the mystery of things
Jan 18th, 2007 by Debra
BOOK I OF The Ashland Grail Cycle
Debra Murphy’s first novel, The Mystery of Things, was published in December 2004 by Idylls Press. A Catholic and literary mystery/thriller for adults, The Mystery of Things is a provocative updating of the myth of St. George-and-the-Dragon.
Set in Milwaukee, this is the story of James Ireton, a gifted young Shakespeare scholar haunted by a tragic past and recurring nightmares of a Knight, a Lady and a vicious Dragon. James thinks they’re just dreams, but when two people close to him fall victim in a seemingly motiveless series of brutal murders, James discovers there may be a very real Dragon preying in the shadows of his life. Worse, if he doesn’t find a bit of St. George in himself, the woman he loves may prove the Dragon’s ultimate victim.
The title of the book comes from Act V of Shakespeare’s King Lear:
…Come, let’s away to prison: We two alone will sing like birds i’the cage: When thou dost ask me blessing, I’ll kneel down And ask of thee forgiveness: so we’ll live And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues talk of court news; and we’ll talk with them too, who loses and who wins, who’s in, who’s out; And take upon’s the mystery of things,as if we were God’s spies: and we’ll wear out, in a wall’d prison, packs and sects of great ones that ebb and flow by the moon.
Many plots and themes in the novel are "borrowed", in true Elizabethan fashion, from a number of Elizabethan sources: several of Shakespeare’s plays, of course, but also Edmund Spenser’s version of the St. George-and-the-Dragon tale in book one of The Faerie Queene. (For more on The Mystery of Things, its setting, theme and sources, see the book’s website, especially Q & A with Debra Murphy.
The Mystery of Things is the first book in The Ashland Grail Cycle, a planned series of novels inspired by Shakespeare, Arthurian (mythopoeic) romance and the modern mystery novel. The second book in the series is scheduled for release in 2009.
- Read an excerpt from the novel (portions of the hardcover can also be explored via Google Book Search)
- Read blurbs and reviews
- Q & A with Debra Murphy about The Mystery of Things
ORDERING: The Mystery of Things is available in both hardcover and softcover editions. To order your copy from Amazon.com, see the right sidebar. There are also many more ordering options on the Idylls Press website.
For more about The Ashland Grail Cycle, click here.
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