The Roots of Betrayal Paperback / softback

From the author of The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England, now a major BBC 2 TV series, and SACRED TREASON comes the brilliant new Elizabethan thriller. 1564: Catholic herald William Harley, Clarenceux King of Arms, is the custodian of a highly dangerous document.

When it is stolen, Clarenceux immediately suspects a group of Catholic sympathisers, the self-styled Knights of the Round Table.

Francis Walsingham, the ruthless protégé of the queen's Principal Secretary, Sir William Cecil, intercepts a coded message from the Knights to a Countess known to have Catholic leanings.

He is convinced that Clarenceux is trying to use the document to advance the cause of the Catholic Queen. And soon Clarenceux enters a nightmare of suspicion, deception and conspiracy.

Conflict and fear, compounded by the religious doubts of the time, conceal a persistent mystery.

Where has the document gone? Who has it and who really took it? And why? The roots of betrayal are deep and shocking: and Clarenceux's journey towards the truth entails not just the discovery of clues and signs, but also the discovery of himself.