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Time's Fool

A Mystery of Shakespeare

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About this listen

 Welcome to Shakespeare's London, a world where the stage captures the hearts of every citizen, where darkness hides dangerous and vengeful creatures. It is in the darkness that Shakespeare finds himself the victim of treachery most foul. When Shakespeare is contacted by his dark mistress, the former love of his life, he is excited to see her again after so long a separation. Much to his horror, he finds that the years have not been kind; she is now disease-ridden and near death, and she intends to blackmail him, threatening to expose their affair to the world unless he pays her considerable doctors' bills. A sudden fire takes her life, and the only witness who viewed the arsonist is violently murdered. Shakespeare is the primary suspect. Out on bail, he desperately races to uncover the truth behind the murder.©2004 Leonard Tourney (P)2005 Blackstone Audiobooks Mystery Traditional Detectives Fiction Detective Heartfelt

Critic reviews

"Mr. Tourney seems to have a good understanding of his scenery, and his dialogue has a nice unmannered period feel. He gives us just enough of a sixteenth-century culture to establish the appropriate tone." ( New Yorker)
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It is clear that the author has read his bard. However, there were significant weaknesses that detracted from the book. For example:
‘A smile that a hangman might use before he wields his axe’ was a contradiction in terms, that should have edited.

There are lots of expressions drawn from the works that will be familiar, but this does become a little tired long before the book’s conclusion. I also found the plot frustrating in that there was no mention of the main character sleeping at Cecil’s house on the night the message to the murdered boy was delivered, or of the bodyguards finding Shakespeare in a room locked from the outside, in the scene of his arraignment before the magistrate. This should have been an obvious defence but was ignored in favour of creating a more tortuous plot line and delaying the final unveiling.

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