From Publishers Weekly
British author Gooden's sixth historical to feature actor and sometime sleuth Nick Revill (after 2004's
Mask of Night) takes the reader for an enjoyable, fast-paced romp through the world of Shakespeare and Ben Jonson. In 1604, Nick's troupe is helping to celebrate an impending peace treaty between England and Spain by performing a short play that includes such illustrious figures as Queen Anne and a courtier, Sir Philip Blake, among the cast. Portraying Truth, Blake is supposed to descend from the heavens at the drama's climax, but his drop proves more rapid than planned during a final rehearsal, resulting in his gory death. Investigating the apparent accident becomes Nick's responsibility through the forceful request of a shadowy figure who's been tailing him and who even intervened to save him from further injury during a street assault. As the less than satisfying Agatha Christie–like resolution suggests, Gooden ranks below such masters of the historical mystery as Steven Saylor and Bruce Alexander, but Shakespeare fans will be intrigued by Gooden's intriguing use of themes from both
Othello and
Hamlet.
(Apr. 1) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Product Description
It is the summer of 1604, many years after the defeat of the Armada, and the Spanish are in London to negotiate a peace treaty. Nick Revill's theater company— newly promoted to the King's Men now that James I is on the throne—are given a ceremonial role at the celebrations. But not everybody welcomes this outbreak of peace. Sir Walter Raleigh, imprisoned in the Tower of London, is far from inactive—he has many friends on the outside who may try to sabotage the negotiations. Nick, meanwhile, has been invited by Shakespeare's rival, Ben Jonson, to take part in a masque at Somerset House, where the Spanish are lodged. He soon finds himself unwillingly caught up in a conspiracy. During a rehearsal, the courtier Sir Philip Blake dies an apparently accidental death when he tumbles from a chair in which he is being lowered to the stage. But this is only the first of a series of suspicious deaths, and Nick must look hard at those around him: the robust Ben Jonson, once imprisoned for killing a fellow player; the embittered and satirical playwright Martin Barton; the smooth courtier Giles Cass; and Maria More, devoted companion to the bereft Lady Blake.
