Thomas Clarady is recruited to spy on a group of radical Puritans at Cambridge University. Francis Bacon is his spymaster; his tutor in both tradecraft and religious politics. Their commission gets off to a deadly start when Tom finds his chief informant hanging from the roof beams. Now he must catch a murderer as well as a seditioner. His first suspect is volatile poet Christopher Marlowe, who … who keeps turning up in the wrong places.
Dogged by unreliable assistants, chased by three lusty women, and harangued daily by the exacting Bacon, Tom risks his very soul to catch the villains and win his reward.
more
A good adventure set in Elizabethan England at the time the Puritans were becoming a national problem. The protagonist, a likeable young man, is recruited by Lord Burghley and Francis Bacon to unveil a murderous Puritan conspiracy against the queen and the established church.. The story includes well researched details of everyday living at Cambridge University and of the political conditions of the time. The tension feels real and holds the reader’s attention. Altogether an excellent read.
I like this series, the characters are fleshed out enough to believe and the books remain a fairly quick read.
I read this to get a feel for the series – it was somewhat entertaining, but not one of my favorites. Not sure I’ll read any of the other books in the series, though.
Any book that makes me keep coming back to finish is a good one and this one did that. Great writing.
//
Highly entertaining for anyone who enjoys historical fiction.
Revived my interest for Christopher Marlowe, such tragically shortened life and poetic flow.
great inside view of the religious strife that threatened to tear England apart in a well thought out who-done -it