Longlisted for the Crime Writers' Association Historical Fiction Dagger, 2019

A Walter Scott Prize Academy Recommended Read 2019

'Rich, intelligent and dark in equal measure, leaving you wrung out with terror. Historical fiction at its most sumptuous.' Rory Clements

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Heresy. Conspiracy. Murder...

London, 1590: Amidst a tumultuous backdrop of Spanish plotters, Catholic heretics and foreign wars, Queen Elizabeth I's control over her kingdom is wavering.

And a killer is at work, preying on the weak and destitute of London...

Idealistic physician Nicholas Shelby becomes determined to end these terrible murders. Joined in his investigations by Bianca, a beautiful but mysterious tavern keeper, the pair find themselves caught in the middle of a sinister plot.

With the killer still at large, Bianca finds herself in terrible danger. Nicholas's choice seems impossible - to save Bianca, or save himself...

'Wonderful! Perry's Elizabethan London is so skilfully evoked, so real that one can almost smell it.' Giles Kristian