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Nicholas Bracewell #8
The Laughing Hangman
Jonas Applegarth is a brilliant but belligerent playwright. When his play, The Misfortunes of Marriage, is performed by Lord Westfield's Men, it causes an uproar. All of Applegarth's enemies attack the company. Nicholas Bracewell defends the playwright loyally, but alas, Applegarth is soon found hanged by the neck. It is only the first of many mysteries that Nicholas has to solve. Lord Westfield's Men are furious when they are satirized by a rival children's theater company at the Blackfriars playhouse. A second attack by the killer-laughing hangman-throws the actors in further disarray. Nicholas is under enormous pressure, not least because he is trying to rekindle his romance with Anne Hendrik by helping her to fend off an aggressive suitor. His beloved company is under threat as never before, and he has to call on all of his resources to rescue them. "Marston's wit and vivid evocation of Elizabethan London's sights and smells provide a delightfully ribald backdrop for this clever series." -Publishers Weekly "A delightfully dazzling period piece suffused with humor, wit and atmospheric drama." -Booklist Edward Marston, under his real name, Keith Miles, was raised in Wales and went on to study modern history at Oxford. He has been a university lecturer, radio, television, and theatre dramatist, and in addition to writing has worked as an actor and director. His Elizabethan novel, The Roaring Boy, was a 1996 Edgar Allan Poe Award nominee for best novel. He lives in Kent.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
13 people are currently reading
190 people want to read
About the author
Edward Marston
239 books466 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
A pseudonym used by Keith Miles
AKA A.E. Marston
Keith Miles (born 1940) is an English author, who writes under his own name and also historical fiction and mystery novels under the pseudonym Edward Marston. He is known for his mysteries set in the world of Elizabethan theatre. He has also written a series of novels based on events in the Domesday Book, a series of The Railway Detective and a series of The Home Front Detective.
Series contributed to:
. Malice Domestic
. Crime Through Time
. Perfectly Criminal
A pseudonym used by Keith Miles
AKA A.E. Marston
Keith Miles (born 1940) is an English author, who writes under his own name and also historical fiction and mystery novels under the pseudonym Edward Marston. He is known for his mysteries set in the world of Elizabethan theatre. He has also written a series of novels based on events in the Domesday Book, a series of The Railway Detective and a series of The Home Front Detective.
Series contributed to:
. Malice Domestic
. Crime Through Time
. Perfectly Criminal
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
November 26, 2018
I do like historical detective novels ... this one is written in a fairly old language but I think that really helps you get into it !! This is a really really fast read and enjoyable too .. I don’t think I’d like to do the whole series back to back though .. I’ll leave it a while and read another .
August 13, 2018
This is the first Nicholas Bracewell book I have read - I keep popping back to the Railway Detective series although I find it simplistic, but this I think, is better, though still flawed. The relationship with Anne is never explained, for example. But hats off to Edward Marston for his background research into the kidnapping of boys to serve as the king's choristers or players. There was recently a television programme about this little known aspect of Tudor England, and my husband was very surprised when I said I knew all about it, having read this book!
June 10, 2015
This is another delightful and quite dark instalment in the Nicholas Bracewell series by Edward Marston that sees the intrepid bookkeeper of Lord Westfield’s Men, Bracewell, trying to track down the murderer of the much despised but hugely talented playwright, Jonas Applegarth.
There doesn’t seem to be anyone that larger-than-life Applegarth hasn’t offended or upset, in both words and deeds, so in terms of suspects, the list is long. While there are some content the man is dead, even if his murder (hung by the neck, while the killer laughs manically in the distance) is gruesome, that all changes. When a second murder takes place, this time of a gentle soul, and again in a theatre, the actors are most distressed and Nick especially determines to track down who it is that has not only actors, but anyone involved in theatre in their wicked sights.
Once again, Marston brings Elizabethan London, in all its gory glory to life. Replete with wonderful, full-bodied language and characters – both within the acting troupe and the secondary characters introduced with each new novel - who make you laugh, wince at their vanity, and cheer their bravery and foolhardiness, this series just gets better and better. Whether it’s Lawrence Firethorn and his virago-wife Margery, or lovelorn Edmund Hoode or the egocentric and narcissistic Barnaby Gill, all of whom are somehow managed by level-headed Nicholas, the characters are consistent, often hilarious and the plots they become embroiled in tight, even if, like the stage upon which they strut, you have to suspend your disbelief. Furthermore, the history is accurate and interesting without being didactic.
For lovers of historical fiction, crime and just rollicking good reads.
There doesn’t seem to be anyone that larger-than-life Applegarth hasn’t offended or upset, in both words and deeds, so in terms of suspects, the list is long. While there are some content the man is dead, even if his murder (hung by the neck, while the killer laughs manically in the distance) is gruesome, that all changes. When a second murder takes place, this time of a gentle soul, and again in a theatre, the actors are most distressed and Nick especially determines to track down who it is that has not only actors, but anyone involved in theatre in their wicked sights.
Once again, Marston brings Elizabethan London, in all its gory glory to life. Replete with wonderful, full-bodied language and characters – both within the acting troupe and the secondary characters introduced with each new novel - who make you laugh, wince at their vanity, and cheer their bravery and foolhardiness, this series just gets better and better. Whether it’s Lawrence Firethorn and his virago-wife Margery, or lovelorn Edmund Hoode or the egocentric and narcissistic Barnaby Gill, all of whom are somehow managed by level-headed Nicholas, the characters are consistent, often hilarious and the plots they become embroiled in tight, even if, like the stage upon which they strut, you have to suspend your disbelief. Furthermore, the history is accurate and interesting without being didactic.
For lovers of historical fiction, crime and just rollicking good reads.
September 23, 2024
A really enjoyable romp through the theatre world of Elizabethian London.
The characters are strong and the plot is solid.
It's interesting that Nicholas Bracewell is always about when someone dies though! Haven't the constables noticed!
The characters are strong and the plot is solid.
It's interesting that Nicholas Bracewell is always about when someone dies though! Haven't the constables noticed!
March 14, 2019
Another one in his Elizabethan Mystery series of which I have read a fair few - not necessarily in order - there are common threads between the books eg Bracewell's relationship with Anne - but there are enough (but not too many) 'reminders' in the books so you can read stand alone. Set in Elizabethan England, the stories focus around the activities of a theatre troup 'Westfield's men' who generally perform out of the Queen's Head inn within the London City walls. In this one, a well-loved school principal is found murdered and Nick Bracewell sets out to find out whodunnit. It's not the only murder. I felt that the culprit was signposted reasonably early on though perhaps if I didn't watch so much 'Murder She Wrote' or 'Columbo' I wouldn't have realized.
Enjoyable, easy reading. I read most of it in one sleepless night so be warned if you need to get up for work
Enjoyable, easy reading. I read most of it in one sleepless night so be warned if you need to get up for work
August 21, 2019
Another good mystery set in Elizabethan England. The puzzle is clever and backed with a lot of historical background. It is light-hearted in places and the answer is clever. Well written and the use of 'antique' English enjoyable. Beach read. Recommended.
January 7, 2021
Very entertaining story, one of the best of this series (and they have all been good.)
July 29, 2017
This book was lent to me by a friend and means that, yet again, I’ve fallen into a series midway through (flashbacks of 1356…). That said it’s not a bad read at all, even if I didn’t really get the relationship problems between Nick and Anne. Beyond that the story seemed pretty self-contained and I managed to follow it pretty well.
We begin with Nicholas Bracewell, our hero and bookholder of a troop of actors called the Westfields Men, being asked for help by Anne, his old lover. Philip Robson, the son of Anne’s neighbour /admirer Ambrose, has been writing to his father about his terrible treatment at the Chapel Royal Children theatre and wishes to come home to his family. Given Ambrose’s obvious intentions towards Anne, Nick is not keen on the idea, but he agrees to help for her sake and hopes perhaps to rekindle their friendship.
In the process of this he becomes a witness to the murder of the first of the Laughing Hangman’s victims. He decides to look into it but has worries enough already what with the Westfields Men’s new playwright upsetting the whole troop with his attitude and being threatened by another unknown assailant to boot. He tries to keep his troop together while simultaneously solving a murder, rescuing a child and protecting his playwright, all while trying to find a way back into Anne Hendrik’s good graces.
Not a bad start!
Alright, let’s get the cons out of the way first. Some of the dialogue takes a bit of getting used to, being Elizabethan and all that, and even then it’s not 100% consistent. Plot wise I found it fairly interesting but not enough that I was finding it hard to put the book down at the end of my lunch hour. For one thing the Edmund Hoode subplot felt a bit pointless as it didn’t really go anywhere (flashbacks to reading Frankenstein – page after page of agonising about stuff building to a fairly anti-climactic climax). At best it seemed like comic relief and a pretty slow-burn comic relief at that, and the book would not have suffered from its absence. Now it could be that this had some greater meaning to those who know the character from other books so I’ll give benefit of the doubt there but as someone who just picked up this one book – as people often do – it seemed needless.
The same justification might be made for another of my gripes with this, i.e. that the backstory of Nick and Anne is never really explained. Our hero’s actions are almost completely dominated by his feelings for her and she is constantly in his thoughts, but he’s always vague about what actually happened to bring them together and then drive them apart. Series or not, that really could have been explained better, given how much Nick is obsessed with the woman.
On the plus side, the plot was pretty good and had some nice twists to it, but the main thing I liked about this book was the view it gave of 16th century theatre. Marston goes into lots of detail without it seeming like a lecture (a classic trait of one of my favourite authors – Bernard Cornwell). He tells us all about the physical productions such as most plays being performed in tavern yards rather than purpose-built theatres, as well as how things like props and effects were done. Even more than this, the book is very informative on the risqué political and religious satire that writers included in their text. We all know about this sort of thing appearing in Shakespeare (who the writer wisely resists from mentioning!) but I really liked seeing how other playwrights did such things.
In all I have to say this wasn’t a gripping page-turner for me but it did make an interesting lunchtime read and appealed to me as a lover of Shakespeare. Marston transports the reader into a very believable 16th century London and that was enough to keep me going through it. As I say, plot-wise it wasn’t bad by any means but nor was it something that had me wondering about the story on the drive home. I would probably speak more highly of some of the characters but, as part of a series, I didn’t really get to know them that well, and they didn’t seem to change much from start to finish. I’d say if you’re into Shakespeare, give this book a look and you’ll be interested. To sum up – I’m not rushing out to buy the series any time soon but I’m certainly glad to have read this one.
We begin with Nicholas Bracewell, our hero and bookholder of a troop of actors called the Westfields Men, being asked for help by Anne, his old lover. Philip Robson, the son of Anne’s neighbour /admirer Ambrose, has been writing to his father about his terrible treatment at the Chapel Royal Children theatre and wishes to come home to his family. Given Ambrose’s obvious intentions towards Anne, Nick is not keen on the idea, but he agrees to help for her sake and hopes perhaps to rekindle their friendship.
In the process of this he becomes a witness to the murder of the first of the Laughing Hangman’s victims. He decides to look into it but has worries enough already what with the Westfields Men’s new playwright upsetting the whole troop with his attitude and being threatened by another unknown assailant to boot. He tries to keep his troop together while simultaneously solving a murder, rescuing a child and protecting his playwright, all while trying to find a way back into Anne Hendrik’s good graces.
Not a bad start!
Alright, let’s get the cons out of the way first. Some of the dialogue takes a bit of getting used to, being Elizabethan and all that, and even then it’s not 100% consistent. Plot wise I found it fairly interesting but not enough that I was finding it hard to put the book down at the end of my lunch hour. For one thing the Edmund Hoode subplot felt a bit pointless as it didn’t really go anywhere (flashbacks to reading Frankenstein – page after page of agonising about stuff building to a fairly anti-climactic climax). At best it seemed like comic relief and a pretty slow-burn comic relief at that, and the book would not have suffered from its absence. Now it could be that this had some greater meaning to those who know the character from other books so I’ll give benefit of the doubt there but as someone who just picked up this one book – as people often do – it seemed needless.
The same justification might be made for another of my gripes with this, i.e. that the backstory of Nick and Anne is never really explained. Our hero’s actions are almost completely dominated by his feelings for her and she is constantly in his thoughts, but he’s always vague about what actually happened to bring them together and then drive them apart. Series or not, that really could have been explained better, given how much Nick is obsessed with the woman.
On the plus side, the plot was pretty good and had some nice twists to it, but the main thing I liked about this book was the view it gave of 16th century theatre. Marston goes into lots of detail without it seeming like a lecture (a classic trait of one of my favourite authors – Bernard Cornwell). He tells us all about the physical productions such as most plays being performed in tavern yards rather than purpose-built theatres, as well as how things like props and effects were done. Even more than this, the book is very informative on the risqué political and religious satire that writers included in their text. We all know about this sort of thing appearing in Shakespeare (who the writer wisely resists from mentioning!) but I really liked seeing how other playwrights did such things.
In all I have to say this wasn’t a gripping page-turner for me but it did make an interesting lunchtime read and appealed to me as a lover of Shakespeare. Marston transports the reader into a very believable 16th century London and that was enough to keep me going through it. As I say, plot-wise it wasn’t bad by any means but nor was it something that had me wondering about the story on the drive home. I would probably speak more highly of some of the characters but, as part of a series, I didn’t really get to know them that well, and they didn’t seem to change much from start to finish. I’d say if you’re into Shakespeare, give this book a look and you’ll be interested. To sum up – I’m not rushing out to buy the series any time soon but I’m certainly glad to have read this one.
March 7, 2021
Nicholas Bracewell is a bookholder in a ragtag theatre company in Elizabethan London. Inevitably he is caught up in a couple of murders and with little action from the law enforcement of the day he sets out to solve the puzzle. Jonas Applegarth is a larger than life playwright, who stirs up discontent in his forthright views and his latest play is going to be produced by Nicholas's troupe. The era is nicely brought to life and the story rattles along. I did feel let down by the identity of the killer, which seemed contrived. At least Nicholas was able to re-kindle his relationship with Anne Hendrik.
July 18, 2017
3.75* I enjoyed this so much more than the next one in the series. The characters are more fully fledged, the plot lines more interesting. You need to read this remembering it is set in Elizabethan times where sentences are more lengthy and why use three words to explain something when you can use ten!! Edward Marston is a master of his craft in producing so many historical thrillers,throughout so many different time periods. I think I will reread The Fair Maid of Bohemia as I think I will enjoy it better reading in sequence. I don't think this is a series to be read out of order
October 5, 2021
Published in 1996, 'The Laughing Hangman' is the 8th in the popular series of mysteries set in Elizabethan London amongst an acting troupe. In this tale, the plot is fairly thin although the background detail is impressive. As is often the case in this series, the thin plot is saved by the terrific interaction between the group of eccentrics that make up the acting troupe, never mind that they need to be static two-dimensional characters throughout the series to achieve this. Very quick to read, and very enjoyable.
January 6, 2019
Book 8 of the series featuring Nick Bracewell & the rest of the Westfield Men theatre group.
Set in Elizabethan era this is another good solid story
Nick is reunited with his ex-girlfriend when she seeks his help for a neighbour which brings him in contact with a killer who's favoured method is hanging
Set in Elizabethan era this is another good solid story
Nick is reunited with his ex-girlfriend when she seeks his help for a neighbour which brings him in contact with a killer who's favoured method is hanging
March 16, 2019
another exciting story with lots of twist and turns
September 3, 2019
Yes, it's formulaic, but the historical, dramatic background is well researched and splendidly realised.
Read
October 4, 2024Quite fast moving but I really did not think that there was sufficient drama. Have have read other of his books and again I felt that the plot was lacking depth.
November 6, 2024
A unique and entertaining crime thriller. The story is gripping and full of twists and turns as well as action and humour. This is an enjoyable book to read and the series is well worth reading.
December 13, 2025
another tale of their theatre and murder
January 21, 2013
I love the plots of this series, and the writing is overall great - you really get a feel for the era. My only complaint is that the main character seems a bit flat. All the other characters are given vivid emotive descriptions, but Nicholas Bracewell seems somewhat an automaton. As an antidote to this impression, I tried reading his statements out loud, with the natural emotional inflection. Much better.
July 4, 2014
I've got to say, I've enjoy each and every one of the Nicholas Bracewell mysteries and this one was no exception. This time around we see Nicholas and Anne's romance rekindle as well as some mystery hangings.
March 13, 2021
Audiobook
December 2, 2016
A n ok historical crime book set in the world of tudor theatre. A good read
April 28, 2017
Review - I think that this is one of my favourites of the Bracewell series, along with The Roaring Boy. I think that the storyline was clever and had so many different strands that you didn't know which were red herrings and which were essential to the story. I really missed the presence of Anne Hendrik in the previous novel, but I enjoyed her return here, and it seems as if she will continue to appear in later books.
Genre? - Historical / Mystery / Crime
Characters? - Nicholas Bracewell / Jonas Applegarth / Anne Hendrik / Lawrence Firethorn / Margery Firethorn / Edmund Hoode / Owen Elias / James Ingram
Setting? - London (England)
Series? - Nicholas Bracewell #8
Recommend? – Yes
Rating - 18/20
Genre? - Historical / Mystery / Crime
Characters? - Nicholas Bracewell / Jonas Applegarth / Anne Hendrik / Lawrence Firethorn / Margery Firethorn / Edmund Hoode / Owen Elias / James Ingram
Setting? - London (England)
Series? - Nicholas Bracewell #8
Recommend? – Yes
Rating - 18/20
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews