Martyr, Rory Clements
Martyr, Rory Clements
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Martyr
An Elizabethan Thriller

Author: Rory Clements

Narrator: Simon Vance

Unabridged: 12 hr 13 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 06/02/2009

Synopsis

The year is 1587. One of Queen Elizabeth's cousins is found murdered, her flesh marked with profane symbols. A plot to assassinate Sir Francis Drake, England's most famous sea warrior, is discovered. One man is charged with the desperate task of solving both cases: John Shakespeare.

Shadowed by his rival, the Queen's chief torturer, Shakespeare travels through an underworld of spies, sorcerers, whores, and theater people—including his younger brother, the struggling playwright Will—to piece together a complex conspiracy, the implications of which are almost too horrific to contemplate. For a zealous and cunning killer is stalking England's streets. And as Shakespeare threatens to reveal the madman's identity, he and the beautiful woman he desires come ever closer to becoming the next martyrs to the cause.

About Rory Clements

Rory Clements has had a long and successful newspaper career, including being features editor and associate editor of Today, editor of the Daily Mail's Good Health Pages, and editor of the health section at the Evening Standard. He now writes full-time in an idyllic corner of Norfolk, England.

Reviews

Goodreads review by C.W. on May 01, 2010

MARTYR by Rory Clements, a novel set in the later years of Elizabeth I's reign, introduces us to the intelligencer John Shakespeare, older brother of the playwright. While investigating the brutal murder of a noblewoman, Shakespeare finds himself drawn into an assasination plot against Sir Francis D......more

Goodreads review by Karl on March 09, 2025

An engaging historical spy-thriller and first of the series. John Shakespeare is the chief investigator for a big-shot in the government. Britain is threatened by Spain, France, and the Pope, having broken with Catholicism. Spies, assassins, and general trouble-causing Jesuits are sneaking into the......more

Goodreads review by Wolf on June 16, 2011

There are some books that never quite escape the shadow of the books that inspired them. Here it is hard to escape the feeling that C.J. Sanson's Shardlake books were not just an important inspiration, their success was, for the publisher at least, the real reason behind this book. Even the one word......more

Goodreads review by Paula on January 28, 2022

Not engaging, characters sound Victorian rather than Elizabethan,clichéd.......more

Goodreads review by Karen on February 06, 2010

What I learned from this book is that I won't be rushing out to get the next one. in future I'll wait for a new Matthew Shardlake......more

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