Martyr
Subtitle: the first John Shakespeare mystery
By: Rory Clements
Series: John Shakespeare mystery -- 1
Publisher: Witness Impulse
Published: 2014
Place of publication: New York]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 435
ISBN-13: 9780062356321
Copyright date: 2009
Subjects: Fiction; Secret service; Assassination attempts; History
Description: Martyr is the first installment in Rory Clements' acclaimed and bestselling John Shakespeare series of Tudor spy thrillers. Clements, winner of the Ellis Peters Historical Fiction Award, "does for Elizabeth's reign what CJ Sansom does for Henry VIII's" (Sunday Times).  England is close to war. Within days the ax could fall on the neck of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Spain is already gathering a battle fleet to avenge her.  Tensions in Elizabeth I's government are at the breaking point. At the center of the storm is John Shakespeare, chief intelligencer in the secret service of Sir Francis Walsingham. When an intercept reveals a plot to assassinate England's "sea dragon," Francis Drake, Shakespeare is ordered to protect him. Busy fitting out his ships on land, Drake is frighteningly vulnerable. If he dies, England will be open to invasion.  the splendor 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.