title: A brood of vipers: Being the fourth journal of Sir Roger Shallot concerning certain wicked conspiracies and horrible murders perpetrated in the reign of King Henry VIII
author:  Michael Clynes 
description: Spring 1523. Benjamin Daunbey and his rapscallion servant, Roger Shallot, are summoned to London. A Florentine envoy, Lord Francesco Abrizzi, has been murdered and King Henry is determined to unmask the perpetrators of this outrage. In London, Shallot experiences King Henry's rage, the insults of the Abrizzis and a murderous attack. Shallot, a born coward, wants to crawl away and hide, but the King and Wolsey insist that he and Benjamin go to Florence, find Abrizzi's assassin, deliver a secret message, and bring back a Florentine painter. It sounds simple enough -- but the reality is murderously different.
zlib_text: > A Brood of Vipers
  
   **Series:** | Sir Roger Shallot [4]  
  ---|---  
  **Published:** | 2010  
  **Tags:** | Historical Novel  
  Historical Novelttt  
    
  * * *
  
  In 1523, Benjamin Daunbey and Roger Shallot are summoned to London. A
  Florentine envoy has been murdered and King Henry is determined to unmask the
  perpetrators. To discover the identity of the assassin they must travel to
  Florence - it sounds simple but the reality is murderously different
  
  Michael Clynes was born in Middlesbrough and educated at Woodcote Hall. He
  studied History at Liverpool and Oxford Universities and obtained a doctorate
  at Oxford for his thesis on Edward II and Queen Isabella. He is now Headmaster
  of a school in North-East London. He has written crime novels under other
  pseudonyms.
  
  Acclaim for Sir Roger Shallot's journals
  
  'Lively historical whodunnit ... Shallot himself is a splendid braggart, a
  Tudor Flashman' _The Times_
  
  'A rich stew of conspiracy, horror, sexual treachery and dry humour' _The
  Tablet_
  
  "S