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The Queen's Man

A thrilling early story in the life of John Shakespeare in the award-winning, bestselling series

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The Queen's Man

By: Rory Clements
Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
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Summary

 ***Includes bonus short story***

Introduces us to the life of John Shakespeare, Queen's Spy.

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'Sixteenth-century London comes alive in all its tawdriness' Daily Mail

'Beautifully done . . . alive and tremendously engrossing' Daily Telegraph

'Plot and dialogue that hums with Elizabethan slang, profanity and wit' The Times

'Enjoyable, bloody and brutish' Guardian

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England is a Judas nest of conspiracy.

It is 1582, and the conflict between Protestant and Catholic threatens to tear the country in two.

While Queen Elizabeth I holds the reins of power, there are those whose loyalty lies with her imprisoned cousin, Mary Queen of Scots.

On his first major mission for Sir Francis Walsingham, the young John Shakespeare is ordered to discover a conspiracy to free the Stuart queen from Sheffield Castle.

All too soon, he realises that the tentacles of the plot reach deep into his native Warwickshire and threaten his own friends and family.

His duty lies with Elizabeth - but how far will he go to protect those he loves?

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Readers adore Martyr and the John Shakespeare series . . .

'If you love C.J. Sansom, you'll love this'

'You can feel, smell, see and hear the dangerous times of Tudor England'

'An absolutely delightful Elizabethan mystery'

'If you enjoy S.J. Parris, you need to try this'

'Rory Clements has struck gold with John Shakespeare'©2014 Rory Clements Anthologies & Short Stories Armed Forces Fiction Historical Historical Fiction Military Mystery Naval Forces Private Investigators Short Stories Royalty England
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Continue the series
Holy Spy cover art
Holy Spy By: Rory Clements

Critic reviews

*GOOD HOUSEKEEPING Reader Recommends*: I could not put down THE QUEEN'S MAN by Rory Clements
The sixth in Rory Clements' enjoyable series of Elizabethan thrillers featuring John Shakespeare ... Clements has the edge when it comes to creating a lively, fast-moving plot.
Sixteenth-century London comes alive in all its tawdriness.
Enjoyable, bloody and brutish.
All stars
Most relevant
Enjoyed this book and am working my way through the series, have just downloaded book seven and can't wait to start it!

Not worried about how accurate the books are regarding period they are set in just find then thoroughly entertaining. Isn't that the whole point of a good book?

Another great book in this series

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Really enjoyed listening to this book. Very well read and easy to follow and know who was who by the intonation given to the different characters!

Worthwhile!

John Shakespeare

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Why has the order of the books in this series been wrongly numbered? I read books 1 to 5 and thoroughly enjoyed them but books 6 and 7 are the beginning of the story when John Shakespeare was first employed as an Intelligencer by Francis Walsingham and was still unmarried. It is impossible to enjoy reading books 6 and 7 out of sequence. Please rectify this mistake for the sake of other listeners, sadly it is too late for me now.

Beware - order of books wrongly numbered.

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I enjoyed this as I have enjoyed the previous Shakespeare audiobooks. Good, properly convoluted plot, danger, romance etc. This, however, was let down by bad editing/production and lost it a star from me. Most, if not all, chapters were cut short & ploughed straight into the next chapter losing important plot points, turns and cliffhangers that I've come to expect from this series. I hope future audiobooks in this series aren't marred like this.

Very good, except...

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As ever, Audible is to be thanked giving an audio life to to many print books, not least this John Shakespeare novel set in 1582 at the start of his intelligence activities. It is set in Sheffield, England and in Warwickshire, England - around Stratford-upon-Avon. It brought immediate resonances for me as I have taken part in excavating Sheffield Castle, and know Warwickshire well, visiting Stratford to stay about six times every year. Had I known this was John Shakespeare's start, I would have read it first rather that in the listed as book six. It will please all listeners and provides an opportunity to grab this novel in audiobook form getting to know the pre-history to the series. Shakespeare is shown along side key figures and it is good to see how relationships, even enmity, began. For those many living in England it provides the opportunity to visit places that are depicted in the novel, though - sadly - The White Lion - was replaced with tourist orientated shops. It was on Henley Street, the street of Shakespeare's birth. The novel is swift in pace, there is humour, some lines of violence and a storyline where we see John Shakespeare with his family overlapping time chronicled in 'Hamnet'. Again the novel exposes the crushing waste of the Protestant\Catholic divide. The Novel's audiobook is well served by Gareth Armstrong who performs the novel excellently and convincingly. A note: the audible web page indicates that there is a bonus short story included with this title. If so it is not included to the audiobook as I have listened to it. Perhaps it refers to the print copy.

A Revealing 'Back to the Beginning' Story

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