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The Vagabond Clown: An Elizabethan Theater Mystery Featuring Nicholas Bracewell

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The Westfield's Men acting troupe consider themselves very lucky while in London to be based at The Queen's Head Inn. It has an enclosed yard that is perfect as an outdoor theatre and it even has balconies for the aristocrats and wealthy merchants that want to attend a play without mingling with the common folk. When a riot breaks out during a play they are giving, one of their star performers is injured and a man in the balcony is murdered. It is clear to all that someone wanted to use the riot as a diversion for the killing.

The proprietor of the Queen's Head throws out the actors forcing them to take to the road. They hire a substitute player temporarily until the injured actor is ready to perform again. However, every place they stop they are welcomed by villains who try to sabotage their performances. At one stopover, a player is killed and Nicholas Bracewell, the book holder and the glue that keeps the company together, realizes somebody is out to destroy the company and he intends to stop them.

Readers are privy to what happens behind the scenes in a traveling troupe's entourage. Westfield's Men are a diverse lot of actors who are at times act petty and argumentative but are at the same time loyal to one another and the troupe as a whole. They love to act and it shows in the risks they take but it is Nicholas Bracewell, a hired hand, who manages to rise above the ensemble to make Westfield's Men one of the best acting troupes in Elizabethan England.

Harriet Klausner

Edward Marston is the pseudonym of Keith Miles, a fairly prolific and extremely good writer of mainly Elizabethan and medieval mysteries. He has also written mysteries under his own name with both sporting and golf backgrounds. However it is primarily the books that take place earlier in history that I am interested in. He read modern history at Oxford and has had many jobs, including university lecturer, but fortunately for all his readers, he turned to the writing profession.

Regular reader's of the series will know that Lord Westfield's Men are probably the most accident prone troupe of actors that ever went on a stage and it is always the company's stage manager Nicholas Bracewell who has to untangle the web of intrigue that seem to follow them wherever they go. Once again they have been struck by an unexpected disaster. A melee caused by men in disguise is brought under control, but before the troupe can attempt to recover what they can of their damaged set, Nicholas discovers a body in the stands. A body with a knife sticking out of its back . . .

The author's love for the Elizabethan theatre comes shining through this series of books. Plus his knowledge of the period fills the pages with authenticity and the sights and sounds of the streets and inns of Elizabethan London.

"The Vagabond Clown" is the latest in the Edward Marston series ("An Elizabethan Theater Mystery Featuring Nicholas Bracewell") and the author continues to maintain his
flair for the dramatic!

Once again, Westfield's Men, in which Nicholas is the stagemanager "and all around performer of miracles," find themselves in a lot of trouble! Owing to a devastating
brawl during one of their performances at the Queen's Head Inn, the troupe has to exit stage out-of-town, as so much damage has been done to the Inn and their stage proprieties,
there is nothing left for them but to head to Kent to recoup their losses. A major injury to the players is that Barnaby Gill, their erstwhile clown, was injured (a broken leg) in the
melee.

Alas, during said brawl a young man is found dead in the bleachers, a dagger sticking out of his back. Nick and his colleagues know this is murder but cannot imagine
how it relates to them.

But without a clown, the players know they cannot go on. Thus, when Nick recommends one Giddy Mussett, everyone stares askance at the suggestion. Giddy is known as a brawler, a drinker, and a lecher! He is also in debtors prison. After securing his release--and his promise to be on good behavior--Westfield's Men head for the country.

And while the show must go on, it goes with much ado about murder and more mayhem. Someone is out to destroy the players. And not far into their tour, Giddy is found
murdered. It is for Nick to figure all this out.

Marston, of course, takes us though the paces and by the final curtain, all's well that ends well. It goes without saying, particularly if you'ver ead any of this series, that
Westfield's Men save the day.

The author does an excellent job of staying in character--his historical mysteries also include The Domesday Book Series--and "The Vagabond Clown" is no exception. It's light,
fun reading, especially if one likes historical whodunits. (Billyjhobbs@tyler.net)

Edward Marston is a well regarded writer, known for his series featuring detective-actor Nicholas Bracewell. His latest novel, The Vagabond Clown, seems at first to be a light-hearted book based in the Elizabethan period. However, the ending of the novel has a surprising twist that demonizes Catholics.

Marston depicts Catholic villains who feel entitled to murder and torture anyone who insults their religion on the public stage. They are painted as broad brush representatives of all Catholics and depicted as members of a great conspiracy, spies for the pope, thieves, murderers, smugglers, etc. Admittedly, many Elizabethans might have believed this, but bigotry need not be replicated in a contemporary historical novel without the necessity of offering some kind of balanced viewpoint to counter it. To do otherwise is to reinforce a previous era's stereotypes and thus add fuel to the fires of religious or racial intolerance.

Instead, the author fans scurrilous flames in the voice of his hero. Nicholas Bracewell opines that, when the "truth" comes out, it will "shake" others' "faith" in the Catholic religion and lead them to abjure their religion. He again trots out "truth" as a defense for libel, when Bracewell asserts that the plays merely "laid bare the iniquities of Popery."

Excuse me, but I assumed that kind of pap went out with Guy Fawkes Day lynchings!