Interred with Their Bones (2007)

I was confused through most of this book. Pages of lecture on Shakespearean legend/folklore,with bursts of action that wouldn't quite make sense. Dual descriptions (read: confusing) of so many scenes with hidden doors and secret passages, It was a little like Nancy Drew with violence thrown in,but not particularly well written. Perhaps a better editor? ( )

J. L. Carrell's The Shakespeare Secret is honestly pretty awful. It reminds me of every other one of these conspiracy theory/murder mystery type books I've ever read. It actually had a lot of similarities with another I read that also focused on Shakespeare -- The Sonnet Lover. Not plot-wise, but in that the character's voice wasn't very distinctive -- I couldn't identify gender from the words, and in fact went with male both times and was wrong both times -- and the characters quite similar. What is it about academics in over their heads?

The plot relied on a series of coincidences and misdirections, and the characters are cardboard cutouts. I have no idea how plausible the theory in this book is, but it read to me like pure flights of fancy. Mind you, I don't have that much familiarity with Shakespeare scholarship -- studied the plays and sonnets, not the man.

All the same, as with The Sonnet Lover, it entertained me for a while. So, two stars on goodreads ("it was okay"). ( )

Dear Lord! This was BAD!!! Picked up from the rather eclectic collection of books at work, to read at lunch time. interesting surmise - that there's a Shakespeare play out there that was supressed in the First folio and has lain hidden ever since. Muddying the waters of the search, there's a murderer who kills in the style of Shakespeare's victims and some very muddled thinking. Really really awful. Not suspenseful, not a thriller, not even a coherent detective plot. Awful, just awful. I should have known there was something wrong when the blurb on the back said it was a plot worthy of the Da Vinci code... ( )

By far the best book I've ever read. Had my heart racing my page 23 and it never let up. Couldn't put it down. Jennifer Lee Carrell has created in Kate a smart, sexy independent character and it is a pleasure to spend several hundred pages with her. And Ben Pearl, let's just say Edward Cullen should be worried because Ben is even more attractive. I'm no Shakespeare scholar, but I was able to keep up and never felt stupid. The plot is meticulously paced. Simply amazing. Will be reading this one over and over! ( )

Kate Stanley is visited by her former mentor Rosalind Howard who gives her a box and says if Kate opens it she must follow where it leads. Kate agrees to meet her to discuss what Roz is talking about, but never finds out from her. Roz is found dead amid a fire at the Globe theater where Kate is directing Hamlet. This begins Kate's journey to find out exactly what Roz was working on and just how big of a discovery Roz may have made. A fast paced book that goes from England to America and back. ( )