Set in Elizabethan London, the author's second novel fictionalizes the final mysterious days of the life of playwright Christopher Marlowe, shortly before his murder.
Critic Reviews
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Outstanding
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Daily Telegraph Julia Flynn
Utterly engrossing.... Elizabethan England has never seemed more beguilingly immediate.
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Favorable
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Boston Globe Anna Mundow
This tightly compressed suspense novel, dominated by the mysterious Marlowe, provides only hints, not answers.
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Favorable
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Boston Globe Amanda Heller
[A] literate melodrama.
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Favorable
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Daily Telegraph David Isaacson
This bold, imaginative, vibrant novella resonates on several levels.
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Favorable
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Los Angeles Times Susan Salter Reynolds
Her fictional explanation of Marlowe's mysterious death makes this book a phantasmagoric Elizabethan thriller. [6 Feb 2005, p.R11]
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Favorable
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Publishers Weekly
A hard, sharp little rapier of a thriller/mystery that packs a punishing schedule of sex, violence, wheeling and double-dealing into its brief length. [17 Jan 2005, p.35]
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Favorable
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The Independent Aleks Sierz
All this is perfectly enjoyable, and Welsh is particularly good at conveying the feel of an Elizabethan London spooked by plague and plots.
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Favorable
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The Nation Daniel Swift
Every line of Tamburlaine Must Die is informed by a thorough grasp of not only the day-to-day of Marlowe's life but also a sympathetic willingness to imagine the in-between.
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Mixed
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The Globe And Mail [Toronto]
To this reader, at least, the basic premise of Welsh's fiction -- that the playwright himself composed this text, which ends at sunrise on the morning of his death with "A Curse on Man and God" as an angry last testament -- is unconvincing. [19 Mar 2005, p.D13]
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Mixed
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The New York Times Book Review Charles Taylor
The most pleasurable thing here is Welsh's depiction of Marlowe.... Still, "Tamburlaine Must Die" is a disappointment, especially compared with "The Cutting Room."
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Unfavorable
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Kirkus Reviews
The thin plot will disappoint readers looking for the generic pleasures of the historical mystery. [1 Dec 2004, p.1115]
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Unfavorable
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Library Journal Joseph M. Eagan
Unfortunately, the narrative fails to convey adequately the sense of trepidation and urgency that one would expect from such a desperate man, while the language seldom reflects the literary talent of its alleged author. [1 Dec 2004, p.106]
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