Treachery

October 1, 2019
An Elizabethan sleuth investigates a murder on one of Sir Francis Drake's ships. Plymouth, 1585. In a letter to Sir Francis Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth's Master Secretary, Drake explains that the suicide of crewman Robert Dunne prevents the good ship Elizabeth Bonaventure from setting sail on its voyage to the New World but asks that the queen not be told yet. Enter the brilliant but notorious Giordano Bruno (Sacrilege, 2012, etc.), summoned secretly by Drake through Sir Philip Sidney, the Queen's Master of the Ordnance. Sidney dangles the possibility of amnesty in London for the excommunicated monk and spy. Privately, Drake confesses his conviction to Sidney and Bruno that Dunne was murdered by someone onboard and that the killer will strike again if he's not apprehended. Bruno's investigation begins at the House of Vesta, a brothel frequented by Dunne, where shady characters may have sought to use him to get at supposed hidden riches belonging to Drake. Other clues include Dunne's gambling debts, theological scholars exploring the story of Judas Iscariot, and resistance from the not-so-grieving widow (what's that about?). A prostitute named Eve seems to hold all the answers. She directs them to Dunne's shabby lodgings on Rag Street, where more evidence awaits, including a convenient letter. Lady Drake is thrilled by the arrival of a royal Portuguese visitor who could facilitate Drake's departure, in effect stopping Bruno's investigation. Parris' fourth Giordano Bruno mystery is long, leisurely, and labyrinthine, written in an ornate formal voice that echoes its era.

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Starred review from October 21, 2019
Parris’s excellent fourth Elizabethan whodunit featuring philosopher spy Giordano Bruno (after 2012’s Sacrilege) finds Sir Francis Drake preparing to lead a large fleet against Spain. While the official story is that Drake intends to sail along the Spanish coast to rescue English ships being held in that country’s ports, he’s actually planning an all-out assault on Spain’s New World holdings. But Drake’s departure from Plymouth is delayed after crew member Robert Dunne, an officer who circumnavigated the globe with Drake seven years earlier, is found hanged in his locked room aboard Drake’s flagship, an apparent suicide. Seeing evidence that Dunne was murdered, Drake is wary of embarking with a killer on board. By chance, Bruno’s friend, Sir Philip Sidney, was scheming to join the Drake fleet, and after learning of the problem, volunteers Bruno, who has successfully solved murders before, to investigate. Bruno soon gets on the track of a monstrous plot against the kingdom. This is historical mystery fiction at its finest. Agent: Deborah Schneider, ICM.

Starred review from November 1, 2019
In this perfectly named book, treachery surrounds and underpins a voyage on which Sir Francis Drake hopes to overcome the Spanish grip on the Americas. The journey cannot get underway, however, because a man has been found dead?Is it murder or suicide??as the ship sits in Plymouth. England, harbor, with the crew growing more superstitious and anxious even as they spend their days and nights carousing in the gritty port city. Tasked with solving the mystery is former monk Giordano Bruno (an actual historical figure), now in his fourth series outing (after Heresy, 2010; Prophecy, 2011; and Sacrilege, 2012); this time, he finds romance and danger while investigating not only the sailor's death but also the presence onboard of a mysterious, intriguing manuscript that, if authentic, could upturn the story of Jesus' life and death. Fans of the series will relish the violent and suspenseful adventures; believable relationships, both personal and political; and, especially, the author's skillful and unobtrusive re-creation of the historical period, filth and all. A masterful work that deserves a place on all public-library historical-fiction shelves, and that should be recommended to Phillipa Gregory fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)