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Kit Marlowe #11
The Reckoning
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?
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?
224 pages, Hardcover
Published July 7, 2020
5 people are currently reading
33 people want to read
About the author
M.J. Trow
149 books119 followersMeirion James Trow is a full-time teacher of history who has been doubling as a crime writer for seventeen years. Originally from Ferndale, Rhondda in South Wales he now lives on the Isle of Wight. His interests include collecting militaria, film, the supernatural and true crime.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 7, 2020
In December 1592, Kit Marlowe is determined to put on a new play. The subject is Edward II and his rumoured close relationship with Piers Gaveston, and not only that, the play has dangerous parallels within Elizabethan England. There are several deaths in the lead up to the play being performed, with Marlowe surrounded by nefarious characters with shifting loyalties.
This book, whilst not the most memorable in plot, was in keeping with the previous books. It seems that Elizabethan England was a most dangerous time and place in which to live, especially if you were drawn into the world of spycraft. The Marlowe portrayed in the books is an intriguing character and one that draws the reader's sympathies, yet he makes some inexplicable decisions. Overall it is a series I have enjoyed reading but it is not without its flaws.
Thanks to NetGalley and publishers, Severn House/Crème de la Crime, for the opportunity to read an ARC.
This book, whilst not the most memorable in plot, was in keeping with the previous books. It seems that Elizabethan England was a most dangerous time and place in which to live, especially if you were drawn into the world of spycraft. The Marlowe portrayed in the books is an intriguing character and one that draws the reader's sympathies, yet he makes some inexplicable decisions. Overall it is a series I have enjoyed reading but it is not without its flaws.
Thanks to NetGalley and publishers, Severn House/Crème de la Crime, for the opportunity to read an ARC.
April 30, 2020
1592 Christopher Marlow with his troupe from the Rose in London is going on tour. He will put on his first performance at his friends Thomas Walsingham Scudbury Manor. His controversial play about the life of Edward II has people making comparisons with the end of the current Queen’s reign. When the bodies start to pile up Marlow is in the thick of it with his past dealings with the Queen’s spymasters. There is a nice balance between all the backbiting and bitchiness of the stage and played out on a larger stage the underhand dealings of the royal spymasters. Will Marlow be able to step delicately between both.
This keeps the reader on their toes till the final chapter.
I was given an ARC of this book by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
This keeps the reader on their toes till the final chapter.
I was given an ARC of this book by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
April 21, 2020
I may as well say it. I really, really wanted to like MJ Trow’s The Reckoning, but I’m sorry. I didn’t.
I suspect the problem is me and my expectations rather than the book. I love a good historical crime novel with a real historical figure as a detective, and what could be better than that character being my literary hero? Genius playwright Christopher Marlowe, trying to solve the murder of an actor, with lashings of secret agents and nobody quite what they seem
That’s where it went wrong for me. The Christopher Marlowe of this book — a reasonable man, loved by women, children and animals, everyone in fact except for the many baddies — could barely be more different to the character as he’s represented by historians. Having begun reading with an idea of a character I couldn’t buy into one who is so different to what I was expecting.
Drawing a character to your own specifications is fair enough of course. I don’t mind a bit of flexibility in historical fiction. In this book it wasn’t just the character of Marlowe but there was much more there was too much of it for me, too much playing fast and loose with what we know is the truth. (And — no spoilers — another problem with this type of book is that we know how it’s going to end.) I found it particularly irritating, for example, that there were constant references to lines written after Marlowe’s death — although I do understand that they were intended to be funny. I just felt that this running gag was a bit clumsy and, like much of the rest of the humour in the book, felt very dated, reminiscent of the 1960s novels of Caryl Brahms and SJ Simon
There was much to like. The historical detail was great and the writing very good, though I also thought it was quite light in terms of the actual plot. I the end I rather stopped reading it as a detective novel and the how and why of the actual murders came very much second to the espionage subplot — and, I have to say, the unsurprising ending was clearly done. I’m sure many people will enjoy it rather more than I did.
Thanks to Netgalley and Severn House for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.
I suspect the problem is me and my expectations rather than the book. I love a good historical crime novel with a real historical figure as a detective, and what could be better than that character being my literary hero? Genius playwright Christopher Marlowe, trying to solve the murder of an actor, with lashings of secret agents and nobody quite what they seem
That’s where it went wrong for me. The Christopher Marlowe of this book — a reasonable man, loved by women, children and animals, everyone in fact except for the many baddies — could barely be more different to the character as he’s represented by historians. Having begun reading with an idea of a character I couldn’t buy into one who is so different to what I was expecting.
Drawing a character to your own specifications is fair enough of course. I don’t mind a bit of flexibility in historical fiction. In this book it wasn’t just the character of Marlowe but there was much more there was too much of it for me, too much playing fast and loose with what we know is the truth. (And — no spoilers — another problem with this type of book is that we know how it’s going to end.) I found it particularly irritating, for example, that there were constant references to lines written after Marlowe’s death — although I do understand that they were intended to be funny. I just felt that this running gag was a bit clumsy and, like much of the rest of the humour in the book, felt very dated, reminiscent of the 1960s novels of Caryl Brahms and SJ Simon
There was much to like. The historical detail was great and the writing very good, though I also thought it was quite light in terms of the actual plot. I the end I rather stopped reading it as a detective novel and the how and why of the actual murders came very much second to the espionage subplot — and, I have to say, the unsurprising ending was clearly done. I’m sure many people will enjoy it rather more than I did.
Thanks to Netgalley and Severn House for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.
April 30, 2020
"The Reckoning": it’s the 11th episode in the Christopher Marlowe mystery series by M.J. Trow.
It’s 1592, a cold December day; the plague is still ravaging London; the Puritans are still “exorcising” their “rites” as they try to make sure everyone is following “true” religion’s paths—and death be to those who don’t follow (which mainly means the Catholics) as Good Queen Elizabeth’s agents are purging the empire of the dastardly and ungodly. It also means that the theatre is in dire peril.
Christopher (Kit) Marlowe is busy keeping the Rose Theatre busy and at the same time he’s trying very hard to finish his play, Edward II—and, boy is it about to ruffle some feathers. But Kit being Kit—the “greatest living playwright in England—he’s not afraid to court disaster. And Edward II, filled with social and religious and royal no-nos certainly makes no pretense of doing otherwise.
But this is an Elizabethan historical murder mystery and we’ve got to have bodies. We’re hardly in to the plot when there are three gruesome ones, all connected, just as the actors are heading to Scadbury for an out-of-town performance. It’s to be Thomas Kyd’s "The Spanish Tragedy," but that’s quickly changed to Marlowe’s new play.
"The Reckoning," of course, takes on multiple meanings. Marlowe’s experience as one of Elizabeth’s spies has all kinds of complex connections and there’re all kinds of political manipulations going on within the Queen’s elite. They may look like the innocent flower, but they act like the serpent below it, to borrow a Shakespeare phrase. Intrigue, guile, deception, murder—all part of that world.
As the play goes on (all the world’s stage, remember) and more bodies are discovered, Trow’s plot also moves to the inevitable: March, 1593, to a barroom in Deptford. As with the ten previous episodes, his writing moves along swiftly, well-researched, properly spell-binding; it also provides us with some good insights into Elizabethan England, especially the theatre. An excellent series. A job well done!
It’s 1592, a cold December day; the plague is still ravaging London; the Puritans are still “exorcising” their “rites” as they try to make sure everyone is following “true” religion’s paths—and death be to those who don’t follow (which mainly means the Catholics) as Good Queen Elizabeth’s agents are purging the empire of the dastardly and ungodly. It also means that the theatre is in dire peril.
Christopher (Kit) Marlowe is busy keeping the Rose Theatre busy and at the same time he’s trying very hard to finish his play, Edward II—and, boy is it about to ruffle some feathers. But Kit being Kit—the “greatest living playwright in England—he’s not afraid to court disaster. And Edward II, filled with social and religious and royal no-nos certainly makes no pretense of doing otherwise.
But this is an Elizabethan historical murder mystery and we’ve got to have bodies. We’re hardly in to the plot when there are three gruesome ones, all connected, just as the actors are heading to Scadbury for an out-of-town performance. It’s to be Thomas Kyd’s "The Spanish Tragedy," but that’s quickly changed to Marlowe’s new play.
"The Reckoning," of course, takes on multiple meanings. Marlowe’s experience as one of Elizabeth’s spies has all kinds of complex connections and there’re all kinds of political manipulations going on within the Queen’s elite. They may look like the innocent flower, but they act like the serpent below it, to borrow a Shakespeare phrase. Intrigue, guile, deception, murder—all part of that world.
As the play goes on (all the world’s stage, remember) and more bodies are discovered, Trow’s plot also moves to the inevitable: March, 1593, to a barroom in Deptford. As with the ten previous episodes, his writing moves along swiftly, well-researched, properly spell-binding; it also provides us with some good insights into Elizabethan England, especially the theatre. An excellent series. A job well done!
July 24, 2020
This is apparently the 11th - and definitely the last - in a series apparently featuring playwright Christopher “Kit” Marlowe as a spy/amateur detective. When one of the ‘players’ for his latest play is killed in an unexpected and brutal way, Kit realises there is a lot more at stake than the usual risk of being pelted with rotten fruit if the audience don’t care for the performance.
Having not read any of the previous books in the series, I’m unsure whether that would have made any difference as to my understanding of what the heck was going on here. Or what even was the point of this book. Marlowe didn’t seem too worried about any of the four deaths which occurred, the solution falling into his lap seemingly by chance at the end of the book, just before an exceedingly shocking conclusion, one which, in effect, seeks to explain what may have actually happened in a real historical context.
I still haven’t got the faintest idea what was going on here. Historically, this is a great read; it never felt anachronistic for the time period and there were lots of great little details which really made it feel authentically Elizabethan, but the actual storyline seemed a complete muddle. Maybe it would make sense to a devotee of this series, but I was entirely lost. I’ll give it three stars, mainly for the quality of the historical writing, but I’m certainly not inspired to go looking for any of the author’s other work.
Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this title via NetGalley.
Having not read any of the previous books in the series, I’m unsure whether that would have made any difference as to my understanding of what the heck was going on here. Or what even was the point of this book. Marlowe didn’t seem too worried about any of the four deaths which occurred, the solution falling into his lap seemingly by chance at the end of the book, just before an exceedingly shocking conclusion, one which, in effect, seeks to explain what may have actually happened in a real historical context.
I still haven’t got the faintest idea what was going on here. Historically, this is a great read; it never felt anachronistic for the time period and there were lots of great little details which really made it feel authentically Elizabethan, but the actual storyline seemed a complete muddle. Maybe it would make sense to a devotee of this series, but I was entirely lost. I’ll give it three stars, mainly for the quality of the historical writing, but I’m certainly not inspired to go looking for any of the author’s other work.
Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this title via NetGalley.
May 15, 2020
The Reckoning was a disappointing read. Billed as an historical mystery, the book includes a series of murders, but they're never really investigated: they just happen and are there hovering in the background. The Reckoning is more of an imagined version of Marlow's life shortly before the "great reckoning in a little room." Those who die include a player newly added to the company Marlowe writes for, a prostitute Marlowe knows and is fond of, a copyist who is (what else?) copying sets of Marlowe's latest play for the company, and a lovely, earnest curate. With the exception of the last, these are all people Marlowe should care about—but even as he's presented as unfailingly kind and generous, he fails to follow up on these deaths. He asks a question here or there, but no more. And the "solution" to this mystery is less than clear and pulled out of thin air.
I would read more work by this author, hoping for a bit more plot and a more central role for the mystery, but this title fell short.
I received an electronic review copy of the book from the publisher via NetGaley. The opinions are my own.
I would read more work by this author, hoping for a bit more plot and a more central role for the mystery, but this title fell short.
I received an electronic review copy of the book from the publisher via NetGaley. The opinions are my own.
May 21, 2020
This is an interesting tale set in Tudor England, and clearly the author has done some serious research, both concerning events, personalities and the current terms for items of dress, gaming, etc. The main story concerns the Lord Chamberlain's Men - an acting troupe who are putting on Marlowe's new play at a country house. However, the content of the play is very controversial, particularly given the state of English politics and the issue of succession of the throne at the time. There are some great lines in the book, and the story is quite pacy as it becomes clear there are some serious characters tied up with plots and spying for the Queen.
The final chapters concern the fate of Kit Marlowe, using a rediscovered transcript of an inquest as an original source. It makes for a very interesting story.
However, the only issue I had was with some of the dialogue, which jarred and seemed to carry the wrong cadence for the time. The characters are fairly lightly handled, so you don't get to know any of them in great depth.
Overall a good read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Severn House for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The final chapters concern the fate of Kit Marlowe, using a rediscovered transcript of an inquest as an original source. It makes for a very interesting story.
However, the only issue I had was with some of the dialogue, which jarred and seemed to carry the wrong cadence for the time. The characters are fairly lightly handled, so you don't get to know any of them in great depth.
Overall a good read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Severn House for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
June 14, 2020
December 1592. Henry Carey, Baron Hunsdon, has formed the Lord Chamberlain's Mens' troupe. But on the morning of their departure to Scadbury, one of the actors is found dead, stabbed, in his bed. Is he one of Burghley's men. But this is only the start of the deaths.
Does Burghley have another man in the troupe, and what other schemes is he orchestrating, with the other Privy Council members.
Meanwhile at Scadbury Manor the actors are rehearsing Marlowe's play Edward II, for its one performance, but are coming concerned over the content.
Is there a connection to Marlowe's past spying activities, will he discover the motive and the who behind the killings
An entertaining Elizabethan historical murder mystery.
A NetGalley Book
Does Burghley have another man in the troupe, and what other schemes is he orchestrating, with the other Privy Council members.
Meanwhile at Scadbury Manor the actors are rehearsing Marlowe's play Edward II, for its one performance, but are coming concerned over the content.
Is there a connection to Marlowe's past spying activities, will he discover the motive and the who behind the killings
An entertaining Elizabethan historical murder mystery.
A NetGalley Book
June 14, 2020
I loved it and I would write more but English is not my mother tongue. I hope that somehow the series may continue, although it does not seem likely. The story is so very captivating and the humour adds to the whole. Kit Marlowe is what we need, in my opinion. Perhaps he is too skilled in everything he does but that's how a hero must be and he is one. In Italian we say:"Avercene!", meaning :there are never enough Marlowes in our daily life. Thank you Mr. Trow.
July 3, 2020
An excellent addition to this great historical mystery series.
The plot and the characters are as good as usual and the historical background is vivid and well researched.
The mystery is solid, full of twists and turns, and it kept me guessing.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
The plot and the characters are as good as usual and the historical background is vivid and well researched.
The mystery is solid, full of twists and turns, and it kept me guessing.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
April 18, 2020
Loved it. I did not want this to end - and as I realised where this was going, I slowed my reading to tease it out to the very end.
A must read series for those who love their mysteries set in Tudor times.
A must read series for those who love their mysteries set in Tudor times.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews