Black Death

This witty and entertaining read is another in the series penned by M.J Trow featuring Kit Marlowe as a detective solving mysteries in late Elizabethan London where plague proliferates and political intrigue and religious intolerance are embedded in a society beset by superstition and fear. When fellow dramatist Robert Greene dies after sending Kit a letter claiming his life is in danger Marlowe begins an investigation that will be comprised of many baffling twists and turns and red herrings. More deaths will follow Greene's but what is the relationship between them all?

I like historic fiction, books about London's history and crime fiction so this ticked a number of boxes for me. There is much mystery and myth surrounding the life and untimely death of Christopher Marlowe and the allegations that he was indeed a government spy lends itself to such fictional tales of crime solving. Here the author weaves his interpretation and representation of actual events and people to create a fast paced story which contains quite a bit of knowing humour particularly with reference to disputed Elizabethan authorship. The book is also wonderfully descriptive of the dirt, squalor and danger to be found on the streets in London. This is a baffling tale that quickly goes from one scene to another ensuring that the reader is eager to turn to the next page in order to find out the ultimate solution.

Certainly a fun and entertaining read that will appear to many who like this ever popular genre.

Robert Green and Christopher Marlowe are not friends. But when Green believes someone is trying to kill him, he sends a desperate letter to Marlowe, behind for his help. When Green is found dead, Kit believes it is his duty to discover who murdered Green and so undertakes the investigation. At the same time, stage manager Ned Sledd is wrongly taken to Bedlam in lieu of an escaped inmate just days before the opening of one of Marlowe’s new plays. Marlowe has to find the connection between all these events and help his friend. And also, the Spymaster, Robert Cecil, is taking an inordinate interest in things. And there’s plague. What could go wrong?
This is a short, quick read and like other MJ Trow novels I’ve read, it is a fun and witty tale as well. The plot is full of twists and turns and not all is as it appears. The characters, especially Marlowe, are all multidimensional. I really love the little digs at William Shakespeare (spelled here as Shaxper) throughout and the subtle shade thrown on the authorship of his works. There are many literary gems hidden in these pages that appeal to any Anglophile.
The descriptions of Elizabethan London are also vivid and gritty. So much of that period is romanticized but here, we get the more realistic portrayal of what it might have actually been like - dirty, smelly, and depressing. Oh, and don’t forget the plague!
A fun and fast read, highly recommended for any lovers of Marlowe, Shaxper :-), or Elizabethan English history in general.