Witch Hammer
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
Christopher Marlowe investigates a possible act of witchcraft in the third of this intriguing historical mystery series
July, 1585. Desperate to pursue his chosen career as a professional playwright, the young Christopher Marlowe abandons his Cambridge studies to join Lord Strange’s men, a group of travelling players.
En route to perform at Oxford, the players are rehearsing amongst the famous Rollright Stones on the Warwickshire border when they are rudely interrupted by the discovery of the corpse of actor-manager Ned Sledd. Is it an act of witchcraft, a human sacrifice to mark the festival of Lammastide? Or is there a more personal reason? Kit Marlowe determines to find out.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Dreaming of one day securing his fortune in London, 21-year-old Christopher Kit Marlowe leaves his studies at Cambridge in July, 1585, to pursue an acting career with Lord Strange s Men, a theatrical touring company, in Trow s chilling third mystery featuring the playwright and spy (after Silent Court). En route to Oxford, taking care to avoid plague-ravaged London, the company encounters an assortment of apparent witches and demons. Midway through the journey, tireless actor and manager Ned Sledd turns up with a silver-handled bodkin buried in his throat beneath the King Stone, a revered site guarded by anointed keepers. Marlowe must use his crime-solving expertise to find Ned s slayer among a myriad of potential suspects, both human and spectral. Readers will have fun recognizing the many quotations from William Shakespeare, Marlowe s idol and later his rival, in this complex yet engrossing tale of superstition and murder.
