We're just finishing up Studies in the Novel: Mystery and Detective Fiction, and one of the last books we read for the course was Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz. In preparing to talk about that magnificent metaliterary mystery, I came to realize just how prolific an author Horowitz is, with dozens of Young Adult (and younger) books to his credit before the three novels in the series that starts with Magpie Murders.
I decided to try a few—starting with The Falcon's Malteaser, a YA novel that plays with the conventions of the hard-boiled detective novel (as in Dashiell Hammett's Maltese Falcom).
Other books being a bit harder to track down, I headed to The Devil and His Boy, not knowing anything about it.
Imagine my delight when I found it was set in Elizabethan England with a boy protagonist who sees a play and determines (or circumstances determine for him) that he wants to become an actor.
The plot is pleasantly absurd, but the historical detail is accurate.
"But," I hear you eagerly ask, "is there any Shakespeare in it?"
As a matter of fact, there is. But it's more as a cameo than an integral part of the plot—which is fine. We get plenty of Shakespeare in Susan Cooper's King of Shadows (for which, q.v.).
Here's the relevant section where our hero goes to audition for a part in what turns out to be Shakespeare's company:
The novel, which could fit fairly easily in my YA Literature class, my Modern Shakespearean Fiction class, or even in my Mystery and Detective Fiction class, is well worth reading. Give it a try!
Click below to purchase the book from amazon.com
(and to support Bardfilm as you do so).
(and to support Bardfilm as you do so).
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