A Prisoner in Malta

Edgar-winner DePoy (December’s Thorn) transforms playwright Christopher Marlowe into a swashbuckling action hero in this solid first in a new historical series. In 1583, the 19-year-old Marlowe, a student at Cambridge, is pulled away from his studies by a close friend, Dr. Rodrigo Lopez, on the orders of Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth I’s spymaster. Walsingham wants the teenager’s help in saving England “from deceit of the highest magnitude.” Catholic conspirators plan to topple the queen, but Walsingham’s only source of vital information for thwarting them is an Englishman held prisoner in Malta. Marlowe and Lopez undertake the dangerous assignment, even as a warrant has been issued for Marlowe’s arrest for murdering a fellow student reputed to be a bully. Witnesses saw Marlowe arguing with the dead man, Walter Pygott, and the corpse was found concealed in his rooms. DePoy piles on the twists and introduces some humor into the tense story line, which should find favor with Susannah Gregory readers. (Jan.)