Holy Spy

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 . . .

“An exuberant plot and dialogue that hums with Elizabethan slang, profanity and wit ....Clements delivers a bawdy, engaging romp of book.”

Praise for the John Shakespeare novels:

The sixth in Rory Clements' enjoyable series of Elizabethan thrillers featuring John Shakespeare . . . 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 *****

A cracking plot full of twists right up to the last minute. I look forward to the next - Sunday Express

Colourful . . . exciting . . . vivid - Sunday Telegraph

Marvellous . . . intelligencer John Shakespeare . . . administers what can only be described as ruff justice - Daily Telegraph

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. 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.

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 . . .

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