Marbeck has been kicking his heels for too long in his own mind. Fortunately, Sir Robert Cecil, Master Secretary to Queen Elizabeth, wants him to gather intelligence from someone at Marshalsea Prison and bring it to him. The man who torturers prisoners tells Marbeck that before he died, the prisoner told him that the Master Secretary has a double agent in his service, working for the Spanish by the name of Morera.
Cecil wants this Morera, which means Mulberry in English, flushed out as soon as possible. Cecil has his suspicions and provides Marbeck with two names. After questioning them, he feels that they are not the traitors. So, the following morning he heads to Dover to check on another man.
Joseph Gifford tells Marbeck of rumours of a Spanish invasion coming from the Low Countries. The following day Marbeck receives orders to travel to France. From Dover, Marbeck heads to Plymouth to make the crossing.
There, from Edmund Trigg, he learns of more rumours of Spanish invasion. This time from the west. Finally, in Brest, Marbeck finds that his contact is on his deathbed. The man sends Marbeck further south to his source, the Comtesse de Paiva.
At that point things go south for Marbeck. He finds himself in a right nasty situation, which is difficult for him to extract himself from. But a trick he learned as a child helps. Then he is off to Paris and finally back to London.
Author John Pilkington has more dangerous events awaiting Marbeck in London, and despite the help from Gifford he is almost killed a couple of times. There is double dealing aplenty. Pilkington has written a rollicking good historical thriller in this, the first of a series, which I look forward to reading.
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