Book 73: "A Dead Man in Deptford" by Anthony Burgess

[kittiwake]

Kit Marlowe, Marley, Morley, or Merlin (he explains that it is only the aristocracy whose surnames are fixed in Elizabethan times) is a divinity student at Cambridge when he is persuaded against his better judgement to become a spy in Francis Walsingham's secret service, but already his dreams lie in the playhouse rather than the church.

But is it his controversial plays, his reputed atheism, homosexuality or his spying that will lead to his death in a tavern in Deptford, or will he just be stabbed in a meaningless brawl?

I enjoyed it much more than another novel about the death of playwright Christopher Marlowe. That is "Tamburlaine Must Die" by Louise Welsh, which I read a year or two ago.