The Heretics

The Elizabethan spy tracks down a mysterious young woman as he uncovers a papist conspiracy in this “well-crafted” historical thriller (Historical Novel Society).

John Shakespeare—royal intelligencer and brother to a rising young playwright—is approached by a condemned Jesuit priest with an unusual proposition. He is haunted by the memory of Thomasyn Jade, a teenage girl subjected to brutal exorcism rites a decade past. The Father wants Shakespeare to track her down and offer reparations for her treatment.

As Shakespeare begins his investigation, a plot to assassinate the Queen is underway, and rumors of a papist conspiracy begin swirling from Seville. And when, one by one, Shakespeare’s trusted spies are horribly murdered, all clues seem to lead back to the mysterious Thomasyn Jade . . .