Book Title:  Interred With Their Bones

Author:  Jennifer Lee Carrell (www.jenniferleecarrell.com)

Publishing Company:  Dutton

Year:  2007

# of Pages: 416

ISBN #:  978-0-525-94970-1

$32.50 Canada

$25.95 USA 

4 Stars 

Reviewed By:  Deborah Ground Buckner 

Nearly everything you ever knew or wondered about William Shakespeare (except why did he leave his “second-best bed” to his wife?) becomes a plot point in Jennifer Lee Carrell's thriller Interred With Their Bones. This is the first foray into the world of fiction for Carrell, who holds a Ph.D. in English and American literature from Harvard University. She is also the author of The Speckled Monster: A Historical Tale of Battling Smallpox (Penguin Group, 2003), and a writer for Smithsonian magazine.     

Kate Stanley, a Harvard professor and expert on “occult Shakespeare” tells her own story in five Acts, just like a Shakespearean play.  Taking her knowledge of Shakespeare to the theatre, she is in London, engaged in directing Hamlet at the Globe when Roz--Professor Rosalind Howard, Kate's mentor from Harvard--arrives costumed as the Ghost of Hamlet's Father. Roz presents Kate with a gift, a small box wrapped in gold tissue and ribbon.  “I need help, Kate,” Roz states, explaining that she has found “something big,” even bigger than directing Hamlet at the Globe.  Kate agrees to meet Roz in the evening. 

Within hours, the Globe is burning, and Roz, still in Kate's office, is dead.  Kate is whisked into a world of intrigue, dodging the British police while attempting to solve the mystery of the brooch held in the golden box.  This sets Kate on a treasure hunt of clues left by Roz, leading to a missing play written by Shakespeare.  A trail of murders accompanies Kate, each victim finding the same end as a Shakespearean character. 

Kate's journeys take her to the Harvard Library, Arizona, the Folger Library, and back to England.  Along the way, she encounters Ben Pearl, who tells her he is Roz's nephew asked to protect her; Sir Henry Lee, an aged respected actor of the British stage; Matthew Morris, another professor of Shakespeare at Harvard; and Athenaide Preston, a collector of all things Shakespeare.  Shifting alliances and intrigue leave the reader, like Kate, not knowing who can be trusted. 

As the search for Shakespeare's lost play continues, this plot-driven story also explores Shakespeare, the Dark Lady and the Young Man of the sonnets (their stories told in flashback) and examines the question of whether the works of Shakespeare were truly written by the man from Stratford or the Earl of Oxford, Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe, or the Earl of Derby.  Shakespeare's possible participation in the writing of the King James Bible, the passion for Shakespeare that thrived in the American West, and the many composers whose music felt the influence of Shakespeare also come to life within the pages of this book.  (There is even a reference to the beautiful “Non mobis Domine, from Patrick Doyle's score to Kenneth Branagh's Henry V!).  Ten pages of Author's Notes share the research behind the plot. Clearly, Carrell knows her Shakespeare and shares this knowledge throughout the story. 

The book is a thriller, not a mystery, since the reader observes Kate's analysis of the clues rather than participates in recognizing them.  The thrills are many, making this an exciting page-turner, demonstrating what Dan Brown's books could be if they had such intellect behind them.  It is a good book.  It could have been a great book with more emphasis on character development.  The characters have the potential to be very interesting people, but we just spend more time watching them run from one clue to the next than we do becoming acquainted with them.  In writing of the great Shakespearean libraries and the abandoned mines of Arizona, Carrell obviously knows her subject (she lives in Tucson).  But there are times when this knowledge becomes almost oppressive. The details are not smoothly woven into the story; instead, the story appears to stop for a moment as if the author steps in to say, “Now, let me tell you all I know about this place.”  To the extent that the protagonist and storyteller is a Harvard professor, this almost works.  Carrell seems to be aware of this problem, since Ben begins to call Kate “Professor” and at times asks her to stop lecturing, a sentiment I sometimes shared, wanting to get on with the action.   

But these are issues that can be improved with experience.  Fortunately, experience will come with future books by Carrell, and I look forward to reading them.