William Harrison Ainsworth

4 February 1805 – 3 January 1882
English historical novelist born in Manchester. I found him by browsing a list of Books about the History of London. “Old St. Paul’s” was the first of his Books I read, "Guy Fawkes" the second and "The Lancashire Witches" the third. Highly entertaining. A Great Read. After those books I got somehow
distracted and never found my way back to him. Sad, but that’s Life. A thousand Distractions for a keen reader.

However, his Works are available on Gutenberg (among others) and you should give him a chance.

"Old St.Pauls"
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11082

"Guy Fawkes"
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37750

"The Lancashire Witches"
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15493