Audrey Peterson, Murder in Stratford

Murder in Stratford

Audrey Peterson

Five Star, Mar 2005, $25.95, 202 pp.

ISBN: 1594142734

In Stratford upon Avon, though she is several years older than Will Shakespeare, who works in his father's Glover shop, he courts and marries Anne Hathaway. Over the next few years, they seem happy together though Will, who studied law, was bored. When he had an opportunity to join a traveling troupe, he leaves his spouse and children behind though he sends money and visits infrequently.

Will's fame as a writer begins to grow, but on one of his trips home, his boyhood pal, the odious arrogant Richard Quiney, who even tried to boorishly seduce his friend's wife Anne, is murdered. The corpse is found in the Shakespeare garden. The constable assumes Will, being cuckold, killed the man in a crime of passion. Anne believes otherwise and is determined to prove her spouse is innocent. As the list of those with motives to kill the loathsome Richard seems to grow, almost as if the entire town and surrounding villagers had a reason to murder him, the killer watches Anne to insure she does not get to close to the truth.

MURDER IN STRATFORD is as much an amateur sleuth tale as it is a historical fiction novel. The storyline is told from the perspective of Anne but not just about the who-done-it but her life even before Will courts her. This enables the audience to obtain a full picture of her and much insight into the Bard. Her investigation is fun to follow but takes a back seat to her life's story so much so that Shakespeare lovers and the Elizabethan crowd will appreciate this fine tale more so than those who prefer a pure mystery.

Harriet Klausner