The Course of All Treasons

October 1, 2019
An Elizabethan spy with much to hide balances family loyalties with his fealty to the queen. Nicholas Holt, the younger brother of Robert, Earl of Blackwell, is a tavern owner, loyal friend, and spy who works for the ailing Sir Francis Walsingham. Therein lies Nick's problem, for his relatives are recusant Catholics he must find ways to protect in these troubling times, when the queen's cousin Mary Stuart, although imprisoned, remains a magnet for plots to restore the Catholic faith to England. Ordered to spot and identify a Spanish spy, Nick follows the man he recognizes as Francesco del Toro to an Oxford tavern, where he's appalled to see his brother Robert. Del Toro slips away, but Nick must stay. He also runs into Edmund Lovett, an acquaintance from his childhood and Oxford University who admits to working for the spy network of Robert Devereaux, second Earl of Essex and favorite of the queen, who flirts embarrassingly with the handsome, spoiled young man. Nick gets stuck with Edmund, who's also returning to London. When they're attacked on the road in what Nick suspects is an assassination attempt, Edmund comes to his aid. Much to Nick's dismay, the queen orders him to help Essex find the killer he claims is trying to shut down his rival spy network even though it's Walsingham's agents who are really in danger. Among Essex's agents are Lady Annie O'Neill, an Irish master of disguise, and Gavell and Stace, two stone-cold killers who suspect Nick of double-dealing. The few people Nick can trust are John Stockton, who runs Nick's tavern; Kat, a well-connected madam; and Eli and Rivkah, twin Jewish doctors who escaped the Spanish Inquisition. As Nick and Hector, the faithful Irish wolfhound who's helped him solve murders at the court (A Murder by Any Name, 2018, etc.), scour London, they narrowly escape assassination attempts as they try to roll up the Spanish spy network. Wolfe makes deft use of historical facts in an exciting mystery with a pleasing climactic surprise.

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Starred review from October 7, 2019
Set in 1586 England, Wolfe’s excellent second mystery featuring Nicholas Holt, who works for Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth I’s legendary spymaster, delivers on the promise of 2018’s A Murder by Any Name. Holt’s assignment, to trail a possible Spanish agent, turns deadly when an attempt is made on his own life. When reporting to Walsingham, Holt learns that a fellow spy has already been tortured and murdered. Holt then goes undercover, pretending to join forces with the dangerously ambitious Earl of Essex, to find out who’s targeting Walsingham’s agents. Wolfe vividly brings London to life, from the raunchy taverns to the stages offering plays by Will Shakespeare. But the book’s greatest strength is its characters, starting with the clever but flawed Holt, and including a twin brother and sister team of Jewish healers and a young Irish woman with a talent for disguise. Despite some anachronistic dialogue (“Don’t be a stranger,” the queen calls out to Holt at one point), readers will look forward to spending more time in their company. Agent: Carol Mann, Carol Mann Agency.

November 15, 2019
Wolfe delivers a second Elizabethan Spy thriller (after A Murder by Any Name, 2018) featuring Nicholas Holt, pressed into Her Majesty's Service to shield his family's religious beliefs. He is called in by Sir Francis Walsingham when one of his agents is murdered. Elizabeth I, half-mad with paranoia and desperate for evidence against her sister, Mary, Queen of Scots, is as vain as she is intelligent and overindulges favorites who compromise her judgment. One false move could cost Nick his head?who is already up to his neck in hot water, dodging crossbows and poisons and barely escaping a locked room full of gunpowder in a burning building?his head. Complicating matters, he is bewitched by a new counterpart, Lady Annie O'Neill. Well-placed mentions of Shakespeare and the Mermaid Theatre remind the reader that, despite all the intrigue and terror, this was also a time of major literary significance. More, please, of the amazing Annie. Recommended for fans of action-filled historical mysteries.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)