I am not an avid mystery reader, but I was intrigued by the book's premise and I have to say, "Traitor’s Legacy" by S.J. Parris delivers everything I look for in a historical mystery: clever plotting, strong characters, and a richly immersive setting. The story is set in the heart of Tudor London, with all its political intrigue, theatrical flair, and brutal ambition.

Sophia de Wolfe is such a compelling protagonist - sharp, complex, and quietly rebellious in all the right ways. I loved following her as she navigated a world that underestimates her at every turn. The writing is sharp and elegant, and the historical detail is handled beautifully: never heavy-handed, but always vivid and precise.

If you're a fan of rich, atmospheric historical fiction with a side of espionage and murder mystery, this is one to add to your list.

Having enjoyed previous series by S J Parris I was pleased to read this new one. Whilst the setting is a familiar one for anyone who loves Tudor period whodunnits there are plenty of surprises and some stunning reveals along the way. The characters are believable and as an opener for a series I know I shall certainly be continuing to read them.

Looking forward to the next Sophia de Wolfe book already! For the full review see https://www.tumblr.com/joebloggshere/788312610889170944/traitors-legacy-by-sj-parris-this-is-the-first?source=share

Having read some of S.J Parris previous titles, I knew I would enjoy this one too (and I wasn't wrong)

Set in London in 1598, Sophia de Wolfe is drawn back into her previous life as a government spy when a young girl is found murdered with one of Sophia's cipher's upon her.
The story has many twists and turns but is well paced and kept me guessing right up until the end.

Even though Sophia has appeared in previous S.J. Parris stories, Traitor's Legacy can easily be read as a stand alone novel (although I did miss Giordano Bruno) and I hope there will be more books covering Sophia's exploits in the future.


Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins for providing me with an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. All opinions are my own.

As a long time fan of the Giordano Bruno novels, I was eager to dive into this, the first instalment of the Sophia de Wolf series by the same author.

Whereas the Bruno novels are set in the Elizabethan heyday, and Sir Francis Walsingham and Sir Philip Sidney share centre stage with the protagonist, here time has moved on. Elizabeth is now aging and the preoccupations of her new spymaster, Robert Cecil lie around the succession and unrest in Ireland. Walsingham and Sidney are both dead and the focus is very much through the female lens and the position of women within society.

Sophia is an interesting character. A former spy with a checkered past, she is now the widow of a merchant who also made loans to some very important people. The marriage had been happy and Sophia was left well-provided for but when her husband died she inherited more than money and property. Her embittered stepson, Jasper, is keen to reclaim the legacy he feels was stolen from him.

Inevitably for the first book in a series, there is a lot of scene-setting and introduction of characters. However, there is still an interesting plot, centred around the murder of a young heiress and plenty of false leads to keep both reader and protagonist guessing.

Lots to enjoy here and I’m looking forward to reading more in this series.

With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an arc of this novel.

'Traitor's Legacy' is the first book in the 'Sophia de Wolfe' series. It is a historical mystery case, with some quite dark themes that are well explored.

I really enjoyed the main character, first of all, especially when she spoke up and collided with those in power. However, her past was kind of murky, and I would have wanted more information about her background as, as it was, it felt like I wasn't reading the first book in the series. The relationship with Anthony was kind of odd as well, but I liked how Sophia handled it in the end.

In addition, the mystery had many twists and turns, but it got tiring to read after a while, and things got more interesting in the final chapters.

Finally, the writing was enjoyable.

This review is also posted on Goodreads and Storygraph.

Set in Tudor England, Francis Walsingham, spymaster to the queen, is dead and Robert Cecil is trying to keep everything working, hampered and hindered by the Earl of Essex. Sophia de Wolfe, once an operative for Walsingham, is now living peacefully at home, sponsoring her theatre company and enjoying life as a well-heeled widow.

A young girl is found murdered at the theatre, and Sophia is drawn in to find out who killed her and why. In doing so, she risks making some powerful enemies, but she is a determined lady.

I love the characters, the plot and the way the author wound everything so that the outcome was far from obvious, even when you thought it was resolved. Its always tricky drawing in real characters from history, as one knows what happened to them, so the imagination can't invent further, but this was skilfully done. I look forward to more of this series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I do love a good historical mystery/thriller, especially a Tudor period story. But this isn't a good historical mystery/thriller. No, it's a bloody brilliant one.

This is my first SJ Parris novel, I can't explain why I haven't read her Giordano Bruno series. I think maybe it was just an unwillingness to start another series. I very much regret that now as this really had me in it's grip.

The main character is Sophia de Wolfe, a wealthy widow. On the surface she has respectability but she just doesn't quite belong to Tudor society. This might have something to do with her previous life as an agent for Queen Elizabeth's spymaster Robert Cecil. But that life seems far behind her. Until a young heiress is murdered. A cryptic note left on her body seems to connect to Sophia's time as a spy. Cecil recalls her to his service to investigate.

This novel is gripping, exciting, clever and perfectly executed. There's plenty of twists to enjoy and plenty of scope for sequels. I very much look forward to them.

Set in Elizabethan London we meet Sophie de Wolfe who leads a less than conventional lifestyle. Following the murder of a young girl she is called in to investigate by Robert Cecil ,the Queen spymaster. What follows is a masterful historic murder mystery with lots of twists and turns. I’m embarrassed to say that this is the first book I’ve read by this author but it will most definitely not be the last .The descriptions are evocative and full of the sights , sounds and smells of Tudor London whilst the research is immaculate. I look forward to more in this series. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this novel in return for an honest review.

Really enjoyed this book. I've wanted to read SJ Parris for some time, and I'd happily read more after this! I adore books set in the 15-16th Centuries so this was right up my street.
It's a great start to what promises to be a strong new series.

Another captivating read from S. J. Parris, the perfect mix of history and suspense and I loved Sophia de Wolfe.
Having not read any of the previous books in this series this book stands on its own merit but I am now looking forward to reading the other books.

Highly recommended.

A murder mystery set during the Elizabethan era and featuring an unusal, charismatic and adventurous female protagonist. However, the narrative was slow and I could not finish the novel.

A 16th century'who-dunnit'. When a girl is murdered, Sophia sets about finding her murderer. A really rivetting story set in London with some great historical surprises.

SJ Parris is best known for her series of historical crime/espionage novels set during the later Elizabethan era (1580s) and featuring a fictionalised version of Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno who lived in London at that time and was suspected of being a spy for Queen Elizabeth. Parris has now spun off one of the minor characters from that series to spearhead a series of her own that picks up where Bruno left off (given that Bruno returned to Italy and was jailed in 1593 and died in 1600). Traitor’s Legacy, set in late 1598, features Sophia de Wolfe, former spy now with a new life and new identity, but finding that she cannot outrun her past and given her skills, maybe does not want to.
In the prologue of Traitor’s Legacy a group of players repossess the materials of a theatre from land that they have been evicted from with a view to rebuilding the theatre on the other side of the river. That group, led by a man called Burbage performs plays by a young playwright from Stratford called Will Shakespeare. The next morning, on the site of old theatre the body of a young woman is discovered. Sophia de Winter is brought in by Robert Cecil, Queen Elizabeth’s new spymaster as the girl is the ward of the wealthy North family but more than that a cipher has been found on her body that was only used by Sophia when she worked as a spy for one of Cecil’s predecessors. Sophia is tied further to the mystery when one of the players, Tobie, is arrested for the murder because, unknown to many, Tobie is the son she was forced to give up as a baby many years before.
Parris builds on this opening to create a fast paced, engaging murder mystery that takes Sophie and her fellow former spy (and playwright and unrequited love) Anthony Munday across London. Along the way she is able to tell the story of the Irish Rebellion and the Elizabethan military operations in Ireland, the ongoing war with the Catholics, supported by the Spanish Government, the impending death of Elizabeth I, and the wide gulf between the haves and have-nots in 16th Century England.
Traitor’s Legacy is a murder mystery/thriller with the lot – shadowy figures, secret identities, tight escapes across snowy rooftops, breaking and entering and sword fights. All anchored around real historical events and characters and driven by a feisty, loyal and resourceful main character who, while not anachronistic, chafes against the strictures of the society in which she lives. The Bruno Giordano series ran for seven books, Traitor’s Legacy opens the door for another, engaging, long running series.

Traitor’s Legacy is the first in a new series featuring Sophia de Wolfe, former agent of Queen Elizabeth’s spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham. We discover pretty quickly that Sophia has had an eventful life including a previous marriage, an illegitimate son given up for adoption and coming under suspicion of murder. In fact, so detailed is her back story I found myself checking that I hadn’t missed an earlier book in the series. That is until I realised she had featured (then going by the name Sophia Underhill) in some of the books in the author’s Giordano Bruno series which I read years ago. However, although new readers might find them wishing for more detail about her colourful past, it does mean you don’t need to have read the Giordano Bruno books to enjoy this one.

Sophia is now a widow with a stepson who resents the fact she has inherited her late husband’s wealth. Her stepson is a drunkard, a gambler and a spendthrift with a potential for violence. Although Sophia’s was a marriage of convenience arranged by Walsingham to ensure her safety, she developed a real affection for her late husband Humphrey, often recalling his wise and supportive advice. Having said that, widowhood has given Sophia a certain freedom. ‘One of the great advantages of being a widow with her own money is that, for the first time in her life, she doesn’t have to submit to any man telling her what she can and can’t do.’

Our first encounter with Sophia is during a duel with her fencing master, so we know from the off she’s someone to be reckoned with. She’s resourceful, intrepid and resolute. ‘Here you are, like some kind of truffle-hound, determined to sniff out the truth and dig it up.’ Sophia has faced many obstacles in her life but has never given up trying to overcome them. ‘She has been raging all her life, for as long as she can remember, at one thing or another (usually the actions of men.’

Following the discovery of the dead girl’s body, Sophia is reunited with Anthony Munday, now a playwright for Richard Burbage’s theatre company, but formerly a pursuivant hunting Catholic priests smuggled into the country. This involved him working for Richard Topcliffe, notorious for his brutal interrogations. Munday now has a wife and children but his attachment to Sophia means that when her connection to the death of the girl becomes very personal he can’t help but get involved. I enjoyed the tease of the relationship between Sophia and Anthony. They’re certainly comrades but could they become something more to each other?

The plot revolves around the question of what was the motive for the murder? Was it an act of jealous rage by a spurned lover? Was it for financial gain given the dead girl was a wealthy heiress? Or was there a political angle to the murder? Answering those questions means taking on the rich and powerful, and Sophia and Anthony both find themselves in risky situations as a result. As she says at one point, ‘I feel with every step we’re tangling ourselves deeper in something that can’t end well’.

The book is set in 1598 towards the end of Elizabeth’s reign when the question of the succession was in a lot of minds and there was turmoil in Ireland where Catholics were suspected of supporting the enemies of England, notably Spain. Alongside the fictional characters, there are real historical figures including the Queen’s favourite, the Earl of Essex, his wife Frances, daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham, and Thomas Phelippes, Walsingham’s cryptographer who deciphered the coded letters of the Babington Plot conspirators. There’s even a walk-on part for William Shakespeare.

Traitor’s Legacy has everything I look for in a historical mystery: a deliciously complex plot, an engaging main character, a varied supporting cast and lots of period detail. It moves along at pace and, most importantly as far as I’m concerned, the ending is all nicely set up for the next book in the series. If you loved the Giordano Bruno series or you’re a fan of historical mysteries I think you’ll enjoy this as much as I did.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Traitor’s Legacy is set in the final years of Elizabethan England and follows Sophia de Wolfe, a wealthy widow and former spy. When a young girl is found murdered, a note written in one of Sophia’s old ciphers is discovered with the body. She’s soon pulled out of retirement to uncover the truth behind the girl’s death.

I had so much fun reading this book! It was definitely an impulsive NetGalley request. I saw that it was set in Tudor England and, even though I’ve never read a murder mystery before, I thought, "Yes please!" I’m so glad I did.

The beginning is a little slow, but once it gets going, I was completely hooked. The writing is sharp and engaging, and the characters feel really well developed. I absolutely loved Sophia. She’s clever, capable and completely self-reliant. The plot is packed with twists and turns that kept me guessing right to the end, and I rarely saw them coming.

I’m already looking forward to what’s next for Sophia de Wolfe. I’m also off to buy myself a trophy copy for my shelves.

Huge thanks to HarperCollinsUK for the eARC!

Sophia de Wolfe is a fantastic protagonist in this first book of a new series by SJ Parris. set in the same world as her Giordano Bruno books. She’s an ex spy for Walsingham who is living a quiet life after his death. When a note using her cipher is found with the body of a young heiress, she is bound to investigate. The murder appears to be at the heart of the court, and by investigating Sophia places herself in danger, nit least because she has a secret of her own which she does not want to be discovered.
Parris is always excellent at portraying the Elizabethan court and its shadowy side and this book is no exception. Sophia is spirited and intelligent and I look forward to the next book in this series.

I know S.J. Parris’s Giordano Bruno historical thrillers, set in Elizabethan England, are very popular, but I’ve only read one of them – Sacrilege – and wasn’t particularly impressed. When I saw that she’d started to write a new series, of which Traitor’s Legacy is the first, I thought it would be a good opportunity to give her another try. As it turned out, this is actually a spin-off featuring some of the same characters (but not Bruno himself, although he is mentioned once or twice).

Traitor’s Legacy is set in the winter of 1598 and follows Sophia de Wolfe, formerly an agent of the Queen’s spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham. Now Walsingham is dead and Secretary of State Robert Cecil has stepped into his role. It’s Cecil who summons Sophia when a girl’s body is found in the foundations of a building site with a scrap of paper tucked inside her clothing. The paper contains a message written in a cipher used by Sophia during her time as a spy, suggesting that someone is trying to link her to the murder. But who would want to do that and how could the secret cipher have fallen into anyone else’s hands?

The girl is quickly identified as Agnes Lovell, a wealthy heiress and a ward of the powerful nobleman Sir Thomas North, who had been planning to marry her to his son, Edmund. It’s possible that the murder could have been committed for political reasons – North had gained a reputation for corruption during a recent military campaign in Ireland – but there also seems to be a connection with the ambitious Earl of Essex, the Queen’s favourite courtier. However, things take a more personal turn for Sophia when suspicion falls on her own illegitimate son, Tobie. Sophia will do whatever it takes to clear his name, but this is made more difficult by the fact that Tobie himself has no idea that she is his mother!

Having only read one of the Giordano Bruno novels, I’m not sure how much we actually learn about Sophia in that series. I vaguely remember her from Sacrilege and presumably she’s in some of the other books as well. It’s definitely possible to follow what’s happening in this book without any prior knowledge, but I did feel there was a lot of backstory I wasn’t familiar with and had to pick up as I went along. I didn’t find Sophia entirely believable as a 16th century woman, but not wildly anachronistic either and she’s aware of the limitations placed on her by society. I liked her as a character and enjoyed following her investigations. She’s assisted by Anthony Munday, a playwright and another former spy, sometimes working together and sometimes separately which helps the story to move along.

Many of the characters in the book are people who really existed; I’ve already mentioned some of them, but we also meet others including Thomas Phelippes, Cecil’s cryptographer, and Frances Devereux, wife of the Earl of Essex. Through the character of Anthony Munday, the novel also touches on Elizabethan London’s theatrical world and the rival groups of actors, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men and the Admiral’s Men. There’s a lot going on, then, but the plot, although complex, is easy enough to follow and I gradually became gripped by it. I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to meeting Sophia and her friends again as the series progresses.

I was sent a copy of Traitor’s Legacy by S. J. Parris to read and review by NetGalley. I’ve always enjoyed reading novels by S. J. Parris and this book is no exception. Quite early on in the story I felt that the protagonist Sophia de Wolfe seemed very familiar to me but it was only much later in the book that I discovered that she was a character from the Giordano Bruno novels, then everything fell into place. You certainly don’t have to read any of those books before reading this one, the first in a series, as there is enough back story to help you understand Sophia’s history – but without so much that you feel like you are re-reading words that you have read before. There is a lot to like about Traitor’s Legacy. It is really nice having a feisty female protagonist and the way the author captures London of the times is very realistic, at least as far as we know of that era in time. There are lots of twists and turns and a great cast of characters, I suggest if you love historical mystery novels then you should definitely read and enjoy!

I always like to read historical mysteries in summer, and this was such a good one! Set in the 1590s in the heart of London, it had the perfect balance of a tight, knotty plot, characters I'm interested to read more about, and lots of historical atmosphere. Definitely keen to keep reading the series!