Alchemy: The latest new gripping historical crime thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author (Giordano Bruno, Book 7)

S. J Parris delivers a further adventure for Bruno. Full of fabulous details of Prague and its people, the social, political and emotional undercurrents of Church, Political and State.Really enjoyable.

Characters well described and developed, always a bit of action going on. Not a literary masterpiece but story flows well

I have gulped down each of the Bruno Giordano books as soon as I can get my hands on them. I really enjoy the development of his character and his backstory, as well as each intriguing mystery. The setting here is the creepy court of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II in Prague. He is an interesting figure in his own right, unusually tolerant of other religions, a man of science but obsessed by alchemy, a collector of books and one of the first owners of a cabinet of curiosities filled with the strange and the weird from all over Europe and beyond. Bruno arrives in Prague at the request of Elizabeth I's spymaster Walsingham, an old friend and sometime adversary, in pursuit of the Queen's former magician John Dee who has gone missing. The adventures start from there and follow through to a very satisfying conclusion having followed many deaths, twists and turns, and much skulduggery along the way with plenty of well-researched, rich historical detail. The portrait of the Jewish community in Prague is especially sympathetic and fascinating. What I especially liked about this book is that Bruno acquires two sidekicks, one of them his hapless but sweet-natured and innocent pupil Besler who is constantly in trouble but with the best of intentions, and the other a motherless and neglected child Sukie who is more than a match for Bruno and anyone else. There is a strong element of gentle comedy in this book which is extremely enjoyable and shows another side to Bruno. There is also less of our hero mooning about over impossible lady-loves, although not altogether, which makes a welcome change. I loved this book and thoroughly recommend it to all Giordano fans and to all those who have an interest in the Elizabeth spy network and the court and culture of Prague at this fascinating time in history. Five stars from me!

This series seems to get better the longer it goes on.

Full of intrigue and the constant presence of danger for Dr Bruno and his mission for Walsingham. Insights into the workings of Catholic emissaries and the Jewish community. The emperor is eccentric and vulnerable and immersed in alchemy. Many plots sub plots and acts of retribution.

A 16th century novel incorporating real life characters. Not quite the exciting, page turner that I had expected from the reviews, but I will pursue further books in this series. Parris is a consummate author worthy of attention.

Two writers shine when it comes to Tudorbethan murder mysteries: C. J. Sansom for his Shardlake books and S. J. Parris (Stephanie Merritt) for her novels with the unlikely figure of Giordano Bruno as detective. For popular science writers, the historical Bruno is a bit of a problem, as he is often portrayed as a martyr for science, but in reality was a mystic whose ideas were unoriginal and whose execution was for common-or-garden heresy, rather than being ahead of his time on cosmology. But as a detective he makes a great character in the loveable rogue with a conscience tradition. Think a sixteenth century version of Lovejoy (the books, not the TV series), but with less of tendency to kill people. Parris makes great use of this in her series of novels.This latest, Alchemy, is set in Prague in 1588. The setting, with its contrasts of the Emperor's palace and the conditions of the poor is handled excellently. There's a particular opportunity here to explore some of the oddities of the period - and its biases - both in the bizarre work of the alchemists who feature in a big way, the power of the Catholic Church, and the treatment of the Jewish ghetto, which also play a major part.As is often the case in Parris's books, Bruno is a reluctant detective, with a whole range of factions vying against him and providing potential suspects - including a form Catholic inquisitor and his Spanish thugs and the various hangers on hoping for the benefaction of the Holy Roman Emperor, who is generally a weak individual but is challenging the church.What's great about both Parris and Sansom's books is that they give us all the enjoyment of the immersing in the period you get from a quality historical fiction novel, but at the same time provide us with some fun in trying to work out what's happening with the murder mystery - in this case one that is blamed by some on a golem, neatly tying in with the legend attached to the historical character Rabbi Loew. The one disadvantage Parris has in comparison with Sansom, whose detective is fictional, is that we do know Bruno's eventual fate (just as we did with Thomas Cromwell in Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall books), and there's always a slight frisson of 'will this be the last book?' I had to restrain myself from looking up when Bruno was executed (though Parris has confirmed he will have at least a couple more outings).The only criticism I have is the book is perhaps a little over long - but I had a great time reading it. Parris gives us an engaging and complex mystery to unravel in a dramatically different world from modern Europe.

This seventh entry in the author's series of 16th century murder mysteries sees historical Italian religious renegade Giordano Bruno called to investigate the murder of an alchemist in Prague, the capital city of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II. Rudolf is eccentric and capricious but also a patron of artists and scientists and a protector of the city's Jewish community against the extremely widespread anti Semitism of the time. Various factions want to sow hatred of the city's Jews and/or topple the Emperor, and the machinations of Bruno's old nemeses in the Catholic church are as ever in the background. The real reasons for the murder of the alchemist and the later murder of a Jewish bookseller relate to murkier doings and include what I thought was a ludicrous plot element around the Emperor and a young Jewish woman, Esther. After the resolution of the plot threads, Bruno is left contemplating a job offer of Imperial librarian.

Join Bruno in Prague as he navigates the intricacies of intrigue having been sucked into a murder plot that beguiles and bewilders the best medieval detectives. Brilliant read well recommended.

A fast moving historical novel with a plot so intricate one has to read the book twice (or maybe more ?) to really understand what happend and whodunit.