Today is pub day for my friend and fellow mystery writer Suzanne Wolfe. Her new novel, The Course of All Treasons, is officially published! Normally that would mean hugs, high-fives, and a celebratory reading/signing at Seattle’s eminent Third Place Books. This year—well, we all know how the bottom is falling out of “normal.” So here’s my virtual applause for a talented writer and a great new historical mystery. Libraries may be closing but the digital book world is lighting up: check it out online.
The Course of All Treasons (Crooked Lane Books, 2020) is the second installment in Wolfe’s Elizabethan Spy Mystery series. Like its predecessor, A Murder By Any Name, this novel sings with intrigue. Dashing adventurer-gentleman Nick Holt is again pressed into serving the queen’s spymaster. He lives by his shrewd intelligence and quick wits in a London where he must dodge both murderous thugs and vile slop buckets emptied from overhead windows. Wolfe’s novel thrums with the vibrancy of a busy city, the court’s shifting political factions, and the crude yet colorful language that breathed life into Shakespeare’s plays and poetry.
For example, here’s how the novel opens:
“Satan’s pizzle!”
Simon Winchelsea cursed as he sank ankle-deep in the revolting effluent running like a river down the center of the street. A cold rain had been steadily falling since late afternoon; he was wet as a witch on a ducking stool, and now he was literally wading through shit. And all because Sir Francis Walsingham had tasked him to shadow a mark to a nighttime meet.
Wet as a witch on a ducking stool. Who can resist wanting to read more?
This is a terrific novel in every sense: a page-turning plot, dimensional characters, and lively prose. Hearty congratulations to Suzanne Wolfe for creating such a satisfying mystery. The hugs are on hold, but not the enthusiasm.
