The Spy is Christopher Marlowe

Historical fiction can take many forms, but perhaps the most intriguing recent examples are two novels by author Phillip DePoy: A Prisoner in Malta and The English Agent, the first entries in The Christopher Marlowe Mysteries. They combine historical personages and locations, with both fictitious inventions, real incidents and accurate biographical details. The two novels are filled with vivid dialog and swashbuckling adventures, creating something like Shakespeare in Love 1998 meets Mission Impossible 1996 – with touches of Indiana Jones, yet utilizing the world during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

Phillip DePoy is the winner of an Edgar Award for Mystery Fiction. He is the author of 21 novels and 43 plays, and is also a poet, scholar and performance artist. He has been married to playwright Lee Nowell for over 22 years and to whom both books are lovingly dedicated.

A Prisoner in Malta begins in 1583, with nineteen-year-old Cambridge University student, Christopher Marlowe - known as a brawler, social agitator and womanizer - now being implicated in the murder of an obnoxious and unpopular student. Marlowe is visited by Doctor Roderigo Lopez, court physician to Queen Elizabeth I and a representative of his benefactors at Cambridge. Lopez (or Lopes among several varied spellings) was the son of a Portuguese royal court physician, of Jewish descent, raised a Catholic, and declared a Converso or New Christian amid the growth of the Portuguese and Spanish Inquisitions. His connections to Jewish merchants of the Mediterranean and North Africa figures prominently in the unfolding of the plot. History unfortunately records him as the only Queen’s Physician executed for treason, under circumstances that seem highly anti-Jewish and suspect of political maneuvering.

Doctor Lopez whisks Marlowe off to London and a secret audience with Sir Francis Walsingham, statesman, principal secretary and advisor to Queen Elizabeth. He is also the creator of a highly effective intelligence network which earns him the unofficial title of The Queen’s Spy Master.

Both Walsingham and Lopez believe the Cambridge murder to be related to a larger plot against the reign of Queen Elizabeth, involving assassination, invasion and political manipulations by the Spanish government, the complicity of high ranking English nobles, and even the Pope himself. But the key to unraveling the truth begins with the smuggling of a mysterious prisoner held in a heavily guarded dungeon on the island of Malta. Unfortunately, Marlowe hates sea travel…

The English Agent begins late in 1583, with Christopher Marlowe having the premiere of his first play, Dido, Queen of Carthage (later revised and published in 1584.) Staged at a local tavern, under the creative auspices of playwright Thomas Kyd, it is a resounding and humiliating flop, resulting in a huge brawl that sends Marlowe and Kyd to the temporary safety of their lodgings. Sir Francis Walsingham providentially requests Marlowe’s presence in London. Walsingham presents him with an assignment to go to Holland, where English ally, William the Silent, is the focus of intrigue and an assassination plot. The plot is a joint endeavor between the ever scheming Spanish and British loyal to the imprisoned Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots. All are plotting the overthrow of Queen Elizabeth I and the Anglican Church. Marlowe’s journey involves sea travel to Holland, the discovery of a safe house country tavern, a group of Romani people, a young court page named Leviticus, and two different boy actors – both with secret pasts and murky current intrigue. Plus, a daring young woman who provides both a challenge and companionship. Eventually, Marlowe must infiltrate the estate that harbors Queen Mary and gain access and her trust in a short time.

So, what does the future hold for the series? That is currently uncertain, although The English Agent ended with a very real hook significantly suggesting another novel in the series. Author DePoy was a prolific, almost compulsive, author. However, 2017 was three years prior to the COVID pandemic and lockdown and since that time no paperback editions have been issued. Hopefully something may be in the editorial process and it is just a matter of timing!

-Philip, Lawrence Branch