As soon as I started reading I was immediately back into the world of Bruno and Tutor England. This is an historical fiction but with the combination of espionage and intrigue it keeps you on your toes and trying to work out who is on what side. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole book, it can stand alone as a book in its own right or be read as part of the excellent full series featuring Bruno. I highly recommend this to any one who loves historical fiction and to those who love a good spy story and murder mystery, it has it all

I was sent a copy of Execution by S.J. Parris to read and review by NetGalley. Another cracking good read from S.J. Parris with Giordano Bruno at the helm. Full of intrigue and twists and turns the story concerns a plot by conspirators to murder Queen Elizabeth and put Mary Queen of Scots on the throne. We meet some familiar characters in the story and a whole host of others, with much dealing and double-dealing going on, while the author evocatively portrays the London of the time. I have to admit there was a moment when I guessed without meaning to the truth regarding one of the intrigues, but that didn’t mar my enjoyment of the book as a whole. There is plenty of tension – and gore – and everything picks up a pace towards the end, just as a good thriller should! I was toying between giving this novel 4 or 5 stars but in the end it’s a story that keeps you reading and as there is no option of 4 ½ stars 5 it is!

This is the 6th book in the Giordano Bruno series, with the hero, an excommunicated priest, now spying for Sir Francis Walsingham, spy master for Queen Elizabeth I. Sent to find out more information in another plot to bring Mary, Queen of Scots, to the throne, he goes undercover as Prado, a Spanish priest. This is exactly what you expect from this author, a fast paced, well researched and engaging story, with well fleshed characters and an excellent sense of life at that time. Despite knowing that the plot will never succeed it’s still a book that grips you to the final page. Although part of a series, it is still a stand alone read. Excellent book, I thoroughly enjoyed it, as I have her previous books Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Giordano Bruno arrives in England under cover and in great secrecy to spy on the conspirators of a plot involving Queen Elizabeth and Mary Queen of Scots. In the midst of his task he also becomes embroiled in the search for a murderer. Very well researched and well paced, I was hooked from the start. Thank you to S. J. Parris, Net Galley and Harper Collins for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a wonderful story this is, so full of detail that you can almost smell the smells and "see" the lives of the people trying to stay alive in the middle of the 16th Century. As to the executions, enough said. Overall, a gripping story that warrants full concentration, what with all the twists and turns, or you might miss something pivotal to the tapestry of the tale. A thinking person's book if ever there was one as this is historical fiction at its best. An Advanced Reader Copy review - free books never buy my opinion!