A Prisoner in Malta
A Christopher Marlowe Mystery
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
In 1583, the nineteen-year-old Christopher Marlowe---with a reputation as a brawler, a womanizer, a genius, and a social upstart at Cambridge University---is visited by a man representing Marlowe's benefactors. There are rumors of a growing plot against her majesty Queen Elizabeth I, and the Queen's spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, has charged young Marlowe with tracking down the truth. The path to that truth seems to run through an enigmatic prisoner held in complete seclusion in a heavily guarded dungeon in Malta. Marlowe must use every bit of his wits, his skills, and his daring to unravel one of the greatest mysteries in history and help uncover and unravel scheme of assassination and invasion, one involving the government of Spain, high ranking English nobles, and even Pope himself.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Edgar-winner DePoy transforms playwright Christopher Marlowe into a swashbuckling action hero in this solid first in a new historical series. In 1583, the 19-year-old Marlowe, a student at Cambridge, is pulled away from his studies by a close friend, Dr. Rodrigo Lopez, on the orders of Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth I's spymaster. Walsingham wants the teenager's help in saving England "from deceit of the highest magnitude." Catholic conspirators plan to topple the queen, but Walsingham's only source of vital information for thwarting them is an Englishman held prisoner in Malta. Marlowe and Lopez undertake the dangerous assignment, even as a warrant has been issued for Marlowe's arrest for murdering a fellow student reputed to be a bully. Witnesses saw Marlowe arguing with the dead man, Walter Pygott, and the corpse was found concealed in his rooms. DePoy piles on the twists and introduces some humor into the tense story line, which should find favor with Susannah Gregory readers.
