A galloping good yarn, stuffed full to the brim with double-crossing intrigue, yet intelligently braced against historical fact and figures. The mostly cool, calm and collected spy John Shakespeare is surrounded by a writhing vibrant cast of often unscrupulous or just plain villainous miscreants. The most vivid character of them all is the turbulence that is London in 1586, artfully written so that the reek, the uproar, the menace feels completely authentic. The threads of two investigations weave together, one based on historical fact, the other fictional and characters slip from one story to the next with ease. Clements has developed a wonderfully entertaining series, and ‘Holy Spy’ keeps with tradition as a compelling and immensely satisfying read. ~ Liz Robinson
In London's smoky taverns, a conspiracy is brewing: a group of wealthy young Catholic dissidents plot to assassinate Elizabeth, free Mary Queen of Scots - and open England to Spanish invasion. But the conspirators have been infiltrated by Sir Francis Walsingham's top intelligencer, John Shakespeare. Shakespeare, however, is torn: the woman he loves stands accused of murder. In a desperate race against time he must save her from the noose and the realm from treachery. And then it dawns that both investigations are inextricably linked - by corruption very close to the seat of power ...
'Clements has the edge when it comes to creating a lively, fast-moving plot' The Sunday Times
'Enjoyable, bloody and brutish' Guardian
'Sixteenth-century London comes alive in all its tawdriness' Daily Mail
'A world spiced with delicious characters ... The novel wears its historical learning lightly, and Clements seasons it with romance and humour' Mail on Sunday
'Beautifully done ... alive and tremendously engrossing' Daily Telegraph
Author
About Rory Clements
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.
