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Shadow of the Tower
by Peter Tonkin
Book 4 in the The Queen’s Intelligencer series.
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Richmond Palace, March 1603. Elizabeth I is dying without publicly naming an heir, although Robert Cecil has already committed himself to James VI of Scotland. Robert Poley and his agents are ordered to protect the succession, beginning with the secret journey of a ring whose delivery tells James that the queen is dead. An attack on the messenger reveals that rival claimants and foreign sponsors are already acting.
Poley uncovers overlapping plots while James moves south towards London surrounded by allies whose ambitions may be as dangerous as his enemies. Arrests lead to interrogations in the Tower, but each exposed conspiracy raises another candidate for the throne. The novel turns the Union of the Crowns into an intelligence operation in which the peaceful appearance of succession depends on coercion conducted out of sight.
Historical periods
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