Book Review: A PRISONER IN MALTA by Phillip DePoy

The year is 1583, and someone’s plotting to kill Queen Elizabeth I. Details of the plot are sketchy at best, and the Queen has sufficient enemies to make the list of likely conspirators long. What is known is there is a prisoner languishing in a Maltese cell who has vital information that could unravel the plot. Sir Francis Walsingham, the Queen’s spymaster, employs the services of a young Cambridge student, Christopher Marlowe, to rescue the prisoner and discover the identity of those who wish to murder the Queen and change the course of history. A big task for young shoulders to bear, but Walsingham knows of Marlowe’s sharp wits and skill with a rapier. Marlowe also has a reputation with words and women, something that also may help in his task. But when his investigation must navigate through Catholic sympathizers, the Spanish government, Basque separatists, and countless double-crossers and double-agents, has even the talented Marlowe bitten off more than he can chew?

First a disclaimer: This review is of an ARC (Advance Reader Copy) of the novel sent to my by Phillip DePoy’s agent. She didn’t ask me to review the novel, so if I didn’t like it, I wasn’t under any obligation to review it.  In fact, I wasn’t under any obligation to review it if I did like it. It just so happens I did, which is good since I don’t like posting negative reviews. 🙂

The hardest part of writing this review is knowing the novel won’t be released until January 2016, so I’m going to be raving about a book you won’t be able to get for another three or four months. Put it on your TBR list. Mark your calendar for January 2016. Pre-order. Whatever you need to do. And here’s why.

The first thing that struck me about Phillip’s book is the way he dealt with the historical setting. I’ve said this before about Gary Corby’s Athenian Mysteries: when you research a time period thoroughly for a novel, there is an overwhelming temptation to pack the story with all that research. Both Corby and DePoy manage to avoid this, and give you the feel of the period without becoming bogged down in details and losing the plot. His research forms the backdrop, but the characters and the story take center stage (ha ha… center stage… Christopher Marlowe…)

This period in time is particularly rich for a mystery. Having studied Reformation England, I know a little of what was happening. It’s a time of great political and religious turbulence. Relations between England and Spain–bastion of Catholicism, second only, perhaps, to Italy–are tumultuous. Elizabeth’s father, Henry VIII, had thrown off papal leadership of the church, placing himself at the head of the newly-founded Church of England. On her father’s death, her brother Edward was set to deepen religious reformation when his early demise brought sister Mary to the throne. A devout Catholic, Mary tried, and ultimately failed, to undo her father and brother’s work, leaving it up to the youngest of Henry’s girls, Elizabeth, to form some kind of settlement. She needed to establish her father’s church, and also deal with the Catholics who thought Henry’s reformation went too far, and the Puritans who thought it didn’t go far enough. On top of all this, you have various factional in-fighting between the Portuguese and the Spanish.

Christopher Marlowe is an interesting protagonist. Historically, he was a playwright and poet, and, it is said, an inspiration to Shakespeare. There are even theories that Shakespeare’s plays were actually Marlowe’s, purloined by the Bard after Marlowe’s death. That’s all I’ve ever known about Marlowe, but it seems there are those who thought he might have been a secret agent working for the Queen. DePoy runs with that theory, and has launched what promises to be a great series.

Aside from Phillip’s masterful use of his research and knowledge of the period, I liked the way he wrote the characters. Marlowe is clearly very intelligent, but he’s not flawless. Up to the very end he can’t be completely sure who he can trust, and the reader is kept guessing too. Even his closest allies are not all they appear to be. Then there’s Walsingham, stately, aloof, a little impatient with Marlowe’s youthful arrogance, but also respectful of his gifts. There’s Lopez, physician to the Queen, and a master swordsman who aids Marlowe on his quest. He’s a man of many layers… and that’s the sound of me biting my tongue! Then there are the Basques Marlowe encounters, people with mixed motives and changing loyalties. Some are more trustworthy than others.

The plot is intricate, and there are sub-plots to solve on the way to solving the bigger mystery. Marlowe is framed for murder, but by whom? Who actually committed the murder? Is the murder a distraction, or part of the larger plot against the Queen? Some might find the plot threads and twists a bit overwhelming, but I didn’t have too much difficulty keeping up. Marlowe frequently reviews the facts which is a help to the reader as well as to Marlowe.

To sum up, I highly recommend this book, especially to lovers of mysteries, historical fiction, Gary Corby, Elizabethan England, Christopher Marlowe, and The Princess Bride (there were a couple of lines that reminded me of “Bride” humor). I don’t recall any profanity, though there are some Third Commandment violations, and mild sexual references. Nothing that would put this beyond a PG-15, at least in my estimation.

The only huge negative is you have to wait until January 2016 to buy it. However, you can pre-order it from Amazon and B&N, and you can add it to your Goodreads TBR list.

Any questions?