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The April King

Published November 2025

Current:

e-book
Published by: Sapere Books.
Available through Kindle or Print on Demand

 

 

‘Isolde Martyn’s novel revels in the treacherous brilliance of the Elizabethan Court and makes us marvel that a world of such cruelty, intrigue and treachery could produce our greatest theatre. This is a stirring tale of action and adventure.’ 

John Bell OBE, AM
Australian actor, director and founder of The Bell Shakespeare Company

About The April King

A real life mystery surrounding Shakespeare’s patron

1592, England

Deep religious divisions threaten England and concern is growing for Queen Elizabeth I. Her bitter enemies are planning to find a new claimant to the throne and have her assassinated. 

When former soldier Captain Garret Towneley is offered work as a spy by Shakespeare’s patron, Ferdinando Stanley, he is astonished to learn that according to King Henry VIII’s will his new employer could be the next King of England. 

But Ferdinando, Earl of Derby, has powerful enemies at court who wish him dead, and they are ruthless enough to destroy him by any means possible. 

Garrett is also working for Her Majesty’s Privy Council and to keep his reports from being intercepted, the Queen’s spymaster has set up a young widow, Rose Byrd, as his betrothed to receive his ‘love letters’. 

Garrett and Rose meet when he is sent to Lancashire to tempt Ferdinando to lead a rebellion. And before long Garrett is certain that someone is trying to murder Ferdinando. As he and Rose are forced to trust each other, can they discover who is behind the bizarre events surrounding the earl? There’s witchcraft and possibly poison, so is there more than one killer?

This novel throws a much-deserved light on the man who was the patron of Shakespeare and Marlowe and who commissioned the drama of King Richard III, one of Shakespeare’s most performed plays.

THE APRIL KING is a compelling and well-researched  historical mystery novel set in Tudor Elizabethan England.

 

Some years ago, John Bell, Australia’s leading Shakespearean actor and director, gave a talk at the State Library of New South Wales. His topic was the circumstances surrounding the first performance of Shakespeare’s play Richard III, and he mentioned that Ferdinando, Earl of Derby, the theatre company’s patron at that time, died in very bizarre circumstances. This tempted me to start delving into the UK archives and I came across witchcraft, political intrigue and possibly murder. The research took me to Lancashire and St Albans and my interest intensified. The events deserved a novel but whose story would it be? That was the main challenge. More was known about the earl’s death than the rest of his life. I was dealing with someone who was usually just a footnote mention but was actually the man who might have become England’s king.

Well, after several different approaches, the main character evolved as an agent working for the earl — a former soldier and would-be actor, Garrett Towneley. For the heroine, the daughter of Queen Elizabeth’s disgraced secretary, William Davison, seemed a good choice. The plot needed an educated woman, acceptable to the nobility, and so ‘Rose’ gradually appeared, working for the queen’s spymaster, William Wade/Waad.

Tudor antiquarian, John Stow, was fascinated by what happened to the earl and from his vivid account of what happened to the earl, it is likely that he interviewed some of the people closely connected to the events. His conclusion about the circumstances was too dangerous to repeat. Was the earl poisoned, an assassination by a political rival? Or did he die from natural causes?

 

So, here, at last is The April King, giving Shakespeare’s noble patron a very brief strut upon the stage of England’s history before he is ‘heard no more’.

I am delighted to share with you that John Bell very much enjoyed reading The April King.

Now that Mary Queen of Scots has been beheaded, the enemies of Elizabeth Tudor are seeking a new leader. Ferdinando Stanley, Shakespeare’s patron, is one of the possibilities. For a start, his mother is the Queen’s cousin, which puts him in the line of succession to the throne and he is about to inherit the Earldom of Derby. He has summoned a former soldier, Garrett Towneley, for an interview (to use a modern term) because he is considering using him as a spy. He needs to be forewarned of anything that might put him under suspicion.

Lady Derby’s London house, 1592

Ferdinando is speaking:

‘You see, Towneley, I have become aware that others watch me now as they never did before. I find myself obliged to convince people of my loyalty. That’s why I’ve had Master Shakespeare write a play about King Richard III to remind the queen that she owes her crown to my great-great-grandfather. If he and his brother had not changed sides at the Battle of Bosworth, we would still be ruled by the Plantagenets and obedient to the Church of Rome.’

‘Tell him I should be the next Queen of England,’ Lady Derby interrupted again.

‘Mother, hush! That is not the point.’

‘Do not silence me, Ferdy! Now that the Queen of Scots is dead, I am the heir to the crown when Elizabeth dies. That’s no lie, Captain Towneley. It’s written in old King Harry’s will that my blood has precedence. I am granddaughter to his sister, who was Queen of France. But will that creature name me as her successor? Oh no, I am shunned, see?’

   Garrett saw that Ferdinando Stanley bore a dangerous blood legacy, not to mention an uncontrollable mother with her loose tongue and thwarted ambition! By Heaven, he was almost feeling sorry for this nobleman. Getting born to the wrong parents was something you could not blessed well change, and the capricious old queen could lop off this man’s head just for existing, for having some Tudor blood. She might still. Her father had already killed off the last of the Plantagenets.

To be honest, Garrett didn’t care much whose royal arse dented the cushions of the throne once Her Majesty expired, so long as the new monarch upheld justice, but there was a decency about Ferdinando, Lord Strange, that earned his sympathy.

And, yes, of course, Garrett will take the job.

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