The Wolf’s Shadow (The Tudor Rose Murders Book 2)
It is 1558, and Mary I is under the illusion she is about to give birth. In reality she is dying. Princess Elizabeth attends her sister in London. Meanwhile the body of Thomas Seymour, who had been executed nine years earlier, is discovered hanging from an oak tree at Hatfield House. How could he return from the dead only to die again? Doctor John Dee, his assistant Margaretta, and his pupil Christopher are charged by William Cecil with unravelling the mystery, and also with finding Cecil’s missing son and saving Elizabeth from scandal. And what exactly is ‘the curse of the wolf’?
This is a fabulous mystery, pacy, tense and very atmospheric. G. J. Williams certainly can take a reader into a convincing reinvented mid-Tudor-era England. I particularly enjoyed her gritty descriptions of London such as ‘A sharp wind came down the river from the east and with it the stench of the sewage the muckrakers had thrown in overnight’. Her descriptions of death are chilling, especially the stink of cadavers.
The Wolf’s Shadow is a novel with depth of characterisation, both those of real historical personalities and the invented ones. Margaretta’s brother, her complaining mother and fleabag cat, Cadi, are wonderful depictions, as are the ailing Dr Dee and Cecil himself. The mummers at the centre of the narrative leap from the page as vividly as the dwarf, Petit Pierre, can skim a wall. This mystery takes a series of incredible twists and turns and will keep a reader turning pages until all is revealed. The narrative is complicated, but even so, admirable, thorough historical research underpins this story, in particular that involving the Seymours of Wolf Hall. Be prepared to read a tale that will entertain and surprise. This is an atmospheric, thrilling historical adventure.
