Martyr

Starred review from March 16, 2009
William Shakespeare's older brother, John, plays sleuth in Clements's excellent debut, billed as an Elizabethan thriller. While Queen Elizabeth hesitates to sign the death warrant for Mary, Queen of Scots, her spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, fears the Spanish have sent an assassin to England to kill the country's greatest naval hero, Sir Francis Drake. John, Walsingham's “assistant secretary and chief intelligencer,” suspects the conspiracy against Drake may be connected with a murder John's investigating—the stabbing death of Lady Blanche Howard, whose mutilated corpse was found in a burning London building. His inquiries put him at odds with Richard Topcliffe, a fanatical servant of the queen known for his taste for torture and anti-Catholic zeal, who threatens to expose John's father's secret Catholic sympathies. The characters, action and period detail are all solid, though some may wish the end notes had provided information on the historical John Shakespeare.

Simon Vance shifts vocal tones and accents as listeners enter this mystery of the sixteenth century. Vance reflects class, age, and gender to differentiate each of the real and imagined characters. The hero is investigator John Shakespeare, elder brother of William and assistant to Queen Elizabeth's secretary, Walsingham. Vance shades the sleuth's decisive actions with puzzlement and determination as Shakespeare works to thwart a plot to assassinate Sir Francis Drake, solve the brutal murder of Lady Blanche Howard, and tiptoe around the era's religious and political unrest. Vance renders place as well he draws portraits. The bawdiness and intrigue of London streets are sometimes as chilling as the malevolence of the ruthless murderer. S.W. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine