Tag Archives: Giordano Bruno

#BookReview ‘Execution’ by SJ Parris @thestephmerritt #historical #crime

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Italian heretic and spy Giordano Bruno becomes embroiled in a Catholic plot to kill Queen Elizabeth I and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots. Execution by SJ Parris, sixth in the excellent Bruno series, starts fast and doesn’t slow down. SJ ParrisBased on the true Babington Plot of 1586 to assassinate the queen, this is the best so far of this historical mystery series. Well-researched with lots of unexpected twists and turns, London seethes with threat around every corner. Bruno, keen to find patronage again in London after fleeing Paris, finds himself unable to say no to his former boss, Elizabethan spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham. He must impersonate a Spanish priest and infiltrate a group of Catholics conspiring with Mary to kill her cousin.
There are secret letters written in code, horrible torture, turncoats, double agents, a brave lady spy and a wonderful boy bodyguard Ben. Bruno the heretic must remember quickly how to say mass and give extreme unction to the dying, get one word wrong and his co-conspirators will suspect he is false. Danger lurks as Bruno goes from the grand houses of the north bank of London to the filth, flesh pots, rowdy playhouses and bear pits of the south bank. Characters reappear from his past, some more welcome than others, while the solemn forger and codebreaker Thomas Phelippes and the publican’s son Ben are fascinating additions.
Parris maintains the tension as Bruno makes errors and escapes by the skin of his teeth, all the time wondering if Walsingham has erred in his character judgement of allies within the plotters. Yes, Bruno sometimes gets it wrong. He is not perfect, he is not a professional spy. He is a philosopher who wants nothing more than to write his books and settle down with the woman he loves. But trouble always seems to find him.
A skilfully-written fictional take on a historical event. Colourful, smelly, foul and vibrant, London deserves a special mention as an additional character in Execution.

Read my reviews of other books in the series:-
HERESY #1 GIORDANOBRUNO
PROPHECY #2 GIORDANOBRUNO
SACRILEGE #3 GIORDANOBRUNO
TREACHERY #4GIORDANOBRUNO
CONSPIRACY #5GIORDANOBRUNO

If you like this, try:-
‘A Rustle of Silk’ by Alys Clare #1GabrielTaverner
‘The Swift and the Harrier’ by Minette Walters
‘The Western Wind’ by Samantha Harvey

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview EXECUTION by SJ Parris @thestephmerritt https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7Ru via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Rory Clements

#BookReview ‘Conspiracy’ by SJ Parris @thestephmerritt #historical #crime

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Paris 1585. In Conspiracy by SJ Parris, Italian philosopher spy Giordano Bruno is finding the French capital more difficult to negotiate than London. ‘God this city!… So many factions, so many plots; everyone an informer with two faces, playing one party off against the others.’ SJ ParrisFifth in this series, Bruno arrives in a Paris riven by religious fear and violence, when the reign of King Henri III is under threat from the Catholic League led by the Duke of Guise. Henri is ruled by his mother, Catherine de Medici, features regularly in scurrilous scandal sheets and seems unable to sire an heir. When a fellow priest is murdered, Bruno is drawn into the Parisian web of secrets, spies and court intrigue. Always balancing on a knife edge, Bruno must use his detecting skills to identify the murderer. He is ordered by two powerful men – neither knows of the other’s contract – to discover the truth of the murder. Bruno trusts neither and, though his knowledge of how the royal court functions is useful, he finds himself drawn deeper into danger.
A second most unexpected murder within the royal court itself threatens to reveal secrets about Henri, his wife Queen Louise, and his mother Catherine de Medici. This court is a world of courtesan spies where courtiers may be working for both sides, where everyone could be considered two-faced, their word untrustworthy. Bruno survives on his wit, bravery, and sheer damn luck. As Bruno is working for two bosses, he must also consider that everyone he meets is a spy, a double or triple agent, or may be lying to protect themselves, for ambition or for money. The plot ties itself in knots, at times the sheer number of suspects is bewildering.
I particularly enjoyed Bruno’s meetings with fellow spy Charles Paget whose wry remark that Bruno doesn’t look over his shoulder often enough would spoil some of the plot twists. The plot of Conspiracy continues some threads and recurring characters from earlier novels. Scandal and rumour combine in the echo chamber of the royal court as Bruno uncovers one conspiracy after another, or has he. Jumping to conclusions too early gets him into some scrapes and brings him into contact with a wide variety of personalities including an acting troupe I Gelosi.
These are long and complicated books and Bruno has enviable diplomatic and survival skills. The Parisian royal court is poisonous, the city is dirty and dangerous, there are sexy men, gorgeous women and gambling clerics.
A really good historical thriller. If you’re new to this series, please start with the first book to appreciate all the plot twists and themes.

Read my reviews of other books in the series:-
HERESY #1 GIORDANOBRUNO
PROPHECY #2 GIORDANOBRUNO
SACRILEGE #3 GIORDANOBRUNO
TREACHERY #4GIORDANOBRUNO

If you like this, try:-
‘The Burning Chambers’ by Kate Mosse #1Joubert
‘The Silver Wolf’ by JC Harvey #1FiskardosWar
‘Winter Pilgrims’ by Toby Clements #1Kingmaker

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview CONSPIRACY by SJ Parris @thestephmerritt https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7Hl via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Helena Dixon

#BookReview ‘Treachery’ by SJ Parris @thestephmerritt #historical #crime

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The Giordano Bruno historical mystery series by SJ Parris is into its stride now. Treachery is fourth in the series and my favourite so far. It is 1585 and Sir Francis Drake is assembling a fleet of ships to attack the Spanish. Bruno, with poet and gentleman Sir Philip Sidney, visits Plymouth as the covert expedition is about to leave. But departure is delayed by a murder on board the flagship ‘Elizabeth Bonaventure’ and Bruno agrees to solve the crime. SJ ParrisA slow-build that turns into a page-turning mystery, Parris twists the plot this way and that, suspects come, go, and return as Bruno tracks the murderer on water and on land. Plymouth is a colourful setting for the mystery. Set three years before Drake plays bowls on Plymouth Hoe as the Spanish Armada approaches, Parris weaves a complicated tale of European politics, spies, military strategy plus old-fashioned greed and revenge. Bruno follows clues in the city via an upmarket brothel to Drake’s Island in Plymouth Sound, a small fortified island reached only by boat. Or, according to local legend, through a maze of secret underground tunnels used by smugglers and villains.
Giordano Bruno, the Italian who longs for his home but cannot return, is no longer a monk but a philosopher, academic, a foreigner wherever he lives and works; all things that make him the man he is. A modern man in the sixteenth-century. ‘My face, my voice, my ideas mark me as different. Perhaps, as I have often feared, a man like me belongs everywhere and nowhere.’ Is that why he makes such a good spy, a good solver of crime? He is brave and has a poker face which is useful when confronting suspects, but is sensitive also to emotion and fear. And in the background lurk the influence of master spy Sir Francis Walsingham and political demands of Queen Elizabeth I. Parris mixes fact, particularly the lasting impact of Drake’s earlier voyages and the friends and foes, and some characters are real.
For one said to be good at solving mysteries, Bruno does have a tendency to backing his latest theory and throwing accusations around. But perhaps causing trouble is his gift as a detector as his efforts invariably upset some people, so he makes enemies but also uncovers new clues and suspects. Bruno is such a likeable hero, brave but not macho, lacking the peacock posturing of Sidney and the politicking of Drake. In his position in society as an outsider in a foreign country in politically uncertain times, he is cautious but given to moments of recklessness. It is these moments that enable Parris to kick-start the plot to a new level of tension.
A sprawling story with connections to characters from the previous books in the series, I approached the end turning pages quickly and reading into the night to finish it.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK AT AMAZON

Read my reviews of other books in the series:-
HERESY #1GiordanoBruno
PROPHECY #2GiordanoBruno
SACRILEGE #3GiordanoBruno

If you like this, try:-
‘The Fire Court’ by Andrew Taylor #FireofLondon2
‘The Swift and the Harrier’ by Minette Walters
‘The Key in the Lock’ by Beth Underdown

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview TREACHERY by SJ Parris @thestephmerritt https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7uw via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Dinah Jefferies

#BookReview ‘Prophecy’ by SJ Parris @thestephmerritt #historical #crime

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Prophecy is the second instalment of the Giordano Bruno books by SJ Parris, based on the real-life Italian philosopher. Parris has taken some of the known facts about the real Bruno and enhanced rumour into fact, making him a spy for Queen Elizabeth I’s spymaker and Secretary of State, Sir Francis Walsingham. SJ Parris The result is a delicious mix of proven historical fact, betrayals, plots and assignations with a healthy dose of invention and a charismatic character to root for. The real Bruno was also a cosmologist, proclaiming that the universe was infinite and that the stars in the sky were suns, like ours, circled by their own planets, and this theme runs throughout the books. To our modern eyes, Bruno appears a scientist; in his time, he was deemed a heretic. In Prophecy, Bruno must play a dangerous game on behalf of Walsingham, living in the house of the French ambassador and party to a plot to put Mary Queen of Scots on the English throne. Always an outsider – Bruno is a religious exile, a renegade monk who escaped his Italian friary in search of sanctuary from the Inquisition – and has learned to be an observer amongst dangerous factions in order to survive. He has also learned to defend himself with his fists.
Queen Elizabeth makes herself vulnerable to influence through her burgeoning interest in prophecies and astrology. When a maid in the queen’s household is found dead, her body branded with astrological signs, fear stalks the streets. Pamphlets about with fantasy and rumour are sold freely. Bruno is charged by Walsingham to identify the murderer. The pace of the story ramps up when Bruno makes a connection with the men plotting in support of the Scottish Queen. As the various parties dance elegantly around each other, stepping into shadows and dissembling in full light, Bruno must unravel true friends from false.
Second in the series, this book moved much quicker for me than the first, Heresy. Key characters are already established as is the historical context, political manipulation and religious conflict [intricate at the best of times]. There are plenty of traitorous suspects, dodgy meeting places, ill-advised assignations and dark alleyways to furnish twists and surprises a plenty.
Prophecy was a 4* read for me. My first love is CJ Sansom’s Matthew Shardlake series, but this runs it a close second.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK AT AMAZON AT AMAZON

Read my reviews of other books in the series:-
HERESY #1GiordanoBruno
SACRILEGE #3GiordanoBruno

If you like this, try:-
‘Dangerous Women’ by Hope Adams
‘The Other Eden’ by Sarah Bryant
‘The Confessions of Frannie Langton’ by Sara Collins

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview PROPHECY by SJ Parris @thestephmerritt https://wp.me/p5gEM4-5ub via @SandraDanby