Execution
A TREASONOUS PLOT
England, 1586. Giordano Bruno, heretic turned spy, passes on vital information to spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham. A band of Catholic Englishmen are plotting to kill Queen Elizabeth and install Mary, Queen of Scots, on the English throne.
A DEADLY TRAP
Walsingham, already aware of the plot, is allowing it to progress. He hopes that Mary will put her support in writing – and condemn herself to a traitor's death.
A QUEEN IN DANGER
Bruno must go undercover, join the conspirators and stop them. A queen is destined to die; Bruno must make sure it is the right one…
‘A brilliantly realised fictionalisation of the Babington plot against Elizabeth 1’ Observer
‘Execution has an atmospheric sense of place. The plot twists and turns’ The Times
‘Immaculate… the depth of period detail, the all-enveloping sense of time and place, and the sheer gory drama’ Metro
‘Sumptuous’ New York Times
‘Parris’s attention to the details of Elizabethan life and her ability to create characters of depth are again on display in a gripping narrative’ The Sunday Times
‘Fast-paced and entertaining’ Mail on Sunday
‘Parris is one of the stars of historical crime fiction and this, her sixth Giordano Bruno novel, is among her best’i
‘Superbly plotted, shimmeringly written, it will have you on the edge of your seat’ Kate Williams, author of The Storms of War
‘An impressive feat’ Marisa Haetzman, also writes as Ambrose Parry
No. 1 Sunday Times bestseller S. J. Parris is the pseudonym of the author and journalist Stephanie Merritt. It was as a student at Cambridge researching a paper on the period that Stephanie first became fascinated by the rich history of Tudor England and Renaissance Europe. Since then, her interest has grown and led her to create this series of historical thrillers featuring Giordano Bruno.
Stephanie has worked as a critic and feature writer for a variety of newspapers and magazines, as well as radio and television. She has also written the contemporary psychological thriller While You Sleep under her own name. She currently writes for the Observer and the Guardian, and lives in Surrey with her son.