Treachery

“Excellent. This is historical mystery fiction at its finest.”

A masterful work that deserves a place on all public-library historical-fiction shelves, and that should be recommended to Phillipa Gregory fans.

“Fans of Umberto Eco or C.J. Sansom will love Treachery, the fourth entry in the Giordano Bruno series by S.J. Parris. Meticulously researched and well-written, Treachery is a fascinating historical mystery, sure to appeal to both historical fiction and mystery readers.”

“Vivid characterizations, careful description, and lively dialogue.”

One of my favorite authors—and unquestionably our greatest living writer of historical thrillers. Few novelists inhabit a setting—any setting—with such confidence and command; fewer still devise plots of such cunning and craft. If Hilary Mantel, John Le Carré, and Michael Connelly were to join forces, they might gift us with a novel as atmospheric, intelligent, and addictive as Treachery—or indeed any of Parris’ books featuring monk-turned-spy Giordano Bruno.

"Hugely enjoyable. It’s played straight, but never humourlessly so, and there’s just enough 'proper' history amid the intrigue to keep purists on side."

"An evil bookseller and a terrifying brothel lie ahead; what’s not to like? Gripping and fun."

"With its twisting plot and vivid scene-setting, Treachery confirms Parris’s growing reputation as a writer of historical thrillers."

"There are echoes of C. J. Sansom’s here. Her prose is taut and compelling. Her wielding of the historical material is always convincing but never overwhelming."

"Parris’s Giordano Bruno series has been a joy. Her Elizabethan England is loud, pungent, and blessedly free of some of the genre’s more egregious clichés. She wears her research lightly: at home with the detail of the period, she is quite happy to engage in a little creative anachronism to bring the story home."