The Reckoning - The Murder of Christopher Marlowe (Paperback, Revised Ed)

The most riveting book I have read this year has been The Reckoning by Charles Nicholl, about the circumstances surrounding the death, at the age of 29, of Christopher Marlowe, the colourful controversial Elizabethan dramatist who was second only to Shakespeare. It is as gripping as any detective story. The reckoning of the title is the dispute over a bill for a tavern meal, between Marlowe and his friends, which was officially put out as the cause of his fatal stabbing. Nicholl, however, has an alternative explanation, and a fascinating one it is. He plunges us into a world of Elizabethan intrigue, of crime and espionage, of double-dealing and treble-dealing. The murky underside of the English Renaissance is brilliantly exposed in this unputdownable account of Marlowe's murder. Review by Keith Waterhouse (Kirkus UK)

The Reckoning is the first full-length investigation of the killing, tracing Marlowe's shadowy political dealings, his involvement in covert intelligence work, and the charges of heresy and homosexuality against him. Critical new evidence is uncovered about his three companions on that last day in Deptford, and about the sinister role of the informer Richard Baines. But more than that, The Reckoning is an enthralling revelation of the whole extraordinary underworld of Elizabethan crime and espionage, a 'secret theatre' in which nearly every historical figure familiar to us, from hack poet to queen's high minister, seems to have played a part.

Here, in a tour-de-force of precise scholarship and dazzling ingenuity, Charles Nicholl penetrates four centuries of obscurity to expose not only a complex and unsettling story of entrapment and betrayal, chimerical plots and sordid felonics, but also a fascinating vision of the underside of an entire culture.

General

Imprint:	Vintage
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	October 2002
Authors:	Charles Nicholl
Dimensions:	198 x 129 x 33mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - B-format
Pages:	608
Edition:	Revised Ed
ISBN-13:	978-0-09-943747-5
Categories:	Books > Language & Literature > Biography & autobiography > General Books > Humanities > History > World history > 1500 to 1750 Books > Humanities > History > British & Irish history > General Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Crime & criminology > General Books > History > British & Irish history > General Books > History > World history > 1500 to 1750 Books > Biography > General Promotions
LSN:	0-09-943747-3
Barcode:	9780099437475

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