bQueen Elizabeth's spymasters recruit an unlikely agent--the only Muslim in England--for an impossible mission in a mesmerizing novel from one of the best writers in America iThe Washington Posti pEvokes flashes of Hilary Mantel, John le Carr and Graham Greene, but the wry, tricky plot that drives it is pure Arthur Phillips.--iThe Wall Street Journali pNAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY iTHE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW iAND iTHE WASHINGTON POSTib pThe year is 1601. Queen Elizabeth I is dying, childless. Her nervous kingdom has no heir. It is a capital crime even to ithinki that Elizabeth will ever die. Potential successors secretly maneuver to be in position when the inevitable occurs. The leading candidate is King James VI of Scotland, but there is a problem. pThe queen's spymasters--hardened veterans of a long war on terror and religious extremism--fear that James is not what he appears. He has every reason to claim to be a Protestant, but if he secretly shares his family's C