Alms for Oblivion

Shakespearean Murder #4

by Philip Gooden

An actor is dead, and the cast of suspects grows, but the finger of a hostile coroner is pointing directly at amateur detective Nick Revill. With as many twists to its plot as a Shakespearean play and betrayals compounded as often as in Troilus and Cressida, Philip Gooden again offers a strong historical mystery with an wonderfully intriguing plot. With some surprise, actor Nick Revill learns that his boyhood friend Peter Agate has arrived in London, to try his hand at acting. While Nick wants to welcome the competition in his stage company, which is mounting a private production of Troilus and Cressida for the lawyers of the Middle Temple, he is a bit resentful of Agate’s warm reception—but not so resentful, he’d have stabbed his friend to death. Another violent death follows, and it, too, patently implicates Nick. An aristocratic pair of siblings, a flashy troublemaker from a rival troupe, a former actor who once saw the devil onstage—all stand among Nick’s suspects. But the hangman’s noose is tightening around his own neck.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Shakespeare, Historical Mystery, Crime, British Literature

288 pages, Hardcover

First published April 15, 2003

About the author

Philip Gooden lives in Bath. In addition to his Nick Revill series, Sleep of Death, he is the author of The Guinness Guide to Better English and the editor of The Mammoth Book of Literary Anecdotes. Each of his Nick Revill mysteries revolves around a Shakespearean play mirroring life - in Sleep of Death the play was Hamlet, in this offering it is Troilus and Cressida.
AKA Philippa Morgan.

Series:
* Shakespearean Murder
* Tom Ansell

Reviews

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

As mysteries go, this isn't a very compelling story. The main character (Nick Reville) doesn't solve anything, and most of the book actually has no mystery, but rather various events in Nick's life and work as an actor.

The play this time is Trolius and Cressida (although there are a couple of others mentioned), a more obscure and less championed Shakespearean work about the Trojan War. Nick has his first starring role as Trolius, and things are going well until a friend from his home town arrives and is brutally killed. Nick is the main suspect, but he's let go while the coroner works to uncover the truth.

As bodies pile up, Nick ends up being jailed for multiple murders, and in the end, its the coroner who uncovers the truth, and Nick is little more than a spectator.

For all that, though, the story is the best of the series so far, and gives us a deeper, more mature look at Nick's character as he grows and changes. And the book changes the cast of the stories significantly. And there is a great deal more of the wordplay and clever use of language that the first book had on display but was lacking in the other books. That's nice to see returning.

The main flaw I can see is that the solution to the mystery requires information the reader does not and cannot have until rather late in the story, by which time the mystery is solved. So if you're looking to solve this one, its going to be a bit of a challenge.

[Scott Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Nick Revill adventure in London. I say adventure instead of mystery because it’s not a great mystery but I found the story interesting. I find Nick likable and love the Shakespeare bits dropped into the story. This book has Troiles and Cressida as the play in the background. I know very little about that Shakespeare play which didn’t detract from the story.

If you liked the other books in the series than I think you would like Alms for Oblivion.

[Elisa Reyes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es bueno, pero nada especial.
Si te gusta el misterio y los temas detectivescos puede que sea un buen libro para ti.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

an enjoyable modern novel set in WS period

[Marfita · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think what I like about the period mystery genre is getting a chance to see a slice of period life. Most of the time this is peripheral although there are some authors with a great background in a period that give you more than just a nugget here and there.
While I can't quite say that about this book, there was a very interesting section on what it was like to be in prison at that time and how you had to pay to upgrade your experience out of abject squalor to mere misery. I have visited a state prison on many occasions and I can tell you that the main difference is that prisons in our time are at least cleaner. [This is because I have seen prisoners on their hands and knees cleaning a sidewalk with bleach and a tool that appeared to be barely larger than a toothbrush. It must be federal prisons where the "luxury" is. In our state's prisons you have to pay for absolutely everything - an aspirin, laundry detergent, etc. Privately run prisons have fancy websites where you can buy gift boxes of candy, etc., to be delivered. Ka-ching.]

Slight spoiler area:

Anyway, fairly good mystery, although once Nick Revill (no relation to the comedy writer/performer?) leaves London, the solution is pretty much telegraphed. And then there's the painful trope of explaining it all to the reader that's so difficult to get around. This was the earliest in the series I could find at the library, so I don't know if Shakespeare himself gets a chance to do any "detecting." He does wrangle himself a small part in this.
Would definitely read more in this series. Read this in an afternoon recovering from raking leaves. Ouch.

[LJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

ALMS FOR OBLIVION (Amateur Sleuth-London-1600s) – G+
Gooden, Philip – 4th in series
Constable, 2003- Hardcover
Nick Reville is a player in Burbage and Shakespeare's Chamberlain's Company. A friend from his home village, Peter Agate, comes to London and informs Nick that he, too, wants to be a player. Although Nick isn't happy about the competition, he is less happy when he finds his friend murdered and he is arrested as the killer.
*** With each book in this series, Gooden focuses on one of Shakespeare's plays, this one being "Troilus and Cressida." But it's the writing that keeps me a fan of this series. Nick is an interesting central character with Shakespeare in an almost cameo role. The language is well done, not old English but not modern either, and it adds to the tone of the book. There are wonderfully terrible puns, good suspense and, under it all, a good mystery.