The Rebel's Mark cover art

The Rebel's Mark

The Jackdaw Mysteries, Book 5

 Preview
This Season's Biggest Deal

£0.99/mo for 3 months + £10 Audible bonus

Auto-renews at £5.99/month after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Get this deal
Offer ends on 28 December, 2026.
More purchase options

The Rebel's Mark

By: S.W. Perry
Narrated by: Kris Dyer
Get this deal

Auto-renews at £5.99/mo. after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 28 December, 2026.

Buy Now for £16.56

Buy Now for £16.56

This Season's Biggest Deal | £0.99/mo for 3 months + £10 Audible bonus

£5.99/mo after 3 months - terms apply. Cancel monthly
Summary
 The fifth gripping mystery in the best-selling Elizabethan crime series from S. W. Perry sends Dr Nicholas Shelby and his wife, Bianca, from London to the heart of wild Ireland, where a storm of rebellion and corruption threaten all hope of peace.
Elizabeth's reign is reaching its winter and England's old adversaries are fading. But in a world on the brink of change, showing any weakness can be fatal...

1598. Nicholas Shelby, unorthodox physician and reluctant spy for Robert Cecil, has brought his wife Bianca and their child home from exile in Padua. Welcome at court, his star is in the ascendancy. But he has returned to a dangerous world.

Two old enemies are approaching their final reckoning. England and Spain are exhausted by war. In London, Elizabeth is entering the twilight of her reign. In Madrid, King Philip of Spain is dying. Perhaps now is the time for one last throw of the dice.

Elizabeth has seen off more than one Spanish attempt at invasion. But still she is not safe. In Ireland, rebellion against her rule is raging. And if Spain can take Ireland, England will be more vulnerable than ever.

When England's greatest living poet, Edmund Spenser, sends Robert Cecil an enigmatic and mysterious plea for help from his Irish fastness, Cecil dispatches Nicholas to investigate. Soon he and Bianca find themselves caught up not just in bloody rebellion, but in the lethal power-play between Cecil and the one man Elizabeth believes can restore Ireland to her, the unpredictable Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex.
Praise for the author: “The writing is of such a quality, the characters so engaging and the setting so persuasive that, only two books in, S.W. Perry's ingeniously plotted novels have become my favourite historical crime series.” S. G. MACLEAN
“The third in Perry's series is as dramatic and colourful as the previous two.” THE SUNDAY TIMES
“A satisfyingly convoluted plot.” SUNDAY TIMES©2022 S.W. Perry (P)2022 W. F. Howes Ltd Crime Fiction Europe Great Britain Historical Mystery Fiction Romance England Royalty Tudor
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
All stars
Most relevant
It is ironic that the issue of the muster is reflected by the mystery of the editor that never was. I've never listened to a book with so many editing issues, redone lines etc. It lets the book and the narrator down. Such a shame.

Great book but…

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The many comments about poor editing almost put me off but the repeated phrases are only occasional and easily overlooked. It would be a bigger issue if some bits were missing! It's true that the narration is strangely slow but listening to it at 1.15 speed was just right. As for the book itself, it's another great story and well read (when speed is increased).

Don't be put off by the poor editing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Story and narration are both excellent. Would have benefited from some proofreading as there was repetition where the narrator had redone short parts. But this didn’t detract from a good book

Engaging story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great tale with plenty of twists and turns and good characterisation. The author has provided us with the flavour of the times, the historical detail and the research is evident.
Oh my word! Awful narration. As others have pointed out there is frequent and irritating repetition of sentences and phrases.
There is also a repeated drawn out ‘buuut’ and a heavy emphasis on that word when it’s not required. It’s a reading not a pantomime performance! Equally the word ‘that’ is also over emphasised and pronounced ‘thut’.
Whilst Mr Dyer makes a fairly good fist of Irish accents and does vary his voice for each different character, he seems to lapse into Julian Clery’s voice during the standard narration.
I like the stories but I’m not sure I can stomach another read by this narrator.

Awful narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The book was good, as always in this series, but the publisher neglected to edit out many phrases said twice over as the narrator tried again. And I do mean many. It was very distracting.

Sack the editor!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews