Traitor in the Ice: Treachery has gripped the nation. But the King has spies everywhere. (Daniel Pursglove)

This exciting English historical crime novel is the 2nd volume of the, so far, in my view very promising "Daniel Pursglove" series.Before I actually will come to my review, I would like to mention that at the beginning of the book you'll find a piece of the 'Thanksgiving Act' or 'The Observance of 5th November 1605', which will play a significant part in this tale and series.At the back of the book you'll notice an Author's Note, followed by explained pieces with the titles, 'Behind the Scenes of this Novel' and 'Night-Creeping', and a very well documented Glossary will compliment this great read.Wonderful storytelling from this excellent author does this book great credit, the characters are very believable and lifelike in this story of religious persecution, treason, betrayal and death, while the dark and dangerous atmosphere in England, during the reign of the paranoid 'Scottish' King James I, come splendidly off the pages.This book is set in the winter of the years AD 1607-1608, and its mainly set in and around Battle Abbey, Sussex, home to the Catholic Viscountess Montague, Lady Magdalen, along with some important exploits in London, Cheshunt in Hertfordshire, and some other places.In this tale Daniel Pursglove, a reluctant pawn within the schemes and plots of a certain Charles FitzAlan, is sent to Battle Abbey in an attempt to infiltrate this place, and to find out what's going on there within this nest of Catholic vipers, at least seen from the eyes of the Protestant rulers of the Kingdom, with at the heart of this suppression the Protestant King James I and his powerful bloodhound, Henry Cecil, and the aforementioned, Charles FitzAlan.What is to follow is a wonderful and intriguing historical crime novel, and at the same time its a mystery what the murders are concerned, but most of all its a tale about spying out each other, and all that in an effort with on the one hand to catch and bring to justice the Catholic recusants, and on the other hand to try to evade capture by the Protestant suppressors, by rescuing and helping Catholic priests and sympathisers escape by secret means.Highly recommended, for this is certainly a worthy sequel and so I look very much forward to the next instalment, but what this book in concerned I like to call it: "A Truly Entertaining Traitor Crime Story"!

Really enjoyed both books in the series, however It feels as if the story is not quite finished? Questions remain unanswered. Is there a third book in this series?

Good story that flowed and kept you interested.Would have liked and ending, but it's left open for the next book.

I have only read a little of this book so far but have already been distracted from the narrative several times by annoying errors in the Kindle edition; for example, missing words and spelling errors, such as ‘passed’ for ‘past’.

Winter 1607. A time of King James, spies everywhere, no one is whom he seems. 2nd story of Daniel Pursglove who has been told to infiltrate the household of The Montagues at Battle who have sympathy with those loyal to the Pope. Previous spies had died in the attempt. A fast paced story with plenty of twists and turns will keep Daniel’s story going through to the next book in the series.

I was pleased to read the second in the Daniel Pursglove series, "Traitor in the Ice" by KJ Maitland in which the action moves from the streets of Bristol to Battle Abbey. Pursglove is sent to infiltrate the Abbey and discover the traitor amongst the household. The cast in the book is huge, and at times it was a bit difficult to keep track of who was who, but it did add to the sense of "who can be/cannot be trusted". Once again, full of well-researched historical details, I'm enjoying the Daniel Pursglove series.

I hadn't read the book that precedes this one, which didn't really matter as I was reading this, as the murder mystery in itself is standalone. Like the mysteries of C.J. Sansom, and Susanna Gregory, there is a continuation in the main character's journey, so there were some events that were alluded to, that didn't mean much to me, but I glossed over those pretty easily.There is a bit of a split narrative, in that every now and then we see other characters in London, but I didn't really see the importance of those scenes, and actually felt they could have been left out, presumably they are to fit a wider arc than the main plot of this book alone, but they were so infrequent, and unrelated to what was going on at Battle Abbey, that I just didn't have any interest in them.I really loved the atmosphere of this, the setting in the deep winter of 1607 was really well-chosen, I liked the tension of the religious persecution, and the suspicion of the Scottish King and his court, but it was the Battle Abbey setting with the freezing cold, and the mist that kept me hooked. I thought that the description of the sounds of the trees, the smells, and the imagery of superstition and fear was really well done, and for the writing alone, I would read more of these books.For me, though, the ending was a little bit of a let-down, the culprit was someone I didn't really care about, and the hints of wider danger didn't hit hard enough for me, I didn't really understand the ending, so maybe that was something I missed from the first book, but I'm guessing I was supposed to feel suspense and anticipation for the next volume, but I just didn't really feel that.For the writing, the murder mystery (despite the ending), and a different time period for me, I give this a fairly high 3 stars, and would consider reading more.

This is a good read, a historical crime novel with great character development and a good plot, a bit slower than a drowned city, the first book in the series but still very good. Its quite dark, and the descriptions really add a sense of atmosphere.