Review: Eleventh Hour

Title: Eleventh Hour (Kit Marlowe #8)

Author: M.J. Trow

Publisher: 1 July  2017 Severn House Digital 

Pages: 336 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre:  historical fiction, mystery, Tudor

My Rating: 3.5 cups

Synopsis:

1590. The queen's spymaster is dead. Nicholas Faunt, believes he was poisoned and has ordered Kit Marlowe to discover who killed him. Marlowe consults the leading scientists and thinkers in the country, but is convinced that someone is hiding a deadly secret. To outwit the killer, Marlowe must devise an impossibly ingenious plan.

My Thoughts

‘Sir Francis Walsingham is dead.’ There was no point in trying to break it any other way than directly. Dee had to swallow his cry of surprise. ‘What?’ he mouthed. ‘When? How?’ Marlowe shrugged. ‘When? Two days ago at the eleventh hour. As to how, it depends on whom you ask,’

I was attracted to this book on a number of bases - Tudor, playwrights and mystery! What a great idea to make a twist and propose Walsingham died perchance from sinister means rather than of natural causes! Sign me up!

What I failed to note, however, was that this was book eight in a series. Luckily they are indeed standalone and Trow’s writing of both person and place was well done. I found Kit Marlowe to be a fabulous lead character, such charisma and delightful in his detective role. Assigned the job of hunting for the truth, an array of famous characters cross his path in his search to unveil the villain. I loved Trow’s portrayal of many of these notable Tudor characters; of particular note is the fun way he presented William Shakespeare. So many famous characters Trow brings vividly to life in this classic whodunit.              

         

‘You are the School of Night,’ Marlowe began.

One of you in this room killed the Queen’s Spymaster. I intend to find out who.’

Problems arise for me because no one was as strong as Marlowe in engaging the reader, and at times I found the plot to be a little confusing. I also found the inclusion of a supernatural element a little out of order. However, if you are a fan of this series, you will undoubtedly be delighted with this latest instalment, embarking with Kit Marlowe on another famous adventure. 

“You have a knack for these things,’ he said. ‘A nose for treachery –and I mean that in the nicest possible way. I want to know what was in that cup and who put it there.”

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release