LoveReading Says
An absolute belter of a read and another fabulous addition to the Jackdaw Mysteries series. It’s 1593, Nicholas is recruited by the Queen’s spymaster to travel to Marrakech, while Bianca has to deal with the plague knocking at her door. What a fabulous series this has shaped up to be, start with The Angel’s Mark and follow with The Serpent’s Mark before reading this, to get the full benefit of the tale so far. I just gobbled up the pages as the story fairly roars along battling spies and pirates en route. Marrakech is absolutely fascinating, the descriptions of the plague made me shiver, and the relationship between Nicholas and Bianca edges ever closer. S. W. Perry ensures the sights, smells and sounds of London and Morocco entered my very being. I love this series, it is so, so readable, and I have chosen The Saracen’s Mark as one of my Liz Robinson Picks of the Month.
Liz Robinson
Find This Book In
The Saracen's Mark Synopsis
Betrayal has many guises...
London, 1593: Five years on from the Armada and England is taking its first faltering steps towards a future as a global power. Nicholas Shelby - reluctant spy and maverick physician - and his companion Bianca Merton are settling into a life on Bankside. But in London there is always a plot afoot...
Robert Cecil, the Queen's spymaster, once again recruits Nicholas to embark on a dangerous undercover mission that will take him to the back alleys of Marrakech in search of a missing informer. However, while Nicholas hunts for the truth across the seas, plague returns once more to London - ravaging the streets and threatening those dearest to him.
Can Bianca and Nicholas' budding relationship weather the threats of pestilence and conspiracy? And will Nicholas survive the dangers of his mission in a hostile city to return safely home?
About This Edition
S. W. Perry Press Reviews
Wonderful! Beautiful writing, and Perry's Elizabethan London is so skilfully evoked, so real that one can almost smell it. - Giles Kristian on The Angel's Mark
A gorgeous book - rich, intelligent and dark in equal measure. It immerses you in the late 16th century and leaves you wrung out with terror. This is historical fiction at its most sumptuous. - Rory Clements on The Angel's Mark
The Serpent's Mark is an excellent evocation of Elizabethan England, with espionage, intricate conspiracies, strange medical practises and a gripping story. A rattling good read. - William Ryan on The Serpent's Mark
No-one is better than S. W. Perry at leading us through the squalid streets of London in the sixteenth century. - Andrew Swanston on The Serpent's Mark
A satisfyingly convoluted plot. - Sunday Times on The Serpent's Mark
The writing is of such a quality, the characters so engaging and the setting so persuasive that, only two books in, S.W. Perry's ingeniously plotted novels have become my favourite historical crime series. - S. G. MacLean on The Serpent's Mark
.jpg)
