Silent Court

February 27, 2012
Trow follows up his first novel featuring Elizabethan playwright and spy Christopher Marlowe, Dark Entry (2011), with another intriguing if relatively straightforward mystery. While Elizabeth’s Machiavellian spymaster, Francis Walsingham, is less than pleased when Marlowe ignores his orders and intervenes to spare the family of a traitor who was plotting against the queen, Walsingham still counts on Marlowe to protect William the Silent, Statholder of the Netherlands, a Protestant ally of the English, against the martial ambitions of Philip of Spain. To safeguard William, Marlowe goes undercover in an acting company about to travel to William’s court. En route to the coast, the troupe stops at the house of the queen’s magus, John Dee, where a fatal poisoning temporarily distracts Marlowe from sizing up the best way to keep his charge secure. Trow keeps the action moving briskly, but does so at the cost of plot complexity and layers of detail.

May 15, 2012
Christopher Marlowe's role in history is rewritten. In a country rife with the prospect of war, Kit Marlowe is pressed into service for Queen Elizabeth as an amateur spy. His mission: to reach the Netherlands to offer his assistance to William the Silent, who has been even more silent since he was attacked and remains in a virtual coma. To achieve his goal, Kit joins a traveling band of Egyptian players whom Constable Joseph Fludd is chasing out of the country in connection with a possible murder charge. Though different by birth from his new companions, Kit blends in well with his new crowd, telling stories and charming the women of the group. When the Egyptians end up at the house of Dr. John Dee, the queen's magus, Kit is concerned that his old friendship with the doctor will be discovered. But that is apparently the least of his concerns. Tragedy strikes, and everyone, including Kit, is suspected of foul play. Now the scholar-turned-spy must also take on the role of investigator while insuring that his cover as a harmless traveler remains intact. History buffs amused by the conceit of Marlowe's many professional hats can have the additional fun of pouncing on minor historical anachronisms. For those who aren't ardent fans of the era, however, the latest from Trow (Lestrade and the Ripper, 1999, etc.) might as well be ancient history.

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May 1, 2012

Young scholar and spy Christopher "Kit" Marlow again finds himself in the thick of Elizabethan intrigue when he's called to action by the queen's head spy, Francis Walsingham. Joining a troupe of travelling entertainers known as the Egyptians, Kit heads to the Netherlands where an isolated ally, William the Silent, desperately needs assistance. The trip does not go smoothly, though: a stop at the home of the queen's magus, Dr. John Dee, turns tragic when Dee's wife is murdered. Within this troupe of soothsayers and magicians, Kit remains guarded, fully aware that a variety of nationalist sympathies and motives are concealed behind the entertainers' faux identities. Never losing sight of his loyalty to the queen, Kit smokes out the traitors. VERDICT Once again Trow (Dark Entry) excels at bringing Elizabethan history to life in this dashing tale of deception. The author is also a military historian and a Marlowe expert. I like pairing with Gyles Brandreth's Oscar Wilde series (his Oscar Wilde and the Vatican Murders is reviewed in the series lineup above) for tone and glimpses into the workings of society. [See Prepub Alert, 11/11/11.]

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2012
Christopher Kit Marlowe, Cambridge scholar and novice spy, has his hands full. He is happy working on his master's degree and serving as a tutor to the daughters of a noble family, but the family in question is in dire straits because Francis Walsingham, the queen's spymaster, considers them traitors. It is 1583, and there is strife both domestically and across channel. Walsingham wants Kit to go to the Netherlands to help the Dutch leader, William the Silent, whose court is a hotbed of intrigue. Kit disguises himself as a member of a troupe of Egyptian players touring the country, but he finds trouble even before reaching the Dutch border, when the troupe makes a detour to visit the home of the queen's magus, John Dee. One of their tricks ends tragically, with a woman dead and Dee arrested for murder. Marlowe has his work cut out for him, both finding a murderer closer to home and surviving the political treachery of the court. Historical-mystery fans will enjoy the Elizabethan setting, and Marlowe proves an able sleuth with an agreeably outsize personality.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)