Queen's Progress

February 15, 2015
The Civil War has ended, but the country's optimism is short-lived, cut short when Lincoln is assassinated by actor John Wilkes Booth. Present at Ford's Theater that fateful evening is military officer Matthew Grand, who pursues Booth as he flees the crime scene. Booth escapes, but Grand encounters a mysterious man in the alley behind the theater and assumes he is Booth's accomplice. He loses the man in the dark streets but soon learns that he may have escaped to London. While Booth is shot dead, and his coconspirators are sentenced to hang, Grand travels to London to track down the mystery man. There he meets ambitious young journalist James Batchelor, who is determined to find the vicious killer who's strangling young prostitutes in London's Haymarket. Working on what at first seem like two very different cases, Grand and Batchelor soon realize that Booth's mysterious accomplice and the murderer dubbed the Haymarket Strangler may, in fact, be one and the same. Solid writing, an imaginative plot, authentic period detail, and two intriguing main characters make this first installment in Trow's latest historical mystery series an entertaining and unusual read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

May 1, 2018
Renowned sixteenth-century British writer Christopher (Kit) Marlowe has a play in his head, and he's desperate to get it down on paper. But Sir Robert Cecil, the queen's spymaster, has other ideas. Queen Elizabeth is organizing one of her famous progresses, and Cecil wants Kit to plan the route in detail and confirm at which country estates Her Majesty will stay on the tour. Checking out the route, Kit stops first at Farnham, where a body is tossed from a parapet. Of course, the queen can't possibly stay in a house tainted by murder, so Kit heads off to the Montague estate at Cowdray?only to be greeted by more tragedy. It seems as if someone is trying to rule out all the queen's proposed destinations. But why? Is there a papist plot afoot? A peasant uprising? A rebellion by Elizabeth's enemies? Kit can't be sure, so he devises a devilishly clever charade to draw out the enemy. Realistic period details, a lively and often humorous plot, and a dashing and likable hero make for another engaging entry in this fine historical-mystery series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

Starred review from June 4, 2018
Set in 1591, Trow’s dazzling ninth Kit Marlowe mystery (after 2017’s Eleventh Hour) sends playwright and spy Marlowe into the English countryside to help make arrangements for the aging Elizabeth I’s forthcoming royal progress, during which she will visit various loyal subjects wealthy enough to host her. But his true mission is to make sure that the queen will be in safe hands during the progress—and that turns out to be very much in doubt; this was a time of many Catholic plots against the throne, and some of the queen’s subjects are anything but loyal. Indeed, “if Her Majesty had invited herself to the Vatican, she couldn’t be in more danger,” says Tom Sledd, the stage manager at the Rose Theatre who’s Marlow’s garrulous number two in spycraft. As the conspiracy unfolds, the surprises that come with it are very well sprung. Real figures, ranging from the “wizard earl” of Northumberland to “Will Shaxsper,” add to the fun. A rich and imaginative story line, leavened with humor, sets this at the forefront of Tudor historicals.