The Queen's Agent: Sir Francis Walsingham and the Rise of Espionage in Elizabethan England | 
pickReally good. This must be based on years, maybe decades, of research into the whole period and then the author‘s had to explain complicated issues as clearly as possible so we can understand the background to incidents in the book. Really impressive and gives a well-rounded portrait of Walsingham. I understand a lot more about the Elizabethan PR project now too! One to read again.
Most of us know Walshingham as the Geoffrey Rush character in the Elizabeth movies. This books shows a much more nuanced character a lawyer, ambassador and Protestant who grew into the greatest spymaster of his generation. A man with informers and spies throughout Europe, who foiled catholic assassins, was responsible for the execution of Mary Queen is Scots and provided timely information on the Armada. Yet a remarkably non descript humble man.
pickFirst off, this cover is beautiful. Secondly, John Cooper did a fabulous job keeping this book fascinating. His style and tone are academic, but one can tell he is passionate about this topic. This book is a great image of both Walsingham's cleverness and the deceit of Elizabethan times.
