LoveReading Says
A thoroughly entertaining, evocative, and wonderfully written historical mystery set in 1591. Physician and spy Nicholas Shelby joins forces with tavern keeper Bianca Merton in an investigation that could lead the country into civil war. This is the second in the ‘Jackdaw Mysteries’ series, you could start here, however I really do recommend going back to the beginning with ‘The Angel’s Mark’. S. W. Perry sets fiction intermingling with fact, and it is easy to believe that this could have been real. The writing prods and provokes thoughts and feelings, I could step forward into the sleaze and squalor, hear whispered conversations, feel the fragility of life in those times. Nicholas and Bianca are a fascinating duo, each interesting in their own right, together creating a force to be reckoned with. Vividly dramatic and engrossing, ‘The Serpent’s Mark’ ensures that this is a series that promises much and lives up to expectations, I eagerly await the next.
Liz Robinson
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The Serpent's Mark Synopsis
Treason sleeps for no man... London, 1591. Nicholas Shelby, physician and reluctant spy, returns to his old haunts on London's lawless Bankside. But, when spymaster Robert Cecil asks him to investigate the dubious practices of a mysterious doctor from Switzerland, Nicholas is soon embroiled in a conspiracy that threatens not just the life of an innocent young patient, but the overthrow of Queen Elizabeth herself. With fellow healer and mistress of the Jackdaw tavern, Bianca Merton, again at his side, Nicholas is drawn into a sinister world of zealots, charlatans and dangerous fanatics...
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781786494986 |
| Publication date: |
7th November 2019 |
| Author: |
S. W. Perry |
| Publisher: |
Corvus an imprint of Atlantic Books |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
448 pages |
| Series: |
The Jackdaw Mysteries |
| Primary Genre |
Historical Fiction
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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S. W. Perry Press Reviews
I knew before I got to the bottom of the first page that The Angel's Mark was the real thing. In an increasingly crowded field, this one is going to stand out. - SG MacLean on The Angel's Mark
An impressively dramatic and gripping debut novel. Elegantly written, thoroughly researched, The Angel's Mark draws us into the murky world of Elizabethan London where life is a game of chance, and savage death a close neighbour, quick to pounce on the unsuspecting. I predict that we will be seeing much more of Nicholas Shelby, physician and reluctant spy. - Anne O'Brien on The Angel's Mark
Wonderful! Beautiful writing, and Perry's Elizabethan London is so skilfully evoked, so real that one can almost smell it. - Giles Kristian on The Angel's Mark
A gorgeous book - rich, intelligent and dark in equal measure. It immerses you in the late 16th century and leaves you wrung out with terror. This is historical fiction at its most sumptuous... - Rory Clements on The Angel's Mark
The Serpent's Mark is an excellent evocation of Elizabethan England, with espionage, intricate conspiracies, strange medical practises and a gripping story. A rattling good read. - William Ryan, bestselling author of The Constant Soldier
The writing is of such a quality, the characters so engaging and the setting so persuasive that, only two books in, S.W. Perry's ingeniously plotted novels have become my favourite historical crime series. - S G MacLean
No-one is better than S. W. Perry at leading us through the squalid streets of London in the sixteenth century. - Andrew Swanston
