Mask of Night

Another clever criminal plunge into historyGuardian

Elizabeth I approaches the end of her illustrious reign, the plague is raging in London, and the Privy Council has ordered the theaters closed. Still, author Philip Goodens fifth novel in the popular Shakespearean series brings us a great mystery as actor-sleuth Nick Revill and the Chamberlains Men travel to Oxford, where a local physician, Dr. Hugh Fern, has commissioned a private performance of Romeo and Juliet.

While Ferns motive is obscure-an attempt to reconcile two feuding families to the prospect of a marriage, perhaps; or maybe simply a ploy to get himself a role in the production-his fate is not. Indeed, he is decidedly dead, when his body is discovered during a performance at the Golden Cross Inn. No matter that the deceased lies inside a locked room or that the pestilence has followed the Chamberlain troupe from London, Revill is convinced Fern has not succumbed to natural causes.

Nor is Ferns death the only one that rouses Revills suspicions. The mysteries multiply as a strange band of men in cowls patrols the town at night, a simple carter meets a baffling end, and a corpse changes its shoes.

The fifth Shakespearean murder mystery in the Nick Revill series, set during the reign of the formidable Elizabeth I.

Praise for Philip Gooden:

Highly entertainingSunday Times

The witty narrative, laced with puns and word play so popular in this period, makes this an enjoyable racy taleSunday Telegraph

The book has much in common with the film Shakespeare in Love - full of colourful characters . . . but the book has an underlying darknessCrime Time

Historical mystery fans are in for a treatPublishers Weekly