The Course of All Treasons is the follow-up to A Murder by Any Name, one of my favourite discoveries of 2019. I was, obviously, very excited to see if the sequel lived up to the first book.
Title: The Course of All Treasons
Author: Suzanne M. Wolfe
Series: An Elizabethan Spy Mystery #2
First Published: December 10, 2019
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Categories: Historical Fiction, Mystery
Acquired: from the publisher via NetGalley
*** Thank you to the publisher, Crooked Lane Books, for providing me with an advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. ***
England, 1586. Tensions are rising as threats to Elizabeth I’s rule come from all corners. Traitors plot for Mary Queen of Scots to depose Elizabeth I and take the throne. Rumours of a Spanish invasion by sea mount daily. And the body of one of Sir Francis Walsingham’s agents is found floating in the Thames.
Our protagonist, Nicholas Holt, is also a spy in Walsingham’s employ and narrowly avoids being killed by a crossbow. The Queen and Walsingham task Nick with finding the killer(s) and possibly stopping a Spanish plot.
The Course of All Treasons brilliantly continues the adventures of Nicholas Holt
As I mentioned in the introduction, Wolfe’s first book, A Murder by Any Name, was one of my happy discoveries this year. It had originally come to my attention when I saw it mentioned on Twitter and I wasn’t disappointed (you can read my review here). Imagine my excitement when Wolfe announced the sequel and I managed to get an early copy via NetGalley!
One of the reasons I enjoy this series is the protagonist, Nicholas Holt. Nick is the younger son of a minor noble in the court of Queen Elizabeth I. Due to the fact that his family are secretly Catholics, Nick has been coerced into spying for Robert Cecil and Walsingham. As part of his cover, Nick runs The Black Sheep tavern with his childhood friend John and John’s wife, Maggie. Nick also has a loyal partner in the form of a gigantic Wolfhound named Hector.
Nick continues to be both empathetic (especially to those in the lower classes), but also cunning and deadly. I hate stupid characters that blunder their way from one adventure to the next but Nick can definitely hold his own. But he’s not perfect – he has several flaws – but that makes him more endearing to me.
A plot within a plot within a plot
I found this story to be a bit more confusing than the first one. However, I think all the plots and subplots were deliberate in order to add to the confusion and paranoia that I think was typical of life at the court of Elizabeth I. There were spies everywhere and everyone was suspect. Trying to unravel who was plotting with who, who was loyal and who was treasonous could make anyone’s head swim.
Just as in the first book, some of the well-known historical characters (Walsingham, Essex, Cecil, etc) play important parts, but were secondary to the main characters like Nick and John. And that’s completely fine with me. I enjoy how Wolfe has the bigger-than-life figures nudge the action along, but then they fade into the background.
Wolfe does a terrific job of setting up the environment and atmosphere of Elizabeth’s court. There’s just enough historical reference to put you in the right frame of mind but really, it’s the characters and their personal stories that I’m here for. Fingers crossed that there’s more adventures with Nick Holt on the horizon!
Read The Course of All Treasons for yourself
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