George Rees (1) (1941–)

Thomas Dekker is a young playwright struggling to make ends meet in the London of Shakespeare and Marlowe in the 1590's. He hears of the mysterious murder of Mother Wingfield, a crime many attribute to witchcraft because she was alone in a room, locked from the inside, at the time of her death. He decides to investigate as he thinks the story might make a good play. His investigations draw him to the attention of powerful men like the Earl of Essex and Sir Walter Raleigh who, riding the show more currents of religious hatred and xenophobia, are engaged in a vicious struggle to win influence with Queen Elizabeth. Thomas is caught up in the middle of these conflicting forces, in a volatile situation where treason and heresy are suspected at every turn. By the time Thomas has solved the mystery, his adventures have vividly illustrated Tudor London for us in all its chaotic, cruel, bawdy glory. show less

Although I am not usually in the habit of knocking books written by anyone however bad, barring of course anything written by Dan Brown which is quite simply beneath contempt, I feel almost duty bound in this case to warn prospective readers that unless what you're looking for is a very unsuccessful caper comedy set primarily in Shakespeare's London and peopled by two-dimensional characters, including the inevitable pick-pockets, stock-in-trade bawds and wart-nosed villains plus the odd show more witch, Catholic conspiracy thrown in for good measure, and unless you enjoy trying to pick you way through the trials and tribulations of the main character (far from the lovable rogue he is supposed to represent) meandering through a tangle of subplots which just seems to peter out one after the other in a never-ending flood of ever-more unbelievable episodes, then I strongly suggest you give this book a wide birth. It may well sound like a racy, action-packed Elizabethan romp but it isn't, just leaping instead from one improbable scene to an even more improbable one and not even the period tart-with-a- heart, deeds of daring-do and battle-scenes are three-dimensional enough to be even in the run-of-the-mill league for this sort of period fiction. On the upside, one thing the book is good for is for playing "spot the historical inaccuracy", including my own favourite of locals nattering away in dialectal French rather than Breton in 16th Century Brest. I'm still not even sure what the title refers to... show less

Good Book. Enjoyed the read. Characters hold together. Mystery, action, and plots. Recommend