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Shakespeare & Beyond

Excerpt: 'A Fine Madness: A Christopher Marlowe Murder Mystery' by Alan Judd

A Fine Madness cover
A Fine Madness cover

A Fine Madness A Christopher Marlowe Murder MysteryElizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe may not be as famous as his contemporary William Shakespeare, but his death at age 29 was far more dramatic — an argument over a bill that led to a stabbing, with the killer successfully pleading self-defense. But there’s something fishy about it all. Were the witnesses telling the truth? Did someone arrange for him to be murdered?

Marlowe’s life in London, the shadowy circumstances of his killing, and his alleged espionage work for Queen Elizabeth I’s spymaster are at the heart of a new novel, A Fine Madness: A Christopher Marlowe Murder Mystery, by Alan Judd (Pegasus).

The following is excerpted with permission from the opening chapter.

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