Sir Francis Walsingham, Queen Elizabeths Secretary of State, was the greatest spymaster the world had ever seen. But when he asked Dr. Dee to summon a demon the result was unexpected, especially for his orphaned niece Lucy. Sir Francis duty as her guardian was to find Lucy a suitably aristocratic husband, not to let her fight demons and witchcraft for the Queens Secret Service. But hisand Lucysduty to protect Queen and country from enemies both natural and supernatural kept getting in the way. And so did all those demons . . .

"British author Lambshead, a research scientist with many technical papers to his credit, takes an imaginative premise for his first novel, a fantasy set mainly in Elizabethan England, but falters in the execution. After court wizard John Dee, with the aid of Lovecraft's Necronomicon, summons a demon thatpossesses Lucy Dennys, 'a lady of gentle breeding... fair of face and bonny of character,' Dee attempts to kill Lucy with his dagger. Sir Francis Walsingham, Lucy's uncle and the queen's spy chief, intervenes just in time, and the dagger later serves as a talisman for Lucy as she faces assorted challenges, including a plot against the queen's life. Rather than presenting the period from the point-of-view of the people living in it, Lambshead intrudes with anachronistic commentary ('Even a small cut could kill in a world without antibiotics') as well as historical exposition ('Elizabeth was the third great Tudor monarch, after her father Henry VIII and grandfather Henry VII'). Hopefully, any sequel will be less heavy-handed." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Dr. John Lambshead is senior research scientist in marine biodiversity at the Natural History Museum, London. He is also the Visiting Chair at Southampton University, Oceanography, and Regents Lecturer, University of California. He has authored almost a hundred academic/scientific publications. In their special 2000 millennium edition, Londons Evening Standard newspaper nominated him as one of Londons top 100 unknown thinkers for his scientific research. He has kept sane by writing military history books and designing computer and fantasy games, and designed the worlds first icon-driven game, based on Frederick Forsyths movie, The Fourth Protocol. He is married, lives in Kent in southern England, and is putting two daughters through university, so he really needs you to go out and buy his books.