To Kill a Queen (Will Patten Thrillers)

About the book

About To Kill a Queen (Will Patten Thrillers)

1535. London. Thomas More has been executed and his head rests on a spike on London Bridge. Will Patten, hoping to return to a normal life after his part in Thomas More’s downfall, and his wife Phoebe have settled in the capital. But tragedy strikes. Phoebe and their unborn child die during childbirth, leaving Will devastated. Reeling from unimaginable grief, Will then loses his position working for Bishop Stephen Gardiner. Forlorn, he encounters Richard Rich, a politic associate of Will’s who works in the shadows of Henry VIII’s court, who draws him into a plot to ruin the reputation of Queen Anne Boleyn. Working as a spy in Greenwich Palace, Will uncovers information that will not only condemn Anne Boleyn, but the courtiers associated with her. Yet with each piece of intelligence Will discovers, the threat to those he loves grows. When he witnesses the torture of court musician Mark Smeaton and the trial of the men surrounding the queen, the spy realizes that he could suffer a similar fate. As Will watches the fallout from the trials, his family suffers another painful loss when his brother John goes missing. Will must extricate himself from King Henry VIII’s court and the machinations of Cromwell and Richard Rich. With Anne Boleyn’s body still warm on the scaffold, Will knows he must escape London. But can he leave all he knows, and all he loves, behind? W. J. Small is an avid historian, focusing on late medieval Britain. She is also the author of A Knight's Duty.

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