Magic in the Weave
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
A theatre company bring secrets, magic and murder along with them on their ‘Plague Tour’, in this bewitching historical mystery starring physician-sleuth Dr Gabriel Taverner.
"Plausible period detail and characters who feel real bolster the involving plot, and the prose and pacing are both top-notch. The prolific Clare shows no sign of running out of steam" - Publishers Weekly Starred Review
October, 1604. Plague has hit London, and the theatres are closed. But the capital’s loss is Plymouth’s gain, when a London theatre troupe, the Company, arrive on their ‘Plague Tour’.
Country physician Gabriel Taverner is both bewitched and unnerved by the Company’s sexually charged staging of Othello. The play thrums with magic and witchcraft – perilous subjects, with the King’s deadly spies lurking around every corner.
When Gabriel’s good friend, Coroner Theophilus Davey, tells him of a dangerous, whispered conversation overheard during a brief break, suggesting one of the cast fled London in possession of a terrible secret, Gabriel is even more relieved the Company will soon be on their way.
But then one of the actors collapses, and Gabriel finds himself caught in a waking nightmare, where nothing is as it appears. Death is stalking the Company – but how can Gabriel hope to catch a cold-blooded killer, if he can’t even trust the evidence of his own eyes?
This page-turning historical mystery will appeal to readers who enjoy theatrical settings, head-scratching puzzles and creepy atmospherics.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in 1604, Clare's outstanding fourth whodunit featuring former ship's surgeon Gabriel Taverner (after 2020's The Indigo Ghosts) centers on a group of actors who are performing Shakespeare plays in the West Country, because the plague has closed London's theaters. In Plymouth, Taverner's coroner friend, Theophilus Davey, is troubled by a fragmentary conversation he overhears in an alleyway between two actors, who refer to threats and an unspecified reason to have fled London apart from the plague. One of the pair remarks, "I fear for my life... and the death that stalks me is a particularly awful and long-drawn-out one that haunts me by day and night!" When one of the actors in the company later collapses, possibly from poison, it appears the thespians harbor a murderer in their ranks, and Taverner once again turns sleuth. Plausible period detail and characters who feel real bolster the involving plot, and the prose and pacing are both top-notch. The prolific Clare shows no sign of running out of steam.
