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Overview
“A feverishly paced action adventure” (The New York Times) about a long-lost Shakespeare work and a killer who reenacts the Bard’s most bloody murders
Jennifer Lee Carrell’s highly acclaimed debut novel is a brilliant, breathlessly paced literary adventure. The action begins on the eve of the Globe’s production of Hamlet when Shakespeare scholar and theater director Kate Stanley’s eccentric mentor Rosalind Howard gives her a mysterious box, claiming to have made a groundbreaking discovery. Before she can reveal it to Kate, the Globe is burned to the ground and Roz is found dead…murdered precisely in the manner of Hamlet’s father.
Inside the box Kate finds the first piece in a Shakespearean puzzle, setting her on a deadly, highstakes treasure hunt. From London to Harvard to the American West, Kate races to evade a killer and solve a tantalizing string of clues hidden in the words of Shakespeare, which may unlock one of history’s greatest secrets.
Synopsis
“A feverishly paced action adventure” (The New York Times) about a long-lost Shakespeare work and a killer who reenacts the Bard's most bloody murders
Jennifer Lee Carrell's highly acclaimed debut novel is a brilliant, breathlessly paced literary adventure. The action begins on the eve of the Globe's production of Hamlet when Shakespeare scholar and theater director Kate Stanley's eccentric mentor Rosalind Howard gives her a mysterious box, claiming to have made a groundbreaking discovery. Before she can reveal it to Kate, the Globe is burned to the ground and Roz is found dead…murdered precisely in the manner of Hamlet's father.
Inside the box Kate finds the first piece in a Shakespearean puzzle, setting her on a deadly, highstakes treasure hunt. From London to Harvard to the American West, Kate races to evade a killer and solve a tantalizing string of clues hidden in the words of Shakespeare, which may unlock one of history's greatest secrets.
Publishers Weekly
It's not McNenny's fault that Carrell's thriller, hinging on the burning of the Globe Theater in 1613, turns out to be much ado about nothing. McNenny reads at a heart-thumping pace, which is perfect for Kate Stanley, a theater director and former scholar, who is both chasing the past and being pursued by killers in the present. McNenny's performance gives Kate the right combination of brainy sleuthing and brainless commitment to a dangerous investigation. She does not fare as well with the other characters, especially the men. In particular, a London inspector in charge of the murder case of Kate's Harvard mentor sounds Indian or Pakistani, even though he is from the Caribbean. Listeners will ignore the peccadilloes as they are caught up in Kate's breathless trips from London to Cambridge and even the West Coast. For those interested in this popular genre of Shakespeare revised and revisited, the catchy plot and McNenny's exuberant performance are both gripping and vastly entertaining. Simultaneous release with the Dutton hardcover (Reviews, July 16). (Sept.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business InformationEditorials
From Barnes & Noble
Jennifer Lee Carrell's debut novel straps readers into an adrenaline-drenched international chase in search of murderers and long-lost Shakespearean manuscripts. At the vortex of the whirlwind hunt is Elizabethan literature specialist Kate Stanley, an unlikely, if likeable heroine if there ever was one. In hardcover, this fast-paced action mystery thriller won reader plaudits and critics raves; in paperback, we anticipate long sustained encores. A fun, edge-of-your-seat read.Publishers Weekly
It's not McNenny's fault that Carrell's thriller, hinging on the burning of the Globe Theater in 1613, turns out to be much ado about nothing. McNenny reads at a heart-thumping pace, which is perfect for Kate Stanley, a theater director and former scholar, who is both chasing the past and being pursued by killers in the present. McNenny's performance gives Kate the right combination of brainy sleuthing and brainless commitment to a dangerous investigation. She does not fare as well with the other characters, especially the men. In particular, a London inspector in charge of the murder case of Kate's Harvard mentor sounds Indian or Pakistani, even though he is from the Caribbean. Listeners will ignore the peccadilloes as they are caught up in Kate's breathless trips from London to Cambridge and even the West Coast. For those interested in this popular genre of Shakespeare revised and revisited, the catchy plot and McNenny's exuberant performance are both gripping and vastly entertaining. Simultaneous release with the Dutton hardcover (Reviews, July 16). (Sept.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business InformationNewsweek
This debut mystery kicks off with quite a bang...the author never lets her pace sag as the story's roots reach back to Shakepeare's time. High-class fun.USA Today
[A] smart...notable debut literary thriller.Library Journal
At first, this debut novel seems to be a moderately paced historical "what if," but it rapidly turns into a transcontinental "whodunit." The murder of a Shakespearean scholar at a new production of Hamletis tied to a small box that has its own Pandora-like qualities for its receiver, director Kate Stanley. With the lure of a lost Shakespeare play and clues from his classic works, the book belongs to the same genre as Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Codeand the movie National Treasureand became a New York Timesbest seller upon its release last fall. It's a solid follow-up to Shakespeare scholar Carrell's The Speckled Monster, a study of the fight against smallpox that won Carrell the acclaimed Discover Great New Writers label from Barnes & Noble. The audio is read well by Kathleen McNenny and should find an audience in most public libraries. Recommended.
—Joyce Kessel