Book description
It's the summer of 1604 and the Spanish are in London. Many years
after the ill-fated Armada, they are negotiating a peace treaty with
the English. Nick Revill's acting company is given a ceremonial role
at the celebrations. But not everybody welcomes this outbreak of
peace. In the shifting world of the court there are factions. In the
Tower of London sits that implacable enemy of the Spanish, Sir Walter
Raleigh, and he has friends on the outside who may try to sabotage the
negotiations. Nick, meanwhile, is trying to get on with his playing.
Invited by Shakespeare's rival, Ben Jonson, to take part in a masque
at Somerset House where the Spanish are lodged, Nick is caught up in a
conspiracy. During a rehearsal the courtier Sir Philip Blake dies an
apparently accidental death when he tumbles from a 'Deus ex machina'
chair which is lowering him to the stage. But this is only the first
of a series of suspicious deaths, and Nick must look for the murderer
among those around him. And Nick has other distractions besides. There
is his growing attraction to his landlady, the widowed Ursula Buckle.
And then there is that new French girl at the Mitre brothel...
Philip Gooden, author of the Elizabethean-set Nick Revill murder
mystery series, has had his short stories published in anthologies. He
is also editor, most recently, of The Mammoth Book of Literary
Anecdotes. He is actively involved with the Crime Writers' Association
and contributes to its magazine, Red Herrings. He lives in Bath.
