- Title:
- A Mystery of Errors (Shakespeare & Smythe, #1)
- By:
- Simon Hawke
- Pages:
- 240
- Rating:
- 3
Two travelers, Will Shakespeare-a fledgling dramatist, and Symington Smythe, an ostler and aspiring thespian, meet at a roadside inn and decide to cast their lot together for fame and fortune in the cutthroat world of the London theater in Elizabethan England . . . but neither was prepared for their offstage encounter with A Mystery of Errors . When a backer’s daughter is double-crossed by a would-be suitor, the reluctant bride turns to the ostler and the playwright for help. Little does anyone realize that these simple affairs of the heart and an arranged marriage will lead to a vast web of conspiracy, mistaken identity, and murder that finds the playwright targeted for assassination and the ostler hopelessly in love. But such matters are routine in A Mystery of Errors , where Shakespeare in Love meets the Brother Cadfael mysteries of Ellis Peters.
Oh I do like Hawke, but this did drag a little in spots. Still, an homage, and some of the funny bits were funny. Nowhere near on the level of his Sorcerer works, which are, to my mind, his best output. He’s done some good Star Trek, Blaze of Glory in particular as well, so not one to just brush off even if this wasn’t quite to my taste.