Jarvo's Reviews > The Reckoning: The Murder of Christopher Marlowe

Fascinating enough to re-read after a gap of 15 years or more; disappointing to find out that I'd lost my original copy; doubly disappointing to find out the revised edition currently available has lost some of the spark of the original version.
Like many an English graduate I knew both that Marlowe was rumoured to be a spy in his youth, and that he died tragically young in a tavern brawl. Turns out most of the things weren't necessarily quite what they seemed. Marlowe in fact might have been on the fringes of the world of espionage throughout his life; he didn't die in a tavern, and it might have been something more sinister than a brawl. Like a cold blooded, if not premeditated, murder. Certainly the company he was with when he died was decidedly shady.
What the book does well is brilliantly create the paranoid mood of late Elizabethan England. A world dominated by fears of Catholic uprising and invasion, and by anxieties about the succession. Its a world where secret intelligence flourishes, of plots, forgery and agent provocateurs. Trust no-one, for no-one is quite what they seem. Its a world of paranoia and conspiracy, and hence of conspiracy theory. And Kit Marlowe is right in the middle of it.
Where the new edition goes wrong, and this is really only in the critical, final section is get over excited by fresh details about hitherto minor characters about whom, frankly I couldn't care less. Too much detail, too many rabbit holes, and not enough atmosphere.
The original book is definitely five star material, and not for its thoughts on literature. Its a great book book about late late Tudor politics and about espionage and conspiracy theories more generally.