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Review of THE BAWDY BASKET by Edward Marston
AN ELIZABETHAN THEATER MYSTERY FEATURING NICHOLAS BRACEWELL
St. Martin's Minotaur, August 2002
The Westfield's Men Players are at the top of their form and should be enjoying their success. But, when one of the player's father is falsely convicted of murder and their author falls in love with a woman who wishes to support his art far from the theater, the company is rocked. Unless 'book-holder' Nicholas Bracewell can sort things out, the company may be destroyed. When a witness to the father's innocence (a prostitute or 'bawdy basket') is found, things begin to look up--until the woman too is murdered. Now Nicholas and his friends have to worry about their own survival as well as the survival of their company.
Set in the Elizabethan theater scene, THE BAWDY BASKET gives a convincing view of the sights and smells of the time when theater reached its greatest peak. The ever-competent Nicholas is a solid figure in the midst of the emotional and not always rational actors, each fighting for their moment in the public acclaim.
Author Edward Marston (see all BooksForABuck.com reviews of novels by this author) relies a bit too heavily on coincidence and on on-the-nose dialogue to overexplain motivations, but nevertheless delivers a highly enjoyable mystery.
Three Stars
Reviewed 9/14/02
Purchase THE BAWDY BASKET from Amazon.com (hardback).