The mysterious Simon Chaloner appears at the Queen’s Head Pub following a performance by Lord Westfield’s Men, a leading Elizabethan company of players. Then Chaloner follows producer Nicholas Bracewell and playwright Edmund Hoode home and gives them each a manuscript called The Roaring Boy, a drama based on events surrounding the murder of a mathematician.
When Bracewell and Hoode stage the play, the performance causes a riot, sending Hoode to prison. In order to save his men, Bracewell must solve two murders—one being that on which the play is based. Brimful of period and theatrical detail, this seventh-in-series novel won a 1996 Edgar Allan Poe Award nomination.
Amazon.com Review
This is the seventh in the series of Elizabethan theater mysteries featuring Nicholas Bracewell. A mysterious stranger named Simon Chaloner appears at the Queen's Head Pub following a performance by Westfield's Men, one of the leading theater companies. Chaloner follows Nicholas Bracewell and playwright Edmund Hoode home and gives them a manuscript called The Roaring Boy, based on events surrounding the murder of a mathematician. When Bracewell and Hoode stage the play, the performance causes a riot, and Hoode is imprisoned. In order to save his company, Bracewell must solve the vicious murder on which the play is based. A finalist for the Edgar Award, this, like Marston's other works, is filled with careful period detail as well as suspense.
From Publishers Weekly
As Marston's seventh excellent Elizabethan theater mystery (after The Silent Woman) opens, Lord Westfield's Men are performing in the yard of the Queen's Head when the lead character misses his cue. It's not stage fright: he's dead. Nicholas Bracewell, book holder and sleuth, devises an ingenious way to finish the show, but the company needs a new play fast. A mysterious manuscript called The Roaring Boy arrives; based on a recent scandalous murder, it argues that justice miscarried horribly in the case. From the moment they decide to stage the play, Nicholas and his troupe are embroiled in a real-life drama involving beatings, murders, treason, torture, incest, arson, blooming love and a ghastly toothache. Marston's colorful (and convincing) characterizations shine as Nicholas chases the secrets of the murder in order to save the company. The plot, except for one transparently finagled episode, is expertly wrought, with the suspense building steadily to a breathtaking climax and some surprises saved for the very end. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Description:
The mysterious Simon Chaloner appears at the Queen’s Head Pub following a performance by Lord Westfield’s Men, a leading Elizabethan company of players. Then Chaloner follows producer Nicholas Bracewell and playwright Edmund Hoode home and gives them each a manuscript called The Roaring Boy, a drama based on events surrounding the murder of a mathematician.
When Bracewell and Hoode stage the play, the performance causes a riot, sending Hoode to prison. In order to save his men, Bracewell must solve two murders—one being that on which the play is based. Brimful of period and theatrical detail, this seventh-in-series novel won a 1996 Edgar Allan Poe Award nomination.
Amazon.com Review
This is the seventh in the series of Elizabethan theater mysteries featuring Nicholas Bracewell. A mysterious stranger named Simon Chaloner appears at the Queen's Head Pub following a performance by Westfield's Men, one of the leading theater companies. Chaloner follows Nicholas Bracewell and playwright Edmund Hoode home and gives them a manuscript called The Roaring Boy, based on events surrounding the murder of a mathematician. When Bracewell and Hoode stage the play, the performance causes a riot, and Hoode is imprisoned. In order to save his company, Bracewell must solve the vicious murder on which the play is based. A finalist for the Edgar Award, this, like Marston's other works, is filled with careful period detail as well as suspense.
From Publishers Weekly
As Marston's seventh excellent Elizabethan theater mystery (after The Silent Woman) opens, Lord Westfield's Men are performing in the yard of the Queen's Head when the lead character misses his cue. It's not stage fright: he's dead. Nicholas Bracewell, book holder and sleuth, devises an ingenious way to finish the show, but the company needs a new play fast. A mysterious manuscript called The Roaring Boy arrives; based on a recent scandalous murder, it argues that justice miscarried horribly in the case. From the moment they decide to stage the play, Nicholas and his troupe are embroiled in a real-life drama involving beatings, murders, treason, torture, incest, arson, blooming love and a ghastly toothache. Marston's colorful (and convincing) characterizations shine as Nicholas chases the secrets of the murder in order to save the company. The plot, except for one transparently finagled episode, is expertly wrought, with the suspense building steadily to a breathtaking climax and some surprises saved for the very end.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.