Review: The Course of all Treasons by Suzanna M Wolfe

Synopsis: The Elizabethan court is beset by traitors at home and abroad as spies, rogues, and would-be usurpers of the throne vie for power.

England, 1586. Tensions rise as threats to the realm abound. Traitors are plotting for Mary Queen of Scots to depose Elizabeth I and take the throne. Rumors of a Spanish invasion by sea mount daily. And the body of one of Sir Francis Walsingham's agents is found floating in the Thames as other agents face enemies armed with crossbows and vials of poison.

Nicholas Holt, a spy in Walsingham's employ, narrowly averts the same fate while setting off in pursuit of the killer--or killers. And when he surprises a suspect in the company of a Spanish agent, he believes he's close not only to solving the case but preventing an act of high treason.

The Course of all Treasons follows on from A Murder By Any Name - and the first book is referenced throughout (in case, like me, you are starting this one first).

I found it an enjoyable read - having read much about Elizabethan England and the spy network, it was not hard for me to follow the storyline. Elizabethan England was a melting pot for all sorts of plots and treasonable activities, with a good dose of religious turmoil added for good measure. And it wasn't just threats from abroad that Elizabeth's spymaster Walsingham had to focus on, but also those from within.

This period in English history provides the historical fiction writer with so much material, from events around which to entwine a plot, to a cast of many from whom to draw either a central or a secondary one to tie a fictional one to. It was a time leading up to what is now as the Spanish Armada; Mary Queen of Scots, whilst a prisoner of Elizabeth, was a rallying point for those looking to replace the aging queen; and on a religious note, the new Protestant order was being challenged by the displaced Catholics. You could not ask for a better backdrop!

Wolfe chooses to focus on the Elizabethan spy network which was not just run by Elizabeth's chief spymaster Walsingham, but also (independently of the Crown) by a number of well-connected nobles, including two of Elizabeth's favourites - Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and Robert Devereaux, Earl of Essex - and also Robert Cecil, son of Elizabeth's chief minister, Lord Burghley.

" ... the case reeked not only of agents double crossing each other but of court politics, the nastiest smell of all ..."

As one agent is killed, and others targeted, Nicholas Holt, younger brother of the Earl of Blackwell—spy, rake, and owner of the infamous Black Sheep tavern in the seedy district of Bankside - is sent by Robert Cecil to investigate. Wolfe's style has an easy flow, and is almost conversationally. There is enough tension and double dealing to keep the reader captivated. What I did enjoy was the author's notes wherein she enlightens the reader to a bit of artistic licence (no spoiler alert here).

" ... the historical novelist is like a camera trying to focus on the distant scene of the past ..."