Rory ClementsReseñas

1592. Englad and Spain at war. At home Elizabeth I crown is at stage as the Earl of Essex, her favourite, undermines to take the crown for himself by marrying into a royal blood line and disposing his wife, by poisoning, to do so. John Shakespeare, called out to work for Robert Cecil, is sent to find vital papers in the possession of the Earl to expose his plot. Shakespeare finds himself and family under threat. Another page turning success.

1582- Ist mission of John Shakespeare for Sir Francis Walsingham (Principle Secretary to the Queen of England). Set in the heart of a Judas nest of conspirators who threaten to bring down the monarchy; those who would see Queen Elizabeth deposed - or worse, murdered - and the 'true queen' Mary on the throne in her place. Shakespeare learns that traitors came in many forms. Good read.

Tensions in Elizabeth I government are at breaking point. Catholic Spain poised to invade, a plot to assassinate Francis Drake is uncovered. Intlligencer John Shakespear (brother of William) must protect him at all costs. Very well written, alive with the context of the period in London - bloody and brutish.

I think this is the best of Clements' books so far. Set in Munich in the 30s when Hitler was on the rise and hundreds of young, well-bred men and women, high-born, travelled to the city as a sort of finishing school/playground. What we enter is the underbelly of the rich and well-connected with Unity Mitford floating around hanging onto Hitler, Volkisch myths and legends and people with dark desires.

Into this steps Sebastian Wolff, a detective who does not follow the thinking about Jews or homosexuals, and who has been thrown into Dachau by the political police. He is rescued because a young English woman is murdered and he speaks fluent English due to his time working on board an English ship. There is always an added challenge and here he has to work with a new partner, the man who placed him in Dachau.

Clements gives his characters an interesting home life. Here Wolff has a son, Jurgen, who is a member of the Hitler Youth and can't understand why his father doesn't see the 'rightness' of their actions ending up in the relationship between father and son fractured. When Jurgen needs his help, it mends slightly but there are still the political differences between them. This must have been mirrored in families up and down the country at the time.

The book exemplifies rough justice throughout and that is how the crimes are resolved but that would be par for the course if one group of people is held to be 'superior' to another. What do you do with them when they obviously aren't? You use the thugs and your position of power, in this instance closeness to Hitler, to disappear people.

It almost feels like there is another book to follow because we don't really get to the point of knowing explicitly, who gave the orders at the end. It feels like it should be followed up in the next book but I think this is a standalone novel so maybe not. That's a pity because this was a good twisty, well-plotted story and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

You might also enjoy The Man in The bunker and The English Fuhrer.½

A young Englishwoman has been killed in a brutal and ritualistic way and Munich policeman Wolf has been put in charge of the case. He is shocked to find that his partner will be the SS Officer who only recently placed him in Dachau on trumped up charges. With the SS looking to discredit him, Wolf's family connections are the only thing keeping him on the streets. However when a man is wrongly convicted and executed for the crime, Wolf realises that to find the truth he will have to confront those at the heart of the Nazi Party.
I do really like Clements' writing as he manages to interweave great historical and political knowledge with a cracking plot and this is no exception. Staying with the theme of the rise of the Third Reich, he switches to Munich during the mid-1930s to create what is essentially a police procedural but one with a wonderfully evocative and troubling setting. This is a master thriller writer at the top of his game.

yet another masterpiece from Rory Clements.

Completed this after the aborted attempt in Jan 2013. Terrific is the word!

This is the fourth book in Rory Clement’s series featuring John Shakespeare, brother of William (yes, that William) as a spy during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in England.

John joins a group looking to safeguard technology vital to England’s national safety (the maritime telescope) and is tasked with finding and bringing to safety the natural philosopher John Dee. Shakespeare has plenty of adventures, getting deeply involved in the death of a leading Catholic aristocrat, a Catholic plot to steal the telescope, his adopted son running away from school and ending up in a lawless gang, joining a punitive military expedition to France to capture a key Channel port, and more.

The book is full of action and is well-rooted in historical fact (most of the set-piece events were real) and in historical colour. John Shakespeare is a typical adventure hero - brave, stoic, put-upon, honest, a bit prissy and a bit dull - but we root for him as being on the side of right, if not always might.

Well worth the read.

I was not aware when I purchased this book that it was the most recent in a series featuring American-born Cambridge professor (and spy) Tom Wilde. The good news is that knowing that, I've saved myself a lot of time as I have no intention of reading another book in the series. While the opening scenes are gripping -- a Japanese submarine making a secret delivery to the English shore in the final days of the Second World War, for instance -- they quickly fade away and this becomes yet another thriller-by-numbers, with chase scenes at night through the English countryside, evil Nazis and *spoiler alert* even more evil Communists. The characters are wooden, the plot non-existent. Don't waste your time.

3.5*

Cleverly worked plot around the mysterious death in a plane crash of the Duke of Kent in 1942, combined with various real figures at the time in UK, USA and Germany. The plot could well have a ring of truth to it.

1945 and that War is over, for Tom Wilde a return to Cambridge academia but regrets that his wartime unit the OSS has been disbanded. However Tom is called by his old boss at MI5 Lord Templeman and asked to keep an eye on a Cambridge fellow who has links to the British Fascist Movement. Meanwhile a deadly cargo has been landed on the Norfolk Coast and plans are afoot to cause chaos as Britain tries to recover.

I love Clements books and this is no exception. The plot is clever and twisty with lots of blind alleys and changing politics, it sheds light on the complexities of post-War politics and the murkier side of reconstruction. I also really liked the focus on the roles of women - from the wives with their varying duties, the ambitions of some and the political power of others - there was a real insight into the difficulties of the women who had been left behind but who gained some forms of independence without men. An impressive book on many levels

As an historical mystery this looked promising but it didn't follow through. While credible, the details of corruption, brutality, and sexual encounters made this simply lurid. Disappointing.½

This is a political thriller set in England in 1936. A series of murders in and around Cambridge seem to be linked to the murky groups supporting (and in some cases opposing) the rise of the German Nazi movement. Thomas Wilde, an American history professor at Cambridge specialising in the Elizabethan secret service, is dragged into the affair and becomes central to hunting down the killers.

This is the first in a new series of thrillers from Rory Clements featuring Thomas Wilde and focusing on mid-20th century European espionage. The intellectual and upper middle classes are well represented and finely drawn. The politics of the day are well explained without becoming lectures. The action is very realistic and the tension and suspense are held to the very last.

I think the character of Thomas Wilde comes across as lacking agency - he has a lot done to him without him ever really driving the action - but this may be because this is the first in the series and is more focused on establishing him as a character than using him to drive the plot.

I enjoyed this book and will definitely seek out others in the series.

Catholics v Protestants; conspiracy theory; Sir Francis Drake; 'an assassin stalks the streets of London...'; enjoyable romp½

It is now 1582 and Sir Francis Walsingham has been training John Shakespeare to be his apprentice. So now he has been sent to Sheffield to assess the fortification of the castle holding the Queen of Scots, and then proceed to Warwickshire, his home county to investigate the situation of the secret Catholics.
A very enjoyable mystery, I liked most of the characters and look forward to reading the next in the series.

1585 the year of the Babington Plot and the Catholic plotting of the death of Elizabeth is being discussed in London. John Shakespeare has been instructed by Sir Francis Walsingham to infiltrate their organisation. Meanwhile an old lover of his has been accused of murder.
Thankfully I have come to this series with these prequels already written so that I can read them in the chronological order of Shakespeare's life.
Very enjoyable mystery, good characters, well-written keeping my interest to the end. I look forward to reading the next.

1587 and John Shakespeare has been instructed to find the murderer of Lady Blanche Howard, and the assassin sent to murder Sir Francis Drake.
An enjoyable story to finish off the year.

Five years have passed (1592) and John Shakespeare, school teacher is called upon by Privy Councillor Sir Robert Cecil to spy on the Earl of Essex, and to accept Essex's offer to investigate the mystery of the appearance of Eleanor Dare from the doomed Roanoke colony.
A very enjoyable and interesting well-written mystery

1593 London and an attack on a Dutch church occurs. But Shakespeare is more interested in the death of Christopher Marlowe. But Sir Robert Cecil wants him to concentrate on the attacks and determine what the secret is that the Spanish Antonio Perez has that he is willing to sell. But this is only the start.
Very enjoyable and interesting well-written mystery

1594 and Shakespeare is instructed by Sir Robert Cecil to bring Dr John Dee back from Lancashire and to protect him. Because he is one of the makers of Elizabeth's navy secret weapon - an optical instrument. That knowledge and the instrument must not fall into enemy hands. But nothing in Tudor England is ever straightforward or simple.
A very enjoyable well-written thriller

1595 and John Shakespeare receives information that there is a threat to the realm. He is sent out to investigate. But is the invasion on the Cornish coast the threat and who is killing Sir Robert Cecil's men. How much more danger is Shakespeare and his family in and why.
Another very enjoyable read in this series

A few days before Christmas 1595 Joshua Peace, Searcher of the Dead is given a body. He turns to John Shakespeare to help identify and locate the murderer. Shakespeare's investigation leads to the Earl of Oxford, one time favourite of the Queen.
An enjoyable short mystery story

Another book in the John Shakespeare series, falling chronologically before several of the previously published titles. One matter is confusing to me. SPOILER Two of the characters, Katherine and Jane, seem to be precursors to themselves in later books. BUT, it turns out that Katherine, and probably Jane, are not the same women whom we meet later. Why are their names the same? Is this Clements' alternative view of how these characters could have ended up, but, didn't? Murky and unexplained.

A tragic accident or was it? The brother of the King is killed in a plane crash on a remote Scottish hillside and Tom Wilde is asked to look into it as a courtesy to FDR, Godfather to the Prince's newborn son. What Tom finds raises more questions than answers and suddenly he is on a chase to find a defector from the Nazi regime hiding in Sweden. The evidence he carries is proof that the Nazis are killing masses of Jews in Poland.
Clements has honed his craft over the years and his books are always a treat. Here Professor Tom Wilde is implausibly caught up in a search for missing German in the Swedish islands, chased by Nazis, and then back in England pursued by several different factions. It's a twisty plot but driven by high excitement and a solid twist of humour.