Elizabeth I's spymaster, Robert Cecil, was reputed to have agents in every corner of England- and far beyond. This is just as well given the number of novelists who have made one of these, usually reluctant, agents the hero of their books. However it is difficult to complain when the heroes are as interesting and well drawn as SW Perry's physician, Nicholas Shelby and apothecary Bianca Merton. The Saracen's Mark is the third in a series set in and around the Jackdaw Tavern in Southwark. It can be enjoyed without having read the previous two novels as there is sufficient information given about previous events. However I would think greater enjoyment would be had by reading the other two books first.
The story begins with an attack on a trader in Marrakech , before moving back to London, where Nicholas will awake to a summons from Cecil. Nicholas , with his ‘newfangled’ medical ideas, has fallen foul of the authorities. Bianca, as a woman, is lucky to be allowed to practice as an apothecary. In this precarious situation, Nicholas cannot refuse the 'request' that Cecil makes. Well he does at first but we know how this goes...
So far this is a well trodden path with a number of familiar tropes but what lifts the story is the amount of research, the historical detail and the , largely successful, attempt to create sympathetic leads while not overburdening the tale with modern sensibilities.
The story switches between London and Morocco with each protagonist facing perils aplenty. To me the resolution to the mystery, although more than satisfactory, is perhaps of less interest than, amongst other things, the light shed on medical matters both here and in the Islamic world, the relationship between 16th century England and Morocco and the outlining of scale of the slave trade at that time. There are also the developments in Nicholas and Bianca's relationship to enjoy.
An entertaining “rattling good yarn “ and lots to google afterwards if you want to know more. Hope there will be more books in the series. Bianca calls herself “the witch they cannot hang”....but surely as we approach the seventeenth century.....someone is going to try....
I was pleased to receive a copy of this book from Readers First
The story begins with an attack on a trader in Marrakech , before moving back to London, where Nicholas will awake to a summons from Cecil. Nicholas , with his ‘newfangled’ medical ideas, has fallen foul of the authorities. Bianca, as a woman, is lucky to be allowed to practice as an apothecary. In this precarious situation, Nicholas cannot refuse the 'request' that Cecil makes. Well he does at first but we know how this goes...
So far this is a well trodden path with a number of familiar tropes but what lifts the story is the amount of research, the historical detail and the , largely successful, attempt to create sympathetic leads while not overburdening the tale with modern sensibilities.
The story switches between London and Morocco with each protagonist facing perils aplenty. To me the resolution to the mystery, although more than satisfactory, is perhaps of less interest than, amongst other things, the light shed on medical matters both here and in the Islamic world, the relationship between 16th century England and Morocco and the outlining of scale of the slave trade at that time. There are also the developments in Nicholas and Bianca's relationship to enjoy.
An entertaining “rattling good yarn “ and lots to google afterwards if you want to know more. Hope there will be more books in the series. Bianca calls herself “the witch they cannot hang”....but surely as we approach the seventeenth century.....someone is going to try....
I was pleased to receive a copy of this book from Readers First