1939. La seconda guerra mondiale sta per esplodere e Tom Wilde sta rientrando dall'America dove ha incontrato il presidente Roosevelt, che gli ha affidato un compito del tutto inaspettato. Il professore deve infatti sfruttare la sua amicizia con il fisico Geoff Lancing, per tenere d'occhio gli scienziati del Cavendish, il laboratorio dove menti geniali stanno lavorando alla scoperta che potrebbe cambiare le sorti del mondo intero e da cui sembrano dipendere gli esiti dell'imminente guerra: la fissione nucleare. Appena tornato a Cambridge, si ritroverà anche a dover ospitare un famoso fisico fuggito dal campo di concentramento di Dachau e scoprirà che Lydia, la sua fidanzata, si è recata a Berlino per una pericolosa missione: la ricerca di un ragazzino scomparso durante uno dei Kindertransport organizzati per permettere a bambini ebrei di fuggire dalla Germania in Gran Bretagna e riuscire così a salvarsi. Quando uno dei migliori cervelli del Cavendish viene assassinato, il professor Tom Wilde viene coinvolto in un intrigo da cui non sembra esserci scampo. Mentre anche l'IRA mette sotto assedio l'Inghilterra, Tom Wilde dovrà scoprire di chi potersi fidare in una cospirazione che va da Cambridge a Berlino e dagli Stati Uniti all'Irlanda. Riuscirà a scoprire la verità prima che sia troppo tardi?

CORPUS - CLEMENTS RORY - Bonnier

1936. Mentre l'Europa è in pieno tumulto, a Berlino una giovane donna riesce a consegnare delle carte di importanza vitale a uno scienziato ebreo. Verrà, però, trovata morta dopo qualche settimana, nella sua camera di Cambridge, con una siringa argentata stretta tra le dita. Quando anche un noto membro di un club di Londra viene orribilmente ucciso insieme a sua moglie, Thomas Wilde, un improbabile e anticonformista professore di Storia cercherà di venire a capo dell'enigma, ritrovandosi immischiato in una storia di spionaggio che fino a quel momento aveva letto solo sui libri. Ma più Thomas Wilde investigherà a fondo, più si farà forte in lui l'ipotesi che gli omicidi siano collegati tra loro e, cosa alquanto preoccupante, abbiano a che fare con lo scandalo che ha investito Re Edoardo Vili e là sua amante Wallis Simpson. Il professor Wilde dovrà così far ricorso a tutte le sue capacità per risolvere questo rompicapo, proteggere la donna che ama e prevenire un massacro che avrebbe potuto cambiare la Storia del XX secolo.

There will be a terrible reckoning . . .

England is at war with Spain, and Queen Elizabeth's court is torn apart by brutal rivalries among ambitious young courtiers. The inimitable investigator John Shakespeare is dragged from retirement to work for the Earl of Essex, the queen's favorite. His mission is to unravel the mystery behind the doomed Roanoke colony in North America, but instead, he uncovers a plot to kill the aging queen.

With a plague devastating the country, Catholics being tortured, and John's wife keeping secrets from him, Shakespeare has his own survival to secure. Filled with colorful historical detail,Revenger is a stunning novel of savage betrayals and salacious intrigue.

Martyr is the first installment in Rory Clements' acclaimed and bestselling John Shakespeare series of Tudor spy thrillers. Clements, winner of the Ellis Peters Historical Fiction Award, 'does for Elizabeth's reign what CJ Sansom does for Henry VIII's' (Sunday Times).

England is close to war. Within days the axe could fall on the neck of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Spain is already gathering a battle fleet to avenge her.

Tensions in Elizabeth I's government are at the breaking point. At the center of the storm is John Shakespeare, chief intelligencer in the secret service of Sir Francis Walsingham. When an intercept reveals a plot to assassinate England's 'sea dragon,' Francis Drake, Shakespeare is ordered to protect him. Busy fitting out his ships on land, Drake is frighteningly vulnerable. If he dies, England will be open to invasion.

From the splendor and intrigue of the royal court to the sleek warships of Her Majesty's Navy and the teeming brothels of Southwark, Shakespeare soon learns that nothing is as it seems . . .

England, 1593. Plague rages, famine is rife, and the city is in revolt. From this bedlam rises the sharpest of sleuths: a man named John Shakespeare.

Shakespeare’s brother investigates a series of murders rocking Elizabethan London. He follows the clues, which lead him from horseraces to brothels to an explosive encounter at sea. As he digs deeper, he discovers a plot that threatens not only the kingdom but everything he holds dear. This spellbinding historical thriller will delight fans of New York Times bestselling authors Ariana Franklin and Alex Grecian.

In his critically acclaimed debut thriller, Martyr, Rory Clements introduced readers to the unforgettable John Shakespeare, chief intelligencer to Queen Elizabeth I and older brother to Will.

Now, five years later, the Queen needs Shakespeare's services once more. Not only is England still at war with Spain, but her court is riven by savage infighting among ambitious young courtiers.

Shakespeare is summoned by Elizabeth's cold but deadly Privy Councillor Sir Robert Cecil and ordered to undertake two linked missions: to investigate the mystery of the doomed Roanoke colony in North America—Sir Walter Ralegh's folly—and to spy on Cecil's rival, the dashing Earl of Essex.

Essex is the brightest star in the firmament, the Queen's favorite. But when Shakespeare enters Essex's dissolute world, he discovers not only that the Queen herself is in danger, but that he and his family are also targets. With a plague devastating the country, Catholics facing persecution and martyrdom at the hands of an infamous torturer, and John's own wife, Catherine, possibly protecting a priest—Shakespeare has his own survival to secure, as well as that of his fading but still feisty Queen.

Filled with the flavor and facts of a tumultuous time in English history, Revenger is a stunning novel of savage rivalries and reprisals from an author swiftly becoming a known master of historical suspense.

In this ingenious debut, Rory Clements introduces John Shakespeare, Elizabethan England’s most remarkable investigator, and delivers a tale of murder and conspiracy that succeeds brilliantly as both historical fiction and a crime thriller.

In a burnt-out house, one of Queen Elizabeth’s aristocratic cousins is found murdered, her young flesh marked with profane symbols. At the same time, a plot to assassinate Sir Francis Drake, England’s most famous sea warrior, is discovered—a plot which, if successful, could leave the country utterly defenseless against a Spanish invasion. It’s 1587, the Queen’s reign is in jeopardy, and one man is charged with the desperate task of solving both cases: John Shakespeare. With the Spanish Armada poised to strike, Mary Queen of Scots awaiting execution, and the pikes above London Bridge decorated with the grim evidence of treachery, the country is in peril of being overwhelmed by fear and chaos. Following a trail of illicit passions and family secrets, Shakespeare travels through an underworld of spies, sorcerers, whores, and theater people, among whom is his own younger brother, the struggling playwright, Will. Shadowed by his rival, the Queen’s chief torturer, who employs his own methods of terror, Shakespeare begins to piece together a complex and breathtaking conspiracy whose implications are almost too horrific to contemplate. For a zealous and cunning killer is stalking England’s streets. And as Shakespeare threatens to reveal a madman’s shocking identity, he and the beautiful woman he desires come ever closer to becoming the next martyrs to a passion for murder and conspiracy whose terrifying consequences might still be felt today….