The Queen's Head, by Edward Marston

Retrieved from: my library
0312029705, 1989
Suggested by: The Author List
My Ratings: 9 Merit, 8 Interest, 7 Fun

This is the first in the series about Nick Bracewell and Lord Westfield's Men, an Elizabethan troupe of actors. The series is always full of wonderful period details, but I've somehow missed the first one over all the years I've been a fan. The most interesting thing about this book is the set-up for all the characters who reappear in future books. The downside of knowing ahead of time who all the main characters will continue to be is that the one who doesn't show up in future books is obviously either going to die or be the bad guy.

Sure enough. One of Nick's good friends, an actor in the troupe, is murdered in an inn after a disagreement while he is relaxing with an old actor-friend and Nick. Nick feels compelled to find the killer, who also has beaten up one of the "serving girls." In the meantime, the Spanish Armada is threatening to invade England, only to be held off by the magnificent English navy, which in turn means multiple new plays on this new history being performed by every acting troupe in London.

All this is neatly tied together at the end in a not-altogether-convincing ending involving traitorousness, old vs. new religions, and misguided loyalty. Good plot, but a little obvious.