***Includes bonus short story***

Introduces us to the life of John Shakespeare, Queen's Spy.

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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 is a Judas nest of conspiracy.

It is 1582, and the conflict between Protestant and Catholic threatens to tear the country in two.

While Queen Elizabeth I holds the reins of power, there are those whose loyalty lies with her imprisoned cousin, Mary Queen of Scots.

On his first major mission for Sir Francis Walsingham, the young John Shakespeare is ordered to discover a conspiracy to free the Stuart queen from Sheffield Castle.

All too soon, he realises that the tentacles of the plot reach deep into his native Warwickshire and threaten his own friends and family.

His duty lies with Elizabeth - but how far will he go to protect those he loves?

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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'