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Historical person
1527–1609
John Dee was an English mathematician, astrologer, adviser and scholar in the Elizabethan period. His interests in navigation, imperial planning, alchemy and angelic communication place him at the intersection of science, magic and statecraft.
John Dee was born in London and died in Mortlake. Dee served Elizabeth I as a mathematician, astrologer and adviser while building one of England’s notable private libraries; his later collaboration with Edward Kelley centred on attempts to communicate with angels through ritual and scrying.
In S. J. Parris’ Prophecy, Working among courtiers, foreign agents and practitioners of astrology, Bruno must separate political theatre from genuine belief and murder from treason. His inquiries bring him into contact with John Dee and expose a scheme in which prophecy is being used to frighten, recruit and manipulate those already expecting the queen’s fall. In G. J. Williams’ The Assassin’s Mark, A cloven hoof-print, poisonings and references to the figure of Baphomet lead John Dee and Margaretta from frightened London communities towards aristocratic intrigue and the possibility of an assassin operating across national borders. Further fictional perspectives on John Dee can be found in G. J. Williams’ The Conjuror’s Apprentice, G. J. Williams’ The Cygnet Prince, Steven Veerapen’s The Queen’s Gold, G. J. Williams’ The Wolf’s Shadow, and Rory Clements’ Traitor.
Series
G. J. Williams’s Tudor Rose Murders follow the historical scholar, mathematician and astrologer John Dee and his fictional apprentice Margaretta Morgan through murder investigations embedded in the dynastic and religious crises of the mid-Tudor period. The Conjuror’s Apprentice is set under Mary I in 1555; The Wolf’s Shadow…
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The John Shakespeare series follows an Elizabethan intelligencer working first for Francis Walsingham and later Robert Cecil. Murder investigations become inseparable from Catholic conspiracies, war with Spain, court faction and the developing machinery of state surveillance. Set between 1582 and the mid-1590s, the novels move through London, recusant…
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The Giordano Bruno novels follow the historical Italian philosopher through a fictional career as investigator and intelligence agent. Beginning with his youth in Dominican Naples and continuing through exile in Elizabethan England, France and Prague, the series combines murder mysteries with Reformation conflict, court politics, espionage and Renaissance…
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The Christopher Marlowe Spy Thrillers imagine the playwright as an intelligence operative in the years immediately before his literary fame. The Queen’s Gold is set in 1585 amid privateering and the worsening conflict with Spain; The Queen’s Jewel follows the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots in 1587;…
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