Review: "All the Queen's Spies," Oliver Clements

By Paul Carrier

There are recurring themes in Oliver Clements' trio of thrillers set in late 16th-century England, despite the passage of time from one book to the next.

Although the opening scenes in each novel take place several years apart — 1572, 1577 and 1583 — Queen Elizabeth is under threat by enemies foreign and domestic in all three tales.

Moreover, Mary Stuart, the Catholic former queen of Scotland, remains convinced throughout the series (to date, anyway) that she is the rightful queen of England and Ireland.

Finally, in each novel, the real-life John Dee, astrologer, occultist and Elizabeth’s court astronomer, plays a central role in protecting the Protestant queen from Catholics in England and beyond who wish to place Mary on the English throne.

In this year's All the Queen’s Spies, the third book in the series, Dee eventually finds himself in Prague, hoping to catch the ear of Emperor Rudolf II, ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. Spain and powerful interests in France are conspiring to oust Elizabeth, and they are eager to win Rudolf’s financial backing. Toward that end, a French nobleman has assigned a stunningly beautiful French agent to seduce the emperor and bring him on board.

Dee’s mission is to counter the conspirators’ influence by ingratiating himself with the notoriously reclusive emperor, who shares Dee’s fascination with the occult but is smitten with the French agent. Dee hopes to divert Rudolf’s attention with a mysterious book supposedly dictated by angels who insist the volume will make any human who deciphers it all-powerful. Absurd? Certainly by 21st-century standards, but in the 16th century?

All the Queen’s Spies is engrossing, as were the earlier books in the series. Clements’ boisterous plots race along at a brisk clip, blending suspense, wit, preposterous goings-on and an often cheeky tone. There are innovations in this installment, including a prominent role for Dee’s wife, Jane Fromond, and the arrival in Dee’s corner of none other than a cocky, pugnacious playwright and poet named Christopher Marlowe.

Will Clements’ series continue with a fourth novel? He implies as much in an author’s note in which he reminds readers that All the Queen’s Spies, which ends in 1584, draws to a close “before the last great threat to England, and the Protestant Reformation . . . .” Clements doesn't elaborate, but the reference seems clear enough. The Spanish Armada will set sail in 1588, and Dee will still be very much alive that year.