''The Hanging Tree'' is the sixth novel in the '' Peter Grant series'' by the English author

Ben Aaronovitch Ben Dylan Aaronovitch (born 22 February 1964) is an English author and screenwriter. He is the author of the series of novels '' Rivers of London''. He also wrote two ''Doctor Who'' serials in the late 1980s and spin-off novels from ''Doctor Who ...

Plot

The previous book's adventure in

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

left the protagonist Peter Grant deeply involved in a relationship with Beverley Brook, the resourceful young woman who had saved him from captivity by the Faerie Queen. Beverley happens to be the tutelary goddess of

Beverley Brook Beverley Brook is a -long river in the south-western suburbs of London, England. It rises in Worcester Park and joins the River Thames to the north of the Putney Embankment at Barn Elms, having flowed through the green spaces of Wimbledon Common ...

, a small river in South London, and can often be found swimming through its waters; when Peter comes to the bank and calls her name, she might jump naked out of the water, like a salmon, directly into his arms. Peter now spends much of his time – especially his nights – in Beverley's comfortable and spacious house on the riverbank. It is there that he gets the phone call catapulting him into the whirlwind of a new adventure. A bunch of teenagers breaking into a luxurious apartment and holding there a wild party of sex and drugs, ending with one of them dead of an overdose, is a matter for the police – but normally, not for Grant, whose very special police specialty are the cases involving magic. However, one of the teenagers involved was the daughter of a very magical creature – Cecilia Tyburn Thames aka Lady Ty, who is the goddess of the

River Tyburn The River Tyburn was a stream ( bourn) in London, England. Its main successor sewers emulate its main courses, but it resembled the Colne in its county of Middlesex in that it had many distributaries (inland mouths). It ran from South Hampstead ...

and the older and far stricter sister of Peter's girlfriend. Peter owes Lady Ty a favour for having once saved his life, and she wants her daughter Olivia kept out of trouble with the law – which is not easy for Peter to deliver. Peter's involvement soon grows deeper when an autopsy by pathologists who know about magic reveals that the dead girl, Christina Chorley, had died not only of a drug overdose but also of a wild and excessive use of magic – which can cause a careless practitioner's brain to undergo ''hyperthaumaturgical degradation'', with often fatal results. Peter plunges into the investigation, in partnership with the Muslim policewoman Sahra Guleed – who has no training in magic but makes up for it in her courage and dedication. It is far from easy, since it is needed to interview various very rich and influential people, who resent the police digging into their affairs and who use their connections in the Metropolitan Police's command structure to obstruct the investigation. To further confuse the issue, there come up traces of a long-lost manuscript by

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment that followed ...

, who secretly founded modern magic. This lost ''Third Principia'', stolen by the 18th-century master criminal

Jonathan Wild Jonathan Wild, also spelled Wilde (1682 or 1683 – 24 May 1725), was an English thief-taker and a major figure in London's criminal underworld, notable for operating on both sides of the law, posing as a public-spirited vigilante entitled th ...

, supposedly deals with

alchemy Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...

, the

philosopher's stone The philosopher's stone is a mythic alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold or silver; it was also known as "the tincture" and "the powder". Alchemists additionally believed that it could be used to mak ...

and possibly even with how to attain eternal life. Various magically-inclined individuals and groups are involved in the hunt for this treasure: * Viscountess Helena Linden-Limmer, heiress to a long line of witches and sorceresses who disdain male-dominated magic, and her daughter Caroline who aspires to learn how to fly magically without wings or mechanical aids * A bunch of American wizards known as the "Virginia Gentlemen", with links to the US intelligence community – who bungled badly when using magic at Falluja during the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

, but are now intensively active in London * The various not-quite-human beings known collectively as "The Demi-monde", identifying themselves as fae and strongly objecting to being called

goblin A goblin is a small, grotesque, monster, monstrous humanoid creature that appears in the folklore of multiple European cultures. First attested in stories from the Middle Ages, they are ascribed conflicting abilities, temperaments, and appearan ...

s. Their favourite gathering place is the sinister ''Chestnut Tree Pub'', built around the still-existent Tyburn Tree, on which London criminals used to be hanged (the ''Hanging Tree'' of the title) * In particular, a specific denizen of this ''demi-monde'' known as Reynard Fossman ( Reynard the Fox), a highly enterprising and competent criminal rumoured to be in possession of the secret Newton manuscript * Sir William Tyburn – an earlier deity of the

. Considered to have been killed by the river's industrial pollution in the 19th century, suddenly reappears – using a 14th-century broadsword to kill a 21st-century underworld hired killer. On another occasion, he is seen at night running across the parks of modern London, painted blue with

woad ''Isatis tinctoria'', also called woad (), dyer's woad, dyer's-weed, or glastum, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae (the mustard family) with a documented history of use as a blue dye and medicinal plant. Its genus name, ''Isati ...

and stalking mysterious prey with spears All of these and more are constantly running into each other, ruining each other's plans but sometimes inadvertently saving each other's lives. Gradually, however, other issues become side-lined as Peter Grant and his mentor, the veteran wizard Nightingale, find themselves heading for an explosive showdown with their arch-enemy – the very powerful and utterly ruthless wizard known as The Faceless Man. Also involved is the renegade policewoman Lesley May – once Peter Grant's valued colleague and friend, now The Faceless Man's cunning and highly resourceful accomplice. The titanic magical battle thoroughly wrecks the luxurious apartment building where everything began. "He almost got me, you know," Nightingale recounts afterwards. "He's prepared a number of booby traps and tried to lure me into the killing zone." However, though the Faceless Man is clever and ruthless, he lacks combat experience, while Nightingale is a veteran of deadly battles against Nazi German wizards in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

– enabling him to survive all traps and relentlessly pursue his foe. Meanwhile, Peter and Lesley engage in intensive magical duels of their own – but remember enough of their past to still make an effort not to kill each other. In the event, no one is killed. The Faceless Man and Lesley make good their escape, to fight again another day. However, he is The Faceless Man no longer. His true name and antecedents had been revealed, and a wealth of information gained on his background and motivations: an upper-class English Nationalist, a racist who romanticises the Dark Ages and admires

Alfred the Great Alfred the Great ( ; – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who both died when Alfr ...

and dreams of the English once again ruling the world. In the aftermath, Newton's famed ''Third Principia'' had fallen into the hands of Lady Helena Linden-Limmer – and Nightingale is content to leave her the task of deciphering its obscure

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

. Peter goes back to his idyllic relationship with the delightful Beverley, doing some needed work on improving her eponymous

. However, Lady Ty invites him to a stern talk, to warn of the dangers and dilemmas inherent in a mortal man loving an immortal goddess (and vice versa).

References

Rivers of London (book series) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hanging Tree Novels by Ben Aaronovitch British fantasy novels Novels set in London Cultural depictions of Metropolitan Police officers Speculative crime and thriller fiction novels