John Shakespeare is the star of Clements' entertaining debut novel set amidst the machinations of Elizabeth I's court as it teeters on the brink of a Spanish invasion.

Sidekick to the queen's ruthless spymaster Francis Walsingham, this Shakespeare is more a man of action than the famous man of words.

But there's one thing for sure ... he can certainly smell a rat!

While Walsingham concentrates on dispatching the treacherous Mary Queen of Scots and cooling the tensions bubbling within Elizabeth's government, Shakespeare must protect the great Sir Francis Drake from an assassination plot.

And there is not time to lose because if England's great 'sea dragon' is murdered, the country will be open to an invasion from the vengeful Spanish.

However, when the young Lady Blanche Howard, a member of one of England's most powerful families, is found horribly murdered in an illicit printing house, Shakespeare discovers pamphlets which are political gunpowder.

Aided by the marvellously named Harry Slide, a slippery character with 'juicy morsels' to sell to eager intelligencers, Shakespeare is soon shadowed at every turn by the brutal Richard Topcliffe, a blood-drenched priest hunter who claims intimacy with the Queen.

What is Topcliffe's interest in the unfortunate and humble housemaid Rose Downie whose baby has been stolen and replaced with a deformed infant?

And where do two fugitive Jesuit priests – one happy to die for God and the other to kill for Him - fit into the puzzle?

Clements has created a memorable, almost Dickensian rogues' gallery to accompany our intrepid detective ...

There's Walsingham who possesses eyes that 'see into men's secret corners' ; Shakespeare's canny and faithful servant Boltfoot Cooper who has a face 'rutted like bark'; Slide, a sable-caped chancer forever out of pocket; and a deliciously entertaining whore called Parsimony.

Together they embark on a revealing and sometimes bloody journey which takes readers from the splendour and intrigue of the royal court to the sleek warships waiting to face the Armada and the teeming brothels of Southwark.

Clements has a real feel for the Elizabethan period ... he understands the religious challenges and historical events that shaped 16th century politics and amidst it all he has devised a thrilling plot.

An excellent start to a new series featuring the redoubtable Mr Shakespeare ...

(John Murray, hardback, £12.99)