Much Ado About Murder [Hardcover]

Anne Perry (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 3, 2002

A stellar cast of today's finest mystery authors have come up with rapier-sharp mystery stories-inspired by Shakespeare's life, times, and works. Each story in this collection offers murderous intrigue worthy of the Bard himself, assuring us that Shakespeare lives on...and that the rest of us are quite mortal indeed.

Includes stories by:

Jeffery Deaver
Carole Nelson Douglas
Robert Barnard
Sharan Newman
Gillian Linscott
Lillian Stewart Carl
Marcia Talley
Edward Marston
Simon Brett
Brendan Dubois
Margaret Frazer
Edward D. Hoch
Kathy Lynn Emerson
P.C. Doherty
Peter Robinson
Peter Treymayne
Anne Perry

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If it's true, as some wags have it, that there are only five plots in literature (and life), surely Shakespeare told them all. In Much Ado About Murder Anne Perry has rounded up 17 variations on his themes, in short stories that range in time and place from Jacobean London to the royal court of France, and from Plantagenet England to the Rome of Coriolanus. The authors of these carefully observed tales have already proven their talents in a host of more contemporary thrillers, although Perry herself is best known for her Victorian mysteries featuring William Monk, and Sharan Newman, a medieval historian, is comfortably at home in 12th-century France and late-Roman Britain. Aficionados of the Bard of Avon will find much to enjoy in this spirited collection, and even those with only a smattering of Shakespearean knowledge will find the themes timeless enough to ignore the authors' occasional anachronisms. --Jane Adams

About the Author

Anne Perry's first novel was The Carter Street Hangman, which came out in 1979. Since then she has authored a number of bestselling titles including The Twisted Root, Half Moon Street, and Bedford Square.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover; 1st edition (December 3, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425186504
• ISBN-13: 978-0425186503
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,892,048 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Shakespearean Capers, February 6, 2003

By 

charles falk (Novato, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Much Ado About Murder (Hardcover)

Much Ado About Murder is a collection of seventeen mystery stories stiched together by the common thread of Shakespeare's plays. All were written especially for this anthology edited by Anne Perry. Some put new twists on characters or plots lifted from the plays while others are about the actors performing the plays or about the Bard himself.

In the former category, Marcia Talley tells a humorous tale starring the three witches from Macbeth. In the title story, Kathy Lynn Emerson transports Beatrice and Benedict from Padua to Bloody Mary's England for an adventure. Lillian Stewart Carl has Twlth Night's Duke Orsini send Viola/Cesario to Olivia's castle as a spy rather than an intermediary. Posing as a kitchen maid, she solves the poisoning of Olivia's brother. The Tempest, Henry V and VI, Hamlet, and Anthony and Cleopatra serve as launch pads for other writers' imaginings.

In the latter category, my favorite is P C Doherty's The Sperpent's Tooth which offers an interesting answer to the puzzle of Shakespeare's death and his epitaph. Also enjoyable is Peter Tremayne's Elizabethan sleuth, Master Hardy Drew, solving the murder of an actor in the first production of Henry V. Perry herself contributes a mystery set in a Victorian production of Othello.

The only story that seems out of place is Richard's Children by Brendan DuBois. It's connection to Richard III is tenuous and the plot belongs with the likes of Robert Ludlum.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ah, Brave New Book That Has Such Stories In't!, January 29, 2003

By 

D. Bell "Imzadi" (Olney, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Much Ado About Murder (Hardcover)

Kudos, applause, and a standing ovation for Anne Perry and this fantastic book of short stories. There are so many truly unique and amazing stories that it's hard to choose which is best. Some involve actual Shakespearean plots, including two of the funniest: Too Many Cooks, which is a hilarious take on Macbeth from the point of view of the three Weird Sisters, and The Fall of the House of Oldenbourg, which will assure that you never think of Hamlet the same way again. Those Are Pearls That Were His Eyes combines characters from The Tempest with Portia & her husband Bassanio of The Merchant of Venice as the most brilliant and beautiful Doctor of Laws solves a murder with Caliban as the accused. The beautiful Viola (disguised as Caesario disguised as Viola--shades of Victor/Victoria and Shakespeare in Love!) solves the murder of Olivia's brother in A Dish of Poison. Even two of the lesser known plays, Cymbeline and Measure for Measure feature in the stories. Some, like Anne Perry's excellent Ere I Killed Thee, deal with the players who perform these works. The bard himself appears in several of the stories, including Exit, Followed. . .and All the World's a Stage, and his death is investigated in The Serpent's Tooth. And Richard's Children can only be described as chilling. I wish that there had been stories based on Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, and Midsummer's Night's Dream, but perhaps there will be a volume 2. One can only hope. This is a fantastic book for mystery lovers and for Shakespeare lovers, but heaven for those who, like myself, love them both. Buy it, read it, and recommend it to your friends!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Could have been a lot better!, April 21, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Much Ado About Murder (Hardcover)

For anyone who has read any of the other historical mystery anthologies, this latest will seem weak in comparison. I'm trying to recall at least one story that stood out from the rest...can't do it!