Martyr
A spellbinding, utterly gripping historical mystery from the award-winning, SUNDAY TIMES bestseller
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- 4,49 €
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- 4,49 €
Publisher Description
'Does for Elizabeth's reign what CJ Sansom does for Henry VIII's' Sunday Times
The first book in the iconic John Shakespeare series, beloved by thousands of readers, from true master of historical fiction, Rory Clements.
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'Sixteenth-century London comes alive in all its tawdriness' Daily Mail
'Beautifully done . . . alive and tremendously engrossing' Daily Telegraph
'Plot and dialogue that hums with Elizabethan slang, profanity and wit' The Times
'Enjoyable, bloody and brutish' Guardian
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England, 1587. Mary, Queen of Scots is to be executed. Spain gathers their fleet in vengeance . . . War is coming.
Tensions in Elizabeth I's government are at breaking point. At the eye of the storm is John Shakespeare, chief intelligencer in the secret service of Sir Francis Walsingham.
When an intercept reveals a plot to assassinate Francis Drake, Shakespeare is ordered to protect him. The future of the nation rests on Drake's safety.
But London is nothing but one large powder keg. And murder and mutilation of a high-born young woman at a printing house, a case which Shakespeare is forced to investigate, could be the spark that sets everything ablaze. . .
From the splendour and intrigue of the royal court, to the sleek warships of Her Majesty's Navy and the teeming brothels of Southwark, Shakespeare soon learns that nothing is as it seems.
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Readers adore Martyr and the John Shakespeare series
'If you love C.J. Sansom, you'll love this' ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
'You can feel, smell, see and hear the dangerous times of Tudor England' ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
'An absolutely delightful Elizabethan mystery' ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
'If you enjoy S.J. Parris, you need to try this' ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
'Rory Clements has struck gold with John Shakespeare' ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
William Shakespeare's older brother, John, plays sleuth in Clements's excellent debut, billed as an Elizabethan thriller. While Queen Elizabeth hesitates to sign the death warrant for Mary, Queen of Scots, her spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, fears the Spanish have sent an assassin to England to kill the country's greatest naval hero, Sir Francis Drake. John, Walsingham's "assistant secretary and chief intelligencer," suspects the conspiracy against Drake may be connected with a murder John's investigating the stabbing death of Lady Blanche Howard, whose mutilated corpse was found in a burning London building. His inquiries put him at odds with Richard Topcliffe, a fanatical servant of the queen known for his taste for torture and anti-Catholic zeal, who threatens to expose John's father's secret Catholic sympathies. The characters, action and period detail are all solid, though some may wish the end notes had provided information on the historical John Shakespeare.
