Tuck and Shakespeare and the whole troupe are preparing to start a tour which will begin by performing at the wedding of Godfrey Middleton’s eldest daughter, Catherine, who is thought be many to be shrewish in her ways. The event is to be very elaborate and is to span several days, cumulating with the Queen’s Men’s performance.

Tuck is especially anxious to be at the event because his new friend, and if Tuck has his way, new love, Elizabeth is Catherine’s best friend and is scheduled to be the maid of honor at the wedding.

The night before the wedding is scheduled to take place, Tuck follows Elizabeth into a garden maze and overhears men talking about a murder plot. When the bride falls dead during her grand entrance the next day, Tuck is certain he heard the assassins the night before. The weapon of choice appears to have been poison, so Shakespeare returns to London to visit with Granny Meg, an elderly herbalist to see if he can learn the sort of poison Catherine may have ingested and who might be suspect.

What he learns is very shocking and upon his return to the estate he learns that not only has Catherine’s body been entombed in the family vault, but has been stabbed, apparently murdered again. The stabbing death of Catherine’s younger sister Blanche’s lover in the maze puts Tuck on the trail of a murderer in an attempt, mostly, to keep Elizabeth safe from harm, but also perhaps to gain favor with the noblemen in an effort to bring him closer to his dreams of a future with Elizabeth .

The Slaying of the Shrew, the second in the Shakespearean mysteries, has so much to enjoy. The setting is very detailed as Simon Hawke adeptly describes many aspects of Elizabethan life, from town life to country life to the gentry life. Simon Hawke has worked in the necessary background information seamlessly so new readers can catch up from Tuck and Will’s first outing, but without the awkwardness that sometimes comes from this sort of exposition. The characters are very delightful, from the foppish noblemen who think very much of themselves to the skilled tradesmen.

Tuck and Shakespeare are a very delightful duo as Tuck is innocent and earnest and Shakespeare, the more worldly of the two, tries to educate Tuck in the ways of the world. Shakespeare has yet to have a play produced at this point, though he is always writing, and his speech patterns are carefully constructed, as are some comments made by Tuck and others that many readers will recognize as quotes from the bard’s works.

The entire book reads as if its events are the impetus for a new play from young Will Shakespeare. Despite the tragic events of the plot, there is a lot of humor in the dialogue and events. Many of the characters will be recognized as models for later Shakespeare characters. The mystery, which has many elements, may be easy to solve if one pays close attention to the details. However, the atmosphere of the book will take over and Tuck will have solved both murderers all too soon, leaving readers anxious for the next adventure of the Queen’s Men.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry