Dark Entry Paperback – 1 April 2012

It's Cambridge, 1583, in the early years of the Elizabethan Age. And it's Christopher Marlowe. And it's a historical whodunit. Could there be a more exciting time or a more exciting hero? Possibly, but M.J. Trow has done a convincing job of making us believe so in his first episode of a series set in this period. In "Dark Entry" we are introduced to "Kit" Marlowe and his Corpus Christi College classmates at that august, venerable university. But "something's rotten" (to borrow a phrase of a Marlowe contemporary" on campus--in fact, more than merely "rotten," it's murder most royal and mayhem surely must follow! It does and Trow presents us with the genius that was Marlowe's, who sets out to find why two of his close friends and classmates have been found dead. In addition, another body was found in the River Cam. The coroner has pronounced them as "suicide," "accidental", and "death by drowning," but Marlowe is suspicious. He senses that the three have been murdered and all three deaths are related. He sets out to find the guilty. Along the way he is aided by his two remaining classmate friends and his patron Sir Roger Manwood and the Queen's magus himself, Dr. John Dee. Trow shows a fine hand in developing his characters as the book progresses. Too, the author displays a respectable hand with his research into both the times and the university. Commendable and readable, indeed. Needless to say, Marlowe triumphs (It's a historical murder mystery and they HAVE to be solved, so that comes as no surprise)--not only with finding the murderer but setting himself up for following books. I look forward to reading the remainder (five in all, at the present time).

Due to the price of the item I found the cover to be tatty and bent. I would have expected it to be better

A great story, fun with a real feel for the characters, and some chilling parts that will make the ha