The Silent Woman

Edward Marston's new mystery novel continues the adventures of Nicholas Bracewell, book holder for an Elizabethan theater troupe, who handles myriad practical details, soothes wounded egos, navigates backstage politics, and arranges each evening's performance of a play by Lord Westfield's Men. The Silent Woman begins with fire, a catastrophe that displaces the troupe from its London home and sends it on the road to earn its keep. Before the actors depart, Nicholas is troubled by a terrible event: a young woman, disguised as a man, is murdered before she can deliver an urgent message to him. His heart is further burdened by a quarrel with Anne Hendrik, the kind woman with whom he has reached a mutual understanding. The traveling band of actors keeps Nicholas fully occupied. Lawrence Firethorn, the troupe's lead performer, encounters the consequences of seducing women; playwright Edmund Hoode suffers the fears and doubts of his profession; an outbreak of the plague threatens to quash the tour. Even as he guides Lord Westfield's Men through the English countryside, Nick's mind returns to the murdered girl. Finally, he takes leave to pursue a mystery that sends him back to his childhood home. Filled with colorful characters, rich in authentic historical detail, romance, and the particulars of Elizabethan theater, The Silent Woman is the most ambitious novel yet in this series.