It is 1582 and John Shakespeare, brother of William, spy for Walsingham, is sent with his loyal servant Boltfoot on a mission to his home town, Stratford-on-Avon, to investigate a conspiracy to free Mary Queen of Scots. The conflict between crown and Catholics has seeped into the Shakespeare family, or almost for Anne Hathaway, engaged to William has signed a document claiming loyalty to the Church in Rome! Much now ensues: murder, duplicity, missing documents, plots of treason and skulduggery all bounce off the pages at a hell of a lick. This is great stuff, a terrific addition to an excellent series which, if you haven’t discovered it, then you have a treat in store.
Set in 1582 (five years before Martyr), Shakespeare is sent on his first major mission, first to Sheffield where Mary Queen of Scots is held captive - and then to his own home, Stratford-upon-Avon, a nest of treachery and intrigue and family crisis.
Rory Clements is the bestselling author of the John Shakespeare series of Tudor spy thrillers. His six acclaimed novels, Martyr, Revenger, Prince, Traitor, The Heretics and The Queen's Man, follow Elizabeth's Intelligencer, John Shakespeare, brother to the playwright William, through the dark underworld of Tudor England as he unmasks the traitors and conspirators who plot against the Queen. The seventh John Shakespeare novel, Holy Spy, is due to be published in February 2015. Rory Clements won the Crime Writers' Association Ellis Peters Historical Fiction Award in 2010 for Revenger, and has been shortlisted for CWA Awards for Martyr, Prince and The Heretics. A TV series is currently in development.
