Dark Conspiracy: The Rye House Plot against Charles II

by Jane Lane

Charting the Rye House Plot, a dark conspiracy conceived to murder King Charles II, this story tells of a poor chandler wrongfully implicated in the assassination plot, and of his vivacious daughter, Phoebe. When the young and heroic Derrick Calder, a man of the law and also in love with Phoebe, enters the story, he becomes intent on unpicking the lock to the brutal truth. But the only way he can do this is by becoming one of the conspirators himself. This is a chilling, suspenseful novel with its base in a dark and ingenious past.

342 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1951

About the author

Jane Lane (1905 – 1978) was the pen name of Elaine Kidner Dakers, an English historical novelist and biographer distantly related to the Jane Lane who aided Charles II after his defeat at Worcester. She is best known for her books about the Stuart period and 18th century Scotland, written from a Catholic and Royalist perspective. A State of Mind is unique among her books, being set in a dystopian future.

The Tablet described her as "one of the few contemporary writers who excel both as novelists and historians."