Slicing Edge of Death Pb [Paperback]

Judith Cook (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 9, 1994

On 30th May 1593 the body of a young man was found in a room in a house in Deptford, stabbed through the eye. He was the playwright Christopher Marlowe This is a fictionalized account of a true story set against the background of the theatres, stews and alleyways of the Bankside.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Published as a mystery, this historical novel offers a fictional explanation for the death of Elizabethan playwright and poet, Christopher Marlowe. Cook expands on real-life theories that connect Marlowe's violent death with covert missions he carried out as an agent for Francis Walsingham, one of the queen's ministers. By his late 20s, Marlowe is a model of indiscretion, subject to accusations of homosexuality, atheism and blasphemy. When Francis suffers a stroke, his brother Thomas, who is Marlowe's patron and sometime lover, cannot protect the hard-drinking, loose-tongued agent from William Cecil, Francis's successor. The plot works its way relentlessly toward murder as Cecil sets his men on Marlowe, looking for a convenient way to destroy him. With cool indifference, Cecil also has playwright Thomas Kyd imprisoned and tortured to extract incriminating evidence. Cook's reconstruction is meticulous but ultimately flat. An authority on Elizabethan England, she fictionally reconstructs the mechanics of Marlowe's death, but fails to explore Marlowe's more novelistically interesting inner demons.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This retelling of and fictional solution to the death of Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe does more than rehash an old mystery. The author so vividly evokes a bygone age that readers can almost smell the odors of cheap wine and unwashed clothing in the sordid taverns Marlowe frequents, hear the death knells tolling the onslaught of the plague, and feel the anguish of the characters. Cook, herself a dramatist and author of several books on Elizabethan theater, has so mixed actual historical events with the fictional action that it's easy to forget this is a novel, especially since references to the plague give it an almost surreal tone. (The appendix distinguishing between invented characters and those who actually lived proves most helpful.) For general readers; scholars may find it a bit too broad.
- M.E. Chitty, Fairchilde International Lib. Inst., Plainfield. N.J.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books (December 9, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671715909
• ISBN-13: 978-0671715908
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,560,259 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Plausible Hypothesis, March 16, 2000

By 

Kevin L. Nenstiel "omnivore" (Kearney, Nebraska) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Slicing Edge of Death (Hardcover)

It's hard to say if the hypothesis Judith Cook puts forward for the death of Shakespeare's contemporary Christopher Marlowe is true, but it's definitely plausible. Marlowe was a great playwrite -- if he hadn't died young, he may well have exceeded Shakespeare in the modern English-lauguage canon -- and his early, violent death was a blow to literature. If even half of what Cook posits as possible reasons and modes of his death are true, the man was an early model of James Bond, and it's very edifying to think this might be how the man died.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cook makes a convincing case!, April 26, 2000

By 

Billy J. Hobbs "Bill Hobbs" (Tyler, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Slicing Edge of Death (Hardcover)

In "The Slicing Edge of Death," author Judith Cook takes another look at the death of Christopher Marlowe, and in so doing, naturally, adds another segment into the death of this renowned Elizabethan playwright. Long one of England's perplexing mysteries, Marlowe's murder has brought more than a few theories as to the real reason for his death, much of it to do with one conspiracy or another.

Officially, Marlowe's demise was ruled as "death by brawl" by the Queen's coroner in 1593. However, centuries later, the controversy--even confusion--continues. And historians and novelists have attempted to solve this historical conundrum. Judith Cook's version is well-written and documented, yet, as she maintains, her work is fiction. Still, the author's style of writing and her ability to keep the reader in tow are to her credit. Assembling a cast of real and imaginary characters, Cook takes us to this ultimate date (May 30) in a systematic, yet absorbing, manner. The

reader will not want to stray from its pages for long!

"There was no reason why anyone, least of all William Bradley, should have known that 18 September 1589 was to be the lasts day of his life." Thus begins this "roman a clef"--a great narrative hook sure to snare even the most skeptic of readers. Thus, in chapter one we meet Christopher (Kit) Marlowe, playwright and poet extraordinaire, involved in one of his notorious street brawls. Marlowe's predilection for such behavior, as well as for his brilliant plays ("Tambourlaine," "The Jew of Malta," "Edward II," and "Dr. Faustus," principally) and poetry. A contemporary--and some say rival, of Shakespeare, Marlowe's short life was filled with not only his brilliance but his controversial--even for the Elizabethans!--lifestyle. In addition, the author downplays the "rivalry" between him and Shakespeare, which really is unimportant in this work. It is documented, too, that Marlowe had been in the employ of the Queen's secret service and had, indeed, worked on a number of cases involving the gathering of secret intelligence for the government.

In this book, the author uses Marlowe as a man who enters--and often exits-- the lives of her other characters. It is through the eyes of these characters that we view much of Marlowe, although he, himself, certainly plays a large--and vital--role. The environment we are introduced to is that of the world of the players, the actors and producers of the theatre. During this time, of course, London is visited by the plague, intense court intrigue, and other subterfuge. All these elements combine to make "The Slicing Edge of Death" compelling reading, especially for those readers interested in history stories. Judith Cook has made her version quite readable, plausible, and satisfying....