England is on the verge of war. The execution of Mary, Queen of Scots is expected any day now, and Spain is already assembling a battle fleet to avenge her and sending a hired killer to England to deal with the English “sea dragon,” Francis Drake. John Shakespeare, Sir Francis Walsingham's chief secret service agent, is ordered to protect Drake, for if Drake dies, England will be open to Spanish invasion. Simultaneously with this task, Shakespeare is investigating the death of a young noblewoman, whose mutilated body was discovered in a burnt house on the outskirts of London. The search for the brutal killer of a young woman strangely leads John Shakespeare to a Spanish mercenary... "Martyr" is the first book in the already beloved detective series about John Shakespeare, created by Rory Clements, winner of the competition for the best historical prose of the Ellis Peters Historical Fiction Award.