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secre's review against another edition
4.0
Another tightly written mystery by P. F. Crisholm here that throws you into Elizabethan life. I personally enjoyed the books set in Carlisle more, but I can't deny this has everything a good historical mystery needs.
archytas's review against another edition
3.0
Frankly, this was a little overstuffed. The dominant POV of Dodd was an effective way to avoid yet-another-Elizabethan-London description, but was exaggerated to the point of making Dodd seem stupid at times. Marlowe was a little too villainous, and the key villain himself a frustrating combination of untouchably politically powerful and totally politically vulnerable. My least favourite so far.
rhodered's review against another edition
4.0
As Diana Gabaldon's glowing, fangirly intro notes, this is fantastic historic fiction in many ways. The historic details are right - you can smell, see, taste and walk along in London circa 1590-something. The characters are alive and realistically human. The action moves briskly along, but never stoops to obvious plot devices (in fact at one point where every other historic book would have gone in a certain direction, the character thinks to himself "huh, this is too obvious" and swerves.) And the actual prose - this author is the Dorothy Dunnett of our generation; which means beautifully and humorously written but more accessible/less densely-worded than Dunnett.
It's also a fun addition to the series because this time the POV is all Dodd. Dodd as the stranger in a strange land to him, so a nice decision on the author's part.
So, why isn't this a 5-star for me? I woke up in the middle of the night working away at this problem. I think perhaps it comes down to not caring. Dodd's lack of emotional involvement in the mystery and the plot as a whole. His entire motivation and desire is to go back up north to be home. He is only in London under duress, and mostly a secondary figure in the solving of mystery-de-jour which is that of figuring out where Carey's older brother has disappeared to. So, he's mainly in tag-along observer capacity.
Maybe you can have a book sweep you in emotionally when the protagonist is a tag along observer - in particular if that tag along becomes emotionally involved themselves during its course. In this case, Dodd doesn't. Not really. It's an adventure for him, but his heart, soul and thoughts are still of his home and role up North. I don't even see that he is much changed by the adventure, aside from having had an adventure (and, it must be said, a bath.)
This book is absolutely a fun romp. If you are a fan of Shakespeare as a historic figure, then it's pretty much a must-read.
Otherwise, huh. I feel slightly disappointed. Maybe I just want/need more of an emotional arc to my stories.
It's also a fun addition to the series because this time the POV is all Dodd. Dodd as the stranger in a strange land to him, so a nice decision on the author's part.
So, why isn't this a 5-star for me? I woke up in the middle of the night working away at this problem. I think perhaps it comes down to not caring. Dodd's lack of emotional involvement in the mystery and the plot as a whole. His entire motivation and desire is to go back up north to be home. He is only in London under duress, and mostly a secondary figure in the solving of mystery-de-jour which is that of figuring out where Carey's older brother has disappeared to. So, he's mainly in tag-along observer capacity.
Maybe you can have a book sweep you in emotionally when the protagonist is a tag along observer - in particular if that tag along becomes emotionally involved themselves during its course. In this case, Dodd doesn't. Not really. It's an adventure for him, but his heart, soul and thoughts are still of his home and role up North. I don't even see that he is much changed by the adventure, aside from having had an adventure (and, it must be said, a bath.)
This book is absolutely a fun romp. If you are a fan of Shakespeare as a historic figure, then it's pretty much a must-read.
Otherwise, huh. I feel slightly disappointed. Maybe I just want/need more of an emotional arc to my stories.
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