Thursday 3 July 2014

Treachery by S J Parris

Elizabethan-era philosopher and spy, Giordano Bruno, is back with another rip-roaring adventure in S J Parris’s latest novel, Treachery. Bruno's great friend, Sir Philip Sydney, has offered their services to Sir Frances Drake who is assembling his fleet for a foray against the Spanish.

Sydney wants to join the action and make his fortune in prize money but when the two arrive in Plymouth, they are thrown into a murder investigation. The body of Robert Dunne has been found in his cabin on board Drake’s flagship, the Bonaventure. Bruno quickly confirms that what is dressed up as suicide has a more sinister cause. Can Bruno sift through the list of suspects, who include Dunne’s wife, her lover, his numerous creditors, and the man Dunne's been blackmailing, to find the killer?

It’s an investigation that will take numerous twists and turns. Drake's life is constantly under threat with the rich prize offered by Philip of Spain for his death. The royal favourite is also in possession of a Coptic text he would like Bruno to translate – a heretical work that could be a missing gospel. This brings an old enemy of Bruno’s out of the woodwork – the book dealer, Jenkes, who with his missing ears is a particularly nasty piece of work.

Treachery is another absolutely whizzing yarn from Parris, who writes about Elizabethan England, its politics and people, its marketplaces, brothels and alleyways, as if she’s been there herself. She writes with wit and verve, and Bruno is a star.

Posted by JAM

Catalogue Link: Treachery

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