Treachery
Perfect for fans of C.J. Sansom and The Name of the Rose, the fourth historical thriller featuring Giordano Bruno, heretic, philosopher and spy.August, 1585. England is on the brink of war…Sir Francis Drake is preparing to launch a daring expedition against the Spanish when a murder aboard his ship changes everything.A relentless enemy. A treacherous conspiracy.Giordano Bruno agrees to hunt the killer down, only to find that more than one deadly plot is brewing in Plymouth’s murky underworld. And as he tracks a murderer through its dangerous streets, he uncovers a conspiracy that threatens the future of England itself.
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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2014
Copyright © Stephanie Merritt 2014
Stephanie Merritt asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
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Source ISBN: 9780007481224
Ebook Edition © 2014 ISBN: 9780007481217
Version: 2017-05-10
Contents
From aboard Her Majestyâs good ship the Elizabeth Bonaventure, Plymouth, this Sunday the twenty-second of August 1585
Right Honourable Sir Francis Walsingham
After my heartiest commendations to you, Master Secretary, it is with a heavy heart that I pick up my pen to write these words. You have no doubt expected fair news of the fleetâs departure by now. It grieves me to tell you that we remain for the present at anchor here in Plymouth Sound, delayed at first by routine matters of supplies and provisioning, and awaiting still the arrival of the Galleon Leicester to complete our number, which we expect any day (and with it your son-in-law). Naturally, in a voyage of this size such minor setbacks are to be expected. But it is a far graver matter that weighs upon me now and which I feel I must convey to Your Honour, though I ask that for the present you do not reveal these sad circumstances to Her Majesty, for I hope to have the business resolved before too long without causing her unnecessary distress.
Your Honour perhaps knows, at least by reputation, Master Robert Dunne, a gentleman of Devon, sometime seen at court, who proved a most worthy officer and companion when I made my voyage around the world seven years since, and was duly rewarded for his part in that venture. I had invited Dunne to join my crew for this our present voyage to Spain and the New World, though there were those among my closest advisers who counselled against it, given the manâs personal troubles and what is said of him, which I need not elaborate here. Even so, I will not judge a man on hearsay but on his deeds, and I was determined to give Dunne a chance to recover his honour in the service of his country. Perhaps I would have done well to listen, though that is all one now.
From the outset Dunneâs manner was curious; he seemed much withdrawn into himself, and furtive, as if he were afraid of someone at his shoulder, not at all the man I remembered. This I attributed to nervous anticipation of the voyage to come; to leave home and family for the far side of the world is not a venture to be undertaken lightly, and Dunne knew all too well what he might face. Last evening, he had been ashore with some of the other gentlemen. While we remain here in harbour I consider it wise to allow them the natural pursuits of young men and such diversions as Plymouth affords the sailor â there is time enough for them to be confined together below decks and subject to the harsh discipline of a shipâs company once we haul anchor, though I make clear to the men under my command â as do my fellow captains â that they are expected to conduct themselves in such a way as will not bring the fleet into disrepute.
Dunne was brought back to the ship last night very much the worse for drink, which was also out of character; God knows the man had his vices, but I had confidence that drink was not among them, or I would not have appointed him to serve with me on Her Majestyâs flagship. He was in the company of our parson, Padre Pettifer, who had found Dunne wandering in the streets in a high degree of drunkenness and thought best to bring him direct to the ship â a decision I would not have made in his position, for I am told they had the Devilâs own work to help Dunne into the rowboat and up the ladder to the deck of the
