num_pages: 391
description: In this ingenious debut Rory Clements introduces John Shakespeare Elizabethan England's most remarkable investigator and delivers a tale of murder and conspiracy that succeeds brilliantly as both historical fiction and a crime thriller. In a burnt-out house one of Queen Elizabeth's aristocratic cousins is found murdered her young flesh marked with profane symbols. At the same time a plot to assassinate Sir Francis Drake England's most famous sea warrior is discovered a plot which if successful could leave the country utterly defenseless against a Spanish invasion. It's 1587 the Queen's reign is in jeopardy and one man is charged with the desperate task of solving both cases: John Shakespeare. With the Spanish Armada poised to strike Mary Queen of Scots awaiting execution and the pikes above London Bridge decorated with the grim evidence of treachery the country is in peril of being overwhelmed by fear and chaos. Following a trail of illicit passions and family secrets Shakespeare travels through an underworld of spies sorcerers whores and theater people among whom is his own younger brother the struggling playwright Will. Shadowed by his rival the Queen's chief torturer who employs his own methods of terror Shakespeare begins to piece together a complex and breathtaking conspiracy whose implications are almost too horrific to contemplate. For a zealous and cunning killer is stalking England's streets. And as Shakespeare threatens to reveal a madman's shocking identity he and the beautiful woman he desires come ever closer to becoming the next martyrs to a passion for murder and conspiracy whose terrifying consequences might still be felt today.
language: English
title: Martyr
publisher: Bantam Books