The Reckoning
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
The inaugural performance of Christopher Marlowe's controversial new play is marred by sudden, violent death in this lively 16th century mystery.
December, 1592. England is entering dangerous waters as thoughts turn to the question of the ageing Queen Elizabeth's successor. Christopher Marlowe meanwhile is leading a troupe of the Lord Chamberlain's Men on tour with a controversial new play.
Marlowe expects his latest play, Edward II, to ruffle feathers. What he doesn't expect is it to lead to is sudden, violent death. The morning the tour is due to begin, the newest member of the cast is found stabbed to death in the local brothel. And when a second murder, and then a third, disrupt rehearsals for the inaugural performance in the Great Hall at Scudbury Manor, it becomes clear that someone is determined to prevent this play from being performed – at any cost. But who ... and why?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Trow goes out on a high note with his sterling 11th and final mystery starring English playwright Kit Marlowe (after 2019's Black Death). In 1593, Elizabeth's reign is under threat. Against that backdrop, Marlowe looks to stage a play based on the life of a murdered king, Edward II. Multiple actual murders disrupt the production, starting with that of John Foxe, an actor found with a dagger poking through his chest in an upstairs room of a London tavern where he'd been with a willing young woman. Marlowe tracks down the young woman, Moll, who confesses that a stranger paid her to push Foxe onto a particular spot on the bed. Evidently, someone who knew that Foxe enjoyed being pushed back onto his bed as a prelude to sex planted a dagger in the mattress in such a fashion to ensure his death. Soon afterward, Moll's throat is slit. Meanwhile, powerful men, alarmed by perceived subversive themes in the play, conspire against Marlowe, leading to the dramatic conclusion. Trow reinforces his place at the top of the Elizabethan mystery subgenre with this outing.
