Because Ideas Matter...
The faculty and staff of Butler University's College of Liberal
Arts and Sciences presents
Recommended Readings
The
Intelligencer
by Leslie Silbert, Washington Square Press, 2005
Reviewed by Judi Morrel
If you are fond of literary mysteries that
jump back and forth in time, you will enjoy Silbert's The
Intelligencer which travels between Elizabethan England and
modern-day New York/England. The notion of political espionage
links the two time periods, hence the title, a 15th
century term for a spy. In March of 1593, the popular playwright
Christopher Marlowe was murdered in England, an act ruled by the
coroner at the time to be in self-defense; however, given Marlowe's
known association with the Queen's intelligence service, questions
have remained through the ensuing years regarding the actual
circumstances of his demise. The modern-day protagonist, Kate
Morgan, an intelligencer of sorts herself, works as a private
investigator for a firm headed by a former CIA operative. Kate
enters the story when a client of the firm stumbles upon a
heretofore unknown set of encoded manuscript pages which may
contain clues to the murder of Marlowe. As the client discovers to
his dismay, there are present-day folk who are interested enough in
this mysterious manuscript to attempt to steal it and perhaps to
commit murder to keep its secrets secret. Parallel plots and
parallel characters unfold as the story unfolds and intrigue
swirls. As Kate closes in on decoding the manuscript to find the
truth about Marlowe's death, is she sealing her own demise as
well?
- Judi Morrel is Interim Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and
Sciences at Butler University.