'A gripping tale, buzzing with dark comedy and set in a dangerous Jacobean world of assassins, spies, witch-hunters and temperamental actors' Andy Hamilton
'An enjoyable mystery writ
'A gripping tale, buzzing with dark comedy and set in a dangerous Jacobean world of assassins, spies, witch-hunters and temperamental actors' Andy Hamilton
'An enjoyable mystery written with verve' The Times
One of The Times' best historical novels September 2026
The hilarious follow-up to Murder Most Foul by the multi BAFTA, RTS and Emmy award-winning writer of Outnumbered and Drop the Dead Donkey.
Something wicked this way comes...
It's 1605 and Will Shakespeare is now a wealthy writer and a respected producer. But when Ann Marlowe arrives at The Globe unexpectedly, fleeing from Canterbury, the pair find themselves once again enmeshed in a bloody conspiracy involving King James, Lord Cecil and various murderous thugs.
Caught up in a world where no one can be trusted and where superstition and witchcraft have taken over people's minds, Will and Ann realise that the only way they will survive is to solve a series of murders and find out who is responsible. The future of England is at stake – and only they can save it.
The Fatal Bellman is Shakespeare at his wittiest – and bloodiest – best.
'A delicious and intelligent tour de force. I loved it. Truly engaging characters with whom to travel into the dark alleys, playhouses and rogue inhabited streets of the edgy London of James I. Unputdownable' Carol McGrath
'Riotous, subversive and completely bloody brilliant' Chris Lloyd
'Guy Jenkin is a master at combining a dark story with laugh-out-loud humour' G J Williams
'A riotous caper around Jacobean London’s underbelly... filthy, fiery, frenzied and very funny' Beth Morrey
'William Shakespeare embroiled in a murder plot: who can put that down?' Alex Sammartino
