Published By: Bullington Press
Pages: 336
Released On: 25/04/2024
DC Toby Marlowe has just landed his dream posting but the quiet streets of Shakespeare’s Stratford are about to suffer a reign of terror. A name from the past has returned, intent on revenge. A series of murders go unsolved but Toby realises that the killer seems to be following the plot of Hamlet.
Can Toby and his boss, DS Fred Williams, find the killer before all the actors at the RSC are dead?
*****
Thanks to Publicist Laura Lees for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
In the immortal words of Patricia Hodge in BBC’s Miranda, this is “SUCH FUN!”
One of the reviews on the back of the book said it was like Dexter meets Shakespeare. Now, I haven’t watched Dexter but I do know of it, and I have watched the likes of Midsomer Murders, Lewis, Morse etc. and there is very much a feeling of that which I loved.
The main antagonist is called Oliver Lawrence – is this a play on the great Lawrence Olivier? Or am I overthinking things?
The characters are great. In a way, they’re very pantomime-y characters, but I mean that in the best possible way. Guy has given me everything I want from a small-town police force, from a wronged actor, and of pompous big-headed stars. All of their characteristics are dialled up and that’s what holds this story, I think. I read it with such a grin on my face, and I think that’s because how fabulous his characters are. It is a mainly male story. Set in the 70s, the police force was bound to be mostly, if not all, male, top journalists probably would have been male, and the chauvinistic stage actors too. It made sense within the time period of the story but if you are after a more balanced cast list, then you may have to rethink your desires, as it is high in testosterone. But I think it really worked.
It is a good length book, with very short chapters, which is a real bonus for me as I love a short chapter.
There were a few moments when the dialogue gets a bit stilted, a bit unnatural, but only on occasion and it didn’t much hinder the enjoyment of the story.
I have been to Stratford-Upon-Avon once, many many years ago, so it was lovely to read the description of the place, memories coming back to me of Shakespeare’s home and whatnot. And it’s really peaked my want to go back.
It was really bizarre to read a murder mystery when you already know who the murderer is. The police are playing catch up to everything the reader knows, which puts us in a fantastic and unique position. This book isn’t about the who or why or where and what of the murder, we know all that. This is about how to get away with it, and how to solve it.
It is quite gruesome. Not explicitly so, and not all the time, but Guy hasn’t left anything out. Our antagonist is hellbent on revenge and he’s doing it in the most theatrical way possible.
All I could think when I was reading it, was it was just so much fun, which isn’t the norm for murder mystery thrillers. It is entertaining, enjoyable, intriguing, tense, and, surprisingly, enormously funny. I would kill (pun most definitely intended) for a sequel, like, right now!
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