The Semper Sonnet

By Seth Margolis

In this stunning thrill ride, perfect for fans of Dan Brown and Steve Berry, a long-lost manuscript, written for Elizabeth I, holds the key to unlocking the past—and to eliminating the future.

Lee Nicholson is ready to take the academic world by storm, having discovered a sonnet she believes was written by William Shakespeare. When she reads the poem on the air, the words put her life in peril and trigger a violent chase, with stakes that reach far beyond the cloistered walls of academia.

Buried in the language of the sonnet, in its allusions and wordplay, are secrets that have been hidden since Elizabethan times, secrets known only to the queen and her trusted doctor, but guessed at by men who seek the crown and others who seek the world. If the riddles are solved, it could explode what the world knows of the great Elizabeth I. And it could release a pandemic more deadly than the world has ever imagined.

Lee’s quest for the answers buried in the sonnet keeps her one step ahead of an international hunt—from the police who want her for murder, to a group of men who will stop at nothing to end her quest, to a madman who pursues the answers for destructive reasons of his own.

As this intelligent thriller moves back and forth between Tudor England and the present day, Lee begins to piece together the meaning behind Shakespeare’s words, carrying the story to its gasp-out-loud conclusion.

"Imaginative plotting and depth of character distinguish this centuries-spanning thriller..."—Publishers Weekly

“This provocative and knuckle-biting thriller will have you on the edge of your seat as it careens through the hallowed halls of academia into the turbulent past. Hold tight to your farthingales: this is a roller-coaster ride of a book!”—C.W. Gortner, international bestselling author of The Last Queen

• Language: English
• Publisher: Diversion Books
• Release date: Apr 19, 2016
• ISBN: 9781682300558

Seth Margolis

Seth Margolis worked for six years as a volunteer tutor for Literacy Volunteers of NYC. He is the author of two mysteries, False Faces and Disappearing Acts, and he lives and works on New York City’s Upper West Side.

Reviews for The Semper Sonnet

[bookscookslooks · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There are two ways to read this book:abandoning all sense, all reality, all grounding in the true world and just go with itwith a sense of how ridiculous and stupid and impossible is any of this How a reader enjoys or doesn’t enjoy the book is going to completely depend on how much they can go with #1 rather than live in the real world of #2. I respect that the book is a work of fiction and I will admit that the author wrote with the skill to keep the pages turning but I just like my books – even my fictional books – somewhat grounded in a little bit of reality. If I keep finding myself, as a reader coming out of a story because of a feeling of unreality or impossibility I become a frustrated reader.But if you are willing to to totally suspend belief this will be a book to keep you a reader engaged. A young woman finds a lost sonnet that she is convinced was written by William Shakespeare. As she researches and begins to announce her find she suddenly finds herself in the middle of a royal mess; the police think she has committed a murder, a secret society is trying to keep her from finding out its secrets and a madman is trying to destroy the world.But this young woman, an expert in Shakespeare suddenly becomes adept at alluding the police and she follows clues to possibly solve a problem that has been unsolved for 500 years! All the while teaching all around her about the wonderful word play of the Elizabethans. Again – suspend reality and you have a great round the world chase with a seek and find puzzle as well. For me it was just too facile and slightly ridiculous.Our heroine is also bad with men – she will sleep with just about any one that appeals. I suspect the author was trying to make her liberated but to me she just came off as a bit confused. It didn’t help the character development at all. Nor did the main antagonist have any real motivation. I never did understand why he did what he did. The one reason put forth seemed seriously inadequate to destroy the world.So – no I didn’t like this book and yes I did like this book. It’s a Jekyll and Hyde kind of thing. I would not read it again and I honestly wanted to throw it against the wall. There was so much possibility here and so much possibility lost.RATING:Rating for reading way 1: 4Rating for reading way 2: 2Overall Rating: 3

[brokenteepee · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There are two ways to read this book:abandoning all sense, all reality, all grounding in the true world and just go with itwith a sense of how ridiculous and stupid and impossible is any of this How a reader enjoys or doesn’t enjoy the book is going to completely depend on how much they can go with #1 rather than live in the real world of #2. I respect that the book is a work of fiction and I will admit that the author wrote with the skill to keep the pages turning but I just like my books – even my fictional books – somewhat grounded in a little bit of reality. If I keep finding myself, as a reader coming out of a story because of a feeling of unreality or impossibility I become a frustrated reader.But if you are willing to to totally suspend belief this will be a book to keep you a reader engaged. A young woman finds a lost sonnet that she is convinced was written by William Shakespeare. As she researches and begins to announce her find she suddenly finds herself in the middle of a royal mess; the police think she has committed a murder, a secret society is trying to keep her from finding out its secrets and a madman is trying to destroy the world.But this young woman, an expert in Shakespeare suddenly becomes adept at alluding the police and she follows clues to possibly solve a problem that has been unsolved for 500 years! All the while teaching all around her about the wonderful word play of the Elizabethans. Again – suspend reality and you have a great round the world chase with a seek and find puzzle as well. For me it was just too facile and slightly ridiculous.Our heroine is also bad with men – she will sleep with just about any one that appeals. I suspect the author was trying to make her liberated but to me she just came off as a bit confused. It didn’t help the character development at all. Nor did the main antagonist have any real motivation. I never did understand why he did what he did. The one reason put forth seemed seriously inadequate to destroy the world.So – no I didn’t like this book and yes I did like this book. It’s a Jekyll and Hyde kind of thing. I would not read it again and I honestly wanted to throw it against the wall. There was so much possibility here and so much possibility lost.RATING:Rating for reading way 1: 4Rating for reading way 2: 2Overall Rating: 3

[mishker-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lee Nicholson believes she has found something that will make her academic career. As an English literature grad student at Columbia, Lee believes she has found a new sonnet written by Shakespeare. After an appearance on the evening news where Lee reads a stanza of the sonnet, everything goes downhill. Lee is now a suspect in a murder; a murder over a clue in the sonnet. Lee quickly figures out that Shakespeare hid a series of clues in the wordplay of the sonnet, clues about something big enough to kill for. Now, Lee is on the run from the law chasing the clue to Henford estate in England chasing the secrets of Queen Elizabeth I. This is a historical secrets thriller, perfect for those who enjoyed Angels and Demons but thought it needed more of a Tudor twist. As a lover of all things Tudor, the historical aspect and mystery surrounding Elizabeth I was what got me interested and kept me hooked. The chapters alternate between diary entries written by Elizabeth’s physician beginning in 1555 and present day with Lee. The diary entries were the most interesting aspect to me; however, as Lee began to extract clues from the sonnet I was pulled in along with her and was trying to figure out the hidden meanings alongside her. Now, some suspension of disbelief was necessary on my part in order to believe that one historian suspected of murder could leave the US with a fake identity and travel freely around the world; that really isn’t the important part though. The intensity and suspense grows with each clue that is uncovered, and Lee is put in danger from more than one source. While I did guess some things along the way, I never would have guessed what the sonnet was actually hiding and the bigger prize that Lee finds at the end. Overall, a fast paced, multi-faceted historical thriller for any Tudor fan.This book was received for free in return for an honest review.