The Trip to Jerusalem (Nicholas Bracewell) (alkuperäinen julkaisuvuosi 1990; vuoden 2012 painos)

London is suffering through another Plague, and the theatrical company known as Lord Westfield’s Men decide to tour the country to avoid it. Even before they leave, one of the company is murdered and then when they get out of town, they find that their rivals, Banbury’s Men, have somehow stolen their closely-guarded plays and are stealing their audiences to perform them. And *then* one of the young apprentices, who plays all the female roles to perfection, is kidnapped. Can bookholder Nicholas Bracewell keep the company together, solve these problems and not get killed in the process?....This is I think the third volume in this Elizabethan series; I’ve read some of the novellas and at least one (later) novel, picking them up as I come across them. I like Mr. Marston’s writing style and I like his main character Bracewell quite a bit, but for some reason this particular outing didn’t impress me. I think possibly there was just too much plot for the slim (212-page) volume to handle; it all felt rushed and overblown somehow. I’ll keep reading the series as I come across it, but this particular story just didn’t quite work for me. ( )

This is a competent mystery, rather than a sparking or inventive one. Over the first few chapters it feels as if there are too many disjointed strands that have no apparent linkage. Gradually they do pull together, but it doesn't create a seamless whole. There's simply too many disparate strands of story that have little to do with each other and the resolution is far too neat. It also took me quite some time to place this historically. It references the closing of the theatres due to an outbreak of plague in London, but I must have been a good 1/4 of the way through the book before there was any historical fact to allow me to gauge when this might be set.
Nicholas Bracewell plays the important role of book holder in a company of players. In this episode, the players set out on the road to tour as London is closed to them due to the plague. Before they depart, one of their number dies, presumably from plague but Nicholas pronounces his murdered having never actually looked at the body. There is a rivalry between companies of players, involving the steeling of works by a renegade player, the closing of certain towns to them, the kidnapping of their star turn and the loss of their costumes. All of which it seems only Nicholas is competent to try and address. The treason against the queen by those of the Catholic faith and spies of Walsingham's only serves to muddy the waters still further. But that is nothing to the rapture experienced by Eleanor Button. Goodness, how very very odd. What starts as a religious experience turns into a most odd obsession with poor Nicholas. And so these disparate strands converge at York. Which confused me, as the famous in of the book's title is in Nottingham - and the description of the inn matches that of Nottingham pretty well - set into the hill beneath the castle.
All in all, this works, but not well. Nicholas is an intriguing invention, but the story relies on him just a bit too heavily. It is part of a series, but I can't see myself going out of my way to read them. ( )