Canaletto and the Case of Bonnie Prince Charlie — Janet Laurence

Canaletto is commissioned by the Duke of Beaufort to paint Badminton, his Gloucestershire seat. Canaletto is delighted to leave London as he fears a smallpox epidemic. He is less delighted to be enlisted as a spy by William Pitt, Paymaster General. There is a danger Prince Charles Edward, the Young Pretender, could be visiting his old friend, the Duke, to enlist his support for another attempt to restore the Stuarts to the throne. There is the threat of civil war. Canaletto and his apprentice, Fanny, arrive in Gloucestershire to find that Bonnie Prince Charlie is not the only danger. Arson and murder are going to require the painter's investigative skills.