Street Lavender

the long version

From Goodreads: "They say that the court of a prince resembles a fountain, whose clear water should refresh the land; but if corruption enters near the head, the infected streams bring poison". This prince is the Scottish king who became James I of England, "the wisest fool in Christendom" who made no secret of his love for young men. At his brilliant court three friends seek advancement, the narrator Giles Rawlins, Giles's cousin Thomas Overbury, and Thomas's protege, the ravishing Robbie Kerr, who becomes King James's lover only to find himself out of his depth in a world of unscrupulous scheming. As with Chris Hunt's many previous novels, The Honey and Sting brings to life a slice of English history, weaving real characters and events into a dramatic tale of which homosexual passion is the driving force.