by M. J. Trow
Infiltrating the college undercover, Marlowe learns that the community has been rocked by a series of unexplained and violent deaths. Now, with the help of master codebreaker Thomas Phelippes, Marlowe must unearth a murderer, track down a traitor, and extract himself from the scorpions’ nest in time to return to London and save his play from a remorseless plagiarizer.
Crimson Rose
Book 5
WHEN SMALL-TIME ACTOR Will Shakespeare is arrested for murder, Kit Marlowe must find the real killer in this “intricately plotted” Elizabethan mystery (Publishers Weekly).
March, 1587. Christopher Marlowe’s play Tamburlaine, with the incomparable Ned Alleyn in the title role, has opened at the Rose Theatre, and a new era on the London stage is born. Yet the play is almost shut down on its opening night when a member of the audience, Eleanor Merchant, is struck dead by a musket ball fired from the stage. The man who pulled the trigger appears to be a bit player named Will Shakespeare.
Convinced of Shakespeare’s innocence, Marlowe is determined to find out what really happened. When a second body is found floating in the River Thames, it becomes clear that Eleanor Merchant’s death was no accident, and that something deeper and darker is afoot.
Traitor’s Storm
Book 6
CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE faces the might of the Spanish Armada in the sixth of this intriguing historical mystery series
May, 1588. With Elizabeth I’s court rocked by stories of an imminent invasion and one of his key undercover agents missing, Sir Francis Walsingham despatches Kit Marlowe to the Isle of Wight off the south coast: the first line of defence against the approaching Spanish Armada.
Lodging at Carisbrooke Castle with the Isle of Wight’s Governor, Sir George Carey, Marlowe finds the Islanders a strange and suspicious lot, with their own peculiar customs and dialect. But is there reason to doubt their loyalty to the Crown? And is the Island really haunted, as some believe? Of one thing Marlowe is certain: it’s no ghost behind the series of violent and inexplicable deaths which plague the region. But will he have time to uncover the truth and expose the killer before the might of the Armada descends?
Secret World
Book 7
JUNE, 1589. NOW A FAMOUS playwright, Kit Marlowe is visiting his family in Canterbury. But it's not the happy homecoming he had anticipated. A long-standing family friend has been found dead in her bed, killed by several blows to the head. Convinced the wrong person has been found guilty of the crime, Marlowe determines to uncover the truth.
Eleventh Hour
Book 8
APRIL, 1590. WHEN THE queen’s spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, dies of a stroke, the sudden event leaves a dangerous power vacuum in her majesty’s court. Walsingham’s former right-hand man, Nicholas Faunt, believes he was poisoned. And he calls upon the poet and playwright Christopher “Kit” Marlowe to discover who killed him.
To get to the bottom of this perplexing mystery, Kit must consult England’s leading scientists and thinkers. But as he questions the members of the so-called School of Night, the playwright-turned-spy becomes convinced that at least one of them is hiding a deadly secret. If he is to outwit the most enquiring minds in Europe and unmask the killer within, Kit must devise an impossibly ingenious plan. Good thing he has a knack for formulating plots.
Queen’s Progress
Book 9
AS ADVANCE GUARD FOR the Queen’s Progress, Christopher Marlowe tackles murder and intrigue within some of England’s grandest stately homes.
May, 1591. When Queen Elizabeth decides to embark on a Royal Progress, visiting some of the grandest homes in England, her new spymaster, Sir Robert Cecil, sends Kit Marlowe on ahead, to ensure all goes smoothly. But Marlowe’s reconnaissance mission is dogged by disaster: at Farnham Hall, a body is hurled from the battlements; at Cowdray Castle, a mock tournament ends in near tragedy; at Petworth, a body is discovered in the master bedroom, shot dead.
By the time he reaches Chichester, Marlowe fears the worst. Are the incidents linked? Is there a conspiracy to sabotage the Queen’s Progress? Who is pulling the strings – and why? To uncover the truth, Marlowe must come up with a fiendishly clever plan.
Black Death
Book 10
AS PLAGUE STALKS THE streets of 16th century London, Christopher Marlowe is drawn into a baffling murder investigation where nothing is as it first appears.
Christopher Marlowe had never liked Robert Greene when he was alive. But when the former Cambridge scholar is found dead in a cheap London boarding house, shortly after sending Kit a desperate letter, Marlowe feels duty bound to find out who killed him – and why.
What secrets did Robert Greene take with him to the grave? And why is the Queen’s spymaster, Sir Robert Cecil, taking such a keen interest in the case? As plague stalks the streets of London and the stage manager of the Rose Theatre disappears without trace just days before the opening of Marlowe’s new play, the playwright-sleuth finds himself in the midst of a baffling murder investigation – where nothing is as it first appears.
The Reckoning
Book 11
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?
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