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 axe 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...

There will be a terrible reckoning . . .

England is at war with Spain, and Queen Elizabeth's court is torn apart by brutal rivalries among ambitious young courtiers. The inimitable investigator John Shakespeare is dragged from retirement to work for the Earl of Essex, the queen's favorite. His mission is to unravel the mystery behind the doomed Roanoke colony in North America, but instead, he uncovers a plot to kill the aging queen.

With a plague devastating the country, Catholics being tortured, and John's wife keeping secrets from him, Shakespeare has his own survival to...

For fans of CJ Sansom and SJ Parris, Holy Spy features the Queen's Intelligencer John Shakespeare in the latest of Rory Clements's acclaimed and bestselling series of Tudor spy thrillers

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...