Tag Archives: novels set in the 16th century

#BookReview ‘The Sinner’s Mark’ by SW Perry @swperry_history #historical #crime

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Religious extremism, Moorish diplomacy, sedition and missing youths. In England 1600, Dr Nicholas Shelby’s elderly father is accused of distributing seditious pamphlets. The Sinner’s Mark by SW Perry is sixth in the fantastic Jackdaw Mysteries historical series. SW PerryNicholas and Bianca are happily married, living in Bankside on the south bank of the Thames, with their five-year-old son Bruno. Bianca is a talented apothecary, Nicholas attends the sick and, with misgivings, answers the occasional call of Queen Elizabeth I’s right hand man, Sir Robert Cecil. Accustomed to being ordered to undertake a distasteful task for Cecil, Nicholas is shocked to learn the reason for his summons. Sedition. Cecil has discovered that Shelby’s elderly father in Suffolk has been arrested. With Cecil’s help, Nicholas secures his father’s freedom but is disturbed by the stories of a firebrand young priest whose sermons have bewitched a local congregation. When the priest arrives in London, the pace of the story speeds up.
When Petrus Eusebius Schenk, an army acquaintance of Nicholas from his fighting days in the Low Countries, arrives at the Jackdaw, Bianca cannot warm to the man. Uneasy at Nicholas’s instant trust of the newcomer, Bianca observes contradictory behaviour. Nicholas believes she is being uncharitable about an old soldier still suffering from traumatic memories of war. When Schenk takes the Jackdaw’s tavern man Ned Monkton to listen to an evangelical new preacher, Bianca decides to investigate. What follows is a rollercoaster ride of radical puritanism, what today we would call grooming, the disappearance of young men and a conspiracy to commit treason. At this time Bianca comes into an unexpected inheritance, a small house and warehouse on the north bank of the river, where she makes an unwelcome discovery. Nicholas is called into the queen’s service again, this time as diplomat and translator during the state visit of the Morroccan ambassador. Nicholas met Muhammed al-Annuri in Marrakech seven years previously, as featured in The Saracen’s Mark, and is expected to inform Cecil of Annuri’s real expectations, something he finds difficult to do. As always when Nicholas is pushed into doing something reluctantly, or is divided between two loyalties, the story gets interesting.
A page-turning historical mystery that doesn’t disappoint, set in a time of political uncertainty as the queen approaches the end of her reign. Difficult to review without giving away critical plot points but the interventions of Will Shakespeare are welcome, as is the presence of Carib-born apothecary trainee Cachorra who proves herself a suitable, independent-minded sidekick for Bianca.
Excellent.

Here are my reviews of the  other books in the series:-
THE ANGEL’S MARK #1JACKDAWMYSTERIES
THE SERPENT’S MARK #2JACKDAWMYSTERIES
THE SARACEN’S MARK #3JACKDAWMYSTERIES
THE HERETIC’S MARK #4JACKDAWMYSTERIES
THE REBEL’S MARK #5JACKDAWMYSTERIES

And a new #WW2 series:
BERLIN DUET #1HARRYTAVERNER

If you like this, try:-
‘The Almanack’ by Martine Bailey #1TABITHAHART
‘The Blue Afternoon’ by William Boyd
‘The Glassmaker’ by Tracy Chevalier

And if you’d like to share a link:
#BookReview THE SINNER’S MARK by SW Perry @swperry_history https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8KJ via @SandraDanby

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

#BookReview ‘The Rebel’s Mark’ by SW Perry @swperry_history #historical #crime

6 Replies

The Rebel’s Mark is fifth in the addictive Jackdaw Mysteries series by SW Perry in which intrepid doctor Nicholas Shelby and his apothecary wife Bianca are sent to Ireland where Irish rebels fight the English. What an adventure it is, full of Elizabethan politics, religious division, spying, kidnapping, fighting, the cunning of some clever women and a shipwreck. SW PerryThe story starts in 1598 with the shipwreck. A Spanish ship founders on Irish rocks and most aboard are lost, if not drowned they are murdered by the English soldiers who stumble on the wreck. Two women escape. Exactly why a Spanish ship should be so far from home is a mystery.
Robert Cecil, Secretary of State to Elizabeth I, sends Nicholas to Ireland to join Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, commander of the English army, but also as a spy. Bianca refuses to be separated from her husband and Nicholas gains permission for her to travel as part of the medical team. Their young son Bruno stays at home at the Jackdaw tavern, cared for by his mother’s landlady Rose and her husband Ned Monkton. Nicholas’ secret task is to meet with poet Edmund Spenser, he of the Faerie Queene. Spenser is annoyingly tight-lipped. There are many personality clashes which add to the divisive politics of the time. Essex hates Cecil. One of Essex’s commanders is a former admirer of Bianca and therefore sets against Nicholas. Who knows whose side Spenser is really on. How is the shipwreck connected to Anglo-Irish politics. And what of the Irish rebels, ‘men in fur pelts and broacloth gowns sit upon shaggy ponies’ led by the enigmatic Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone.
As always the story moves along at a cracking pace. Nicholas and Bianca both get into trouble and have their separate adventures while at home in Bankside, stolid Ned becomes curious about the murder of a young man and starts to ask awkward questions.
I’m loving this series. To get the most out of it, start with the first The Angel’s Mark.

Here are my reviews of the other books in the series:-
THE ANGEL’S MARK #1JACKDAWMYSTERIES
THE SERPENT’S MARK #2JACKDAWMYSTERIES
THE SARACEN’S MARK #3JACKDAWMYSTERIES
THE HERETIC’S MARK #4JACKDAWMYSTERIES
THE SINNER’S MARK #6JACKDAWMYSTERIES

And a new #WW2 series:
BERLIN DUET #1HARRYTAVERNER

If you like this, try:-
‘The Lady of the Ravens’ by Joanna Hickson #1QUEENSOFTHETOWER
‘The Forgotten Sister’ by Nicola Cornick
‘The Instrumentalist’ by Harriet Constable

And if you’d like to share a link:
BookReview THE REBEL’S MARK by SW Perry @swperry_history https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8BW via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Clown Town by Mick Herron

#BookReview ‘The Saracen’s Mark’ by SW Perry @swperry_history #historical #crime

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It’s a treat to read The Saracen’s Mark by SW Perry and follow the ongoing story of Bankside doctor Nicholas Shelton and apothecary Bianca Merton. This is the third of the Jackdaw Mysteries and the action moves to Morocco in a complicated tale of politics, slavery, money and medicine. It is a dramatic and daring adventure. SW Perry London 1593. Dr Shelton is requested, or rather ordered, by Queen Elizabeth’s spymaster Robert Cecil to go to Marrakesh and strengthen the diplomatic ties between the two nations. His primary, secret task however is find a missing informer. But Nicholas leaves Bianca behind at the Jackdaw tavern after exchanging harsh words, not knowing that the plague will soon reach the south bank of the city. The story races along, alternating between Nicholas sailing south and Bianca dealing with the plague and the disappearance of the Jackdaw’s cook, Farzad. Both storylines are fast-moving and seem totally unlinked. Nicholas didn’t tell Bianca the real reason for his journey; Cecil threated to revoke Bianca’s licence as an apothecary if he refused. She knows there is more to it than he is telling her. They part on bad terms and when both face danger – Bianca from the plague, Nicholas from pirates and slavers – they regret their angry words. Determined to find the real reason for his voyage, Bianca investigates in London and discovers more than is safe for her to know. Both expecting to die, they imagine what they will say if they should ever meet again.
The medical strand is fascinating. Cecil agrees that while in Morocco Shelton should study Moorish medicine. Amazed by the Bimaristan-al-Mansur hospital he visits in Marrakesh, Nicholas witnesses a tracheotomy performed by a female surgeon. However he is less successful at spying, struggling with the language and the customs. He doesn’t trust Cathal Connell, captain of the ship on which he sailed south; an efficient man aboard ship, a brutal one on shore. When Nicholas discovers that Adolfo Sykes, the English informer he has been sent to find, is dead, he doesn’t know who to trust. What secrets did Sykes discover, was his death really an accident, and what happened to the letters he is thought to have sent to England but which never arrived.
The characters of Nicholas and Bianca are so engaging, the plotting is complicated and curious, the danger and double-dealing is on every page. How will Nicholas and Bianca know who to trust, should they believe their instincts or investigate for themselves. Of course they choose the latter, leading to dangerous adventures. The Morocco setting is inspired; very different from other Elizabethan fiction, at once fragrant and scented with blood.
I’m loving this series. Next is The Heretic’s Mark.

Here are my reviews of other books in the series:-
THE ANGEL’S MARK #1JACKDAWMYSTERIES
THE SERPENT’S MARK #2JACKDAWMYSTERIES
THE HERETIC’S MARK #4JACKDAWMYSTERIES
THE REBEL’S MARK #5JACKDAWMYSTERIES
THE SINNER’S MARK #6JACKDAWMYSTERIES

And a new #WW2 series:
BERLIN DUET #1HARRYTAVERNER

If you like this, try:-
‘Revelation’ by SJ Sansom #4SHARDLAKE
‘The Drowned City’ by KJ Maitland #1DANIELPURSGLOVE
‘The Vanished Bride’ by Bella Ellis #1BRONTEMYSTERIES

And if you’d like to share a link:
#BookReview THE SERPENT’S MARK by SW Perry @swperry_history https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-87C via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Anna Mazzola

#BookReview ‘The Serpent’s Mark’ by SW Perry @swperry_history #historical #crime

6 Replies

Second in the Elizabethan Jackdaw Mysteries series by SW Perry, The Serpent’s Mark is a satisfyingly twisty story involving medical malpractice, religious fanatics, complicated espionage and a likeable pair of heroes. SW PerryThe story takes off from page one with many entangled knots that aren’t smoothed out into separate strands until the end of the book. Disgraced physician Dr Nicholas Shelby and apothecary-publican Bianca Merton are catapulted into an international conspiracy where chance plays as big a part as spycraft. The contrasting wealth and poverty in London in 1591 is real on every page, death or imprisonment can strike without warning and the poor are manipulated at the whims of the academics and the rich.
When Italian-born Bianca visits the Sirena di Venezia, a newly arrived ship from Italy, she is planning to encourage the crew to visit her inn where they will receive a warm welcome in their own language. On board she is surprised to find her cousin, Captain Bruno Barrani, a bit of a dandy who is trading rice. After Bruno is attacked and suffers a nasty head wound, Bianca nurses him at the Jackdaw inn where he is visited daily by members of his crew. Meanwhile Nicholas is in Gloucestershire, engaged by Robert Cecil to investigate the dodgy medical practices of a Swiss doctor, Professor Arcampora, who slimily refers to himself in the third person. Cecil is concerned that Arcampora, who has been engaged to treat a family member who suffers from the falling sickness, is a charlatan. Nicholas is acquainted with the family having fought alongside Sir William Havington and his son-in-law Sir Joshua Wylde in the wars in Holland. It is Joshua’s son, Samuel, who is ill. William is recently deceased and it his widow Lady Mercy who told her cousin Robert of her concern for Samuel. There are a lot of family twists to get your head around, who is related to who, who knew who when and what they did when they were younger.
This is a convoluted plot, impossible to predict, with some rather nasty medical procedures described. Sixteenth century medicine was not for the faint-hearted. Nicholas, called before the College of Physicians to answer charges of disreputable conduct and proficiency [featured in the first book, The Angel’s Mark] finds himself drawn to practical surgery and treatment that takes effect quickly rather than the approved medical procedures involving humours and astrology.
At the heart of the story is the continuing tension between the Protestant and Catholic faiths, full of dislike and suspicion which often tips quickly into violence. The tension builds as the separate paths followed by Nicholas and Bianca begin to mysteriously converge. Have they uncovered different plots or are they in some unseen way connected. Both are in danger, both must second-guess the other’s next move at pain of violence and possibly murder. How well do they really know each other, trust each other? And when will Nicholas be ready to put aside the grief for his dead wife and child, and recognise the chance of new love.
Bianca is an easy character to like, sharp-witted, resourceful, unbowed and brave when threatened. And it’s difficult not to cheer on Nicholas, kind-hearted, moral, brave but shy.
A page-turner. I’m looking forward to the next in the series, The Saracen’s Mark.

Here are my reviews of other books in the series:-
THE ANGEL’S MARK #1JACKDAWMYSTERIES
THE SARACEN’S MARK #3JACKDAWMYSTERIES
THE HERETIC’S MARK #4JACKDAWMYSTERIES
THE REBEL’S MARK #5JACKDAWMYSTERIES
THE SINNER’S MARK #6JACKDAWMYSTERIES

And a new #WW2 series:
BERLIN DUET #1HARRYTAVERNER

If you like this, try:-
‘A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom’ by John Boyne
‘Glorious Exploits’ by Ferdia Lennon
‘Winter Pilgrims’ by Toby Clements #1KINGMAKER

And if you’d like to share a link:
#BookReview THE SERPENT’S MARK by SW Perry @swperry_history https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-80C via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Kristin Hannah