A Masterly Murder An Order for Death A Summer of Discontent A Killer in Winter The Hand of Justice The Mark of a Murderer The Tarnished Chalice To Kill or Cure The Devil’s Disciples A Vein of Deceit The Killer of Pilgrims Mystery in the Minster Murder by the Book The Lost Abbot Death of a Scholar A Poisonous Plot  \nThe Thomas Chaloner Series  \nA Conspiracy of Violence Blood on the Strand The Butcher of Smithfield The Westminster Poisoner A Murder on London Bridge The Body in the Thames The Piccadilly Plot Death in St James’s Park Murder on High Holborn  \nThe Cheapside Corpse  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nCOPYRIGHT  \nPublished by Sphere  \nISBN: 9781405530637  \nAll characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or  \ndead, is purely coincidental. Copyright © Susanna Gregory 2015 The moral right of the author has been asserted.  \nAll rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored ina retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.  \nThe publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not  \nowned by the publisher.  \nSphere  \nAn imprint of Little, Brown Book Group Carmelite House  \n50 Victoria Embankment  \nLondon EC4Y 0DZ  \n[www.littlebrown.co.uk](www.littlebrown.co.uk)  \n[www.hachette.co.uk](www.hachette.co.uk)  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nContents  \nAbout the Author  \nAlso by Susanna Gregory  \nCopyright  \nDedication  \nMap  \nPrologue Chapter 1  \nChapter 2  \nChapter 3  \nChapter 4  \nChapter 5  \nChapter 6  \nChapter 7  \nChapter 8  \nChapter 9  \nChapter 10  \nChapter 11  \nChapter 12  \nChapter 13  \nChapter 14  \nChapter 15  \nChapter 16  \nChapter 17  \nChapter 18  \nChapter 19  \nEpilogue  \nHistorical Note  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nFor Chris and Annie Wilson, dearest of friends.  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nPrologue  \n10 June 1665, Essex  \nThe port of Harwich was en fête, flags flying from every house and cheering crowds hurrying towards the quayside. The English were victorious, while the Dutch fleet was slinking back to Rotterdam and Friesland with its tail between its legs. Aboard HMS Swiftsure, limping towards the shore with a gaping hole in her portside and her sails pockmarked from cannon fire, Thomas Chaloner could not share the noisy jubilation. He had spent much of his life fighting for one cause or another, both on land and at sea, and had thought he was immune to the horrors of warfare, but the scale of the carnage under that bright summer sky a week ago had shaken him to the core.  \nMore than two hundred of his countrymen had been drowned or blown apart by the enemy’s fusillade, but the Dutch casualties were in the thousands, many hideously burned when English fire-ships had careened into their midst. Chaloner had been half-deaf from the roar of great guns ashe had helped drag the survivors from the sea, but while the screams had been eerily muted, his other senses were working, and there had been no escape from the stench of charred flesh, the slippery feel of fresh blood on sea-chilled bodies, and the sight of corpses – and parts of corpses – bobbing amid burning wreckage.  \n‘Thank God we have made safe passage.’  \nChaloner turned at the fa","cbCaicQ6CvA4eWRr","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaicQ6CvA4eWRr","pdf",1882189,364,"English","en",105,"# Contents\n## About the Author\n## Prologue\n## Chapter 1\n## Chapter 2\n## Chapter 3\n## Chapter 4\n## Chapter 5\n## Chapter 6\n## Chapter 7\n## Chapter 8\n## Chapter 9\n## Chapter 10\n## Chapter 11\n## Chapter 12\n## Chapter 13\n## Chapter 14\n## Chapter 15\n## Chapter 16\n## Chapter 17\n## Chapter 18\n## Chapter 19\n## Epilogue\n## Historical Note","[{\"question\":\"Who is Thomas Chaloner in the story’s opening?\",\"answer\":\"Thomas Chaloner is the main figure introduced in the prologue, marked by experience fighting in wars on land and at sea.\"},{\"question\":\"What historical date and setting frame the prologue?\",\"answer\":\"The prologue is set on 10 June 1665, beginning in Essex at the port of Harwich.\"},{\"question\":\"What event creates the prologue’s mood and stakes?\",\"answer\":\"A naval battle leaves HMS Swiftsure damaged and produces massive casualties, along with the unsettling presence of Dutch prisoners held in the 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