A Fine Madness
A Christopher Marlowe Murder Mystery
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
A captivating espionage novel that explores the life of theatrical genius—and spy—Christopher Marlowe, whose violent death remains one of the most fascinating mysteries of the Elizabethan Age.
In Elizabethan England, the queen’s chief spymaster, Francis Walsingham, and his team of agents must maintain the highest levels of vigilance to ward off Catholic plots and an ever-present threat of invasion from Spain.
One agent in particular—a young Cambridge undergraduate of humble origins, controversial beliefs, and literary genius who goes by the name of Kit Marlowe—is relentless in his pursuit of intelligence for the Crown. When he is killed outside an inn in Deptford, his mysterious death becomes the subject of rumor and suspicion that are never satisfactorily resolved.
Years later, when Thomas Phelippes, a former colleague of Marlowe’s, finds himself imprisoned in the Tower of London, there is one thing that might give him his freedom back. He must give the king every detail he is able to recall about his murdered friend’s life—and death. But why is King James so fascinated about Kit Marlowe—and does Phelippes know enough to secure his own redemption?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Why was Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe fatally stabbed in an English inn in 1593? That enduring puzzle gets new answers in this taut thriller from Judd (the Charles Thoroughgood series), framed as an account by Thomas Phelippes, a friend of Marlowe's and a fellow intelligencer, in response to questions from an unidentified interrogator while Phelippes is incarcerated in the Tower of London in 1623. Phelippes, whose reliability is uncertain given his desire to get himself freed, traces his history as an agent for Queen Elizabeth's legendary spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, specializing in breaking codes and forging documents. He recruits Marlowe at Cambridge University to join Walsingham's efforts to protect the queen from a variety of murderous conspirators. Superior prose is a plus ("Most of us are like fishes in the lives of others, a silvery flank glimpsed once and never seen again," Phelippes says by way of explaining his lack of knowledge of an acquaintance). This clever recreation of a complex life stands above the many other fictional explanations for Marlowe's death. Fans of Iain Pears will be engrossed.
