A Tip for the Hangman

December 21, 2020
Epstein’s diverting debut gallivants through Elizabethan England clutching the breeches of playwright Christopher Marlowe, here in service to the queen as a spy. Kit, as Marlowe is called, is rarely caught writing his “mighty line.” He’s too deep into espionage, uncovering Catholic conspiracies. Having infiltrated the household of Mary, Queen of Scots and foiling the Babington Plot, Kit has a crisis of conscience over Mary’s execution. After he is caught spying by Catholic rebels, he gets out of the jam by claiming to be a double agent working on their behalf, then travels to the Netherlands to counterfeit gold coin for the Catholic cause. His Protestant minders track and arrest all involved, but while Kit’s treasonous friends go to the gallows, he is set free. Epstein takes liberties with Kit’s ultimate fate (the circumstances of his murder remain disputed), but in Kit she also creates a Marlowe too all-over-the-map to be plausible. Kit’s lover, Tom, accuses him of seeking out danger, but rapid-fire POV changes necessary to advance the action-packed plot prevent the reader from getting a full sense of him, and the romance passages are the stuff of bodice rippers. Still, it’s a fun escapade.

James Meunier's fluent narration of this reimagining of the shadowy life and violent death of Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe brings out the best features of this first novel. Was Marlowe, while at Cambridge, recruited for Queen Elizabeth's secret service? Did he pose as a footman in Mary Stuart's service during the Scottish queen's house arrest and break the coded letters that condemned her? Listeners familiar with the era and the rich period detail of a novelist like Hilary Mantel may find Epstein's narrative thin brew. But the animating power of Meunier's narration gives her story credibility and conviction, and draws the listener chapter by chapter into one of the great mysteries of literary history. D.A.W. � AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine