The Angel's Mark: This bestseller is perfect for fans of CJ Sansom, Rory Clements and S. J. Parris.

By S. W. Perry

Longlisted for the Crime Writers' Association Historical Fiction Dagger, 2019

A Walter Scott Prize Academy Recommended Read 2019

'Rich, intelligent and dark in equal measure, leaving you wrung out with terror. Historical fiction at its most sumptuous.' Rory Clements
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Heresy. Conspiracy. Murder...

London, 1590: Amidst a tumultuous backdrop of Spanish plotters, Catholic heretics and foreign wars, Queen Elizabeth I's control over her kingdom is wavering.

And a killer is at work, preying on the weak and destitute of London...

Idealistic physician Nicholas Shelby becomes determined to end these terrible murders. Joined in his investigations by Bianca, a beautiful but mysterious tavern keeper, the pair find themselves caught in the middle of a sinister plot.

With the killer still at large, Bianca finds herself in terrible danger. Nicholas's choice seems impossible - to save Bianca, or save himself...

'Wonderful! Perry's Elizabethan London is so skilfully evoked, so real that one can almost smell it.' Giles Kristian

• Language: English
• Publisher: Corvus
• Release date: Sep 6, 2018
• ISBN: 9781786494931

Reviews for The Angel's Mark

[pierthinker · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the debut novel from a journalist turned airline pilot. Set in Elizabethan London (mainly in sleazy Southwark), it tells the story of Nicholas Shelby, a disgraced physician, and Bianca Merton, a tavern keeper and herbalist/apothecary. Nicholas believes a serial killer is on the loose preying on the vulnerable poor. No one in authority is prepared to believe or support him, so he tracks the killer alone with Bianca’s help. S subsidiary plot involves Robert Cecil, son of Lord Burghley, attempting to expose Lord John Lumley as a Catholic and thereby steal his palace of Nonsuch, which Cecil intends to give to Queen Elizabeth to secure his own advancement.The book is well plotted and well paced with enough clever twists to keep the reader off balance and eager to read on. The characterisation is strong, with key secondary characters especially well drawn (the Casey family, Elizabeth Lumley, the Lumley servants and Ned Monkton).There is a strong sense of place and historical period that add much atmosphere to the proceedings.