''Hamlet, Revenge!'' is a 1937

detective novel Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as s ...

by Michael Innes (the pen name of J.I.M. Stewart), his second novel. It centres on the investigation into the murder of the

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. Th ...

of England during an amateur production of

Shakespeare's William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'', in which he plays

Polonius Polonius is a character in William Shakespeare's play ''Hamlet''. He is chief counsellor of the play's ultimate villain, Claudius, and the father of Laertes and Ophelia. Generally regarded as wrong in every judgment he makes over the course o ...

, and other crimes which follow at the seat of the

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

of Horton, Scamnum Court.

Synopsis

Inspector John Appleby is called by the Government to investigate the fatal shooting of Lord Auldearn, theologian and Lord Chancellor of England during a private production of Hamlet at Scamnum Court, where he encounters novel technologies, eccentric personalities, espionage, intrigue, assassination and stolen biscuits.Innes, Michael. Hamlet, Revenge.

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

: House of Stratus, 2001

Themes

Claudius at Prayer Hamlet 3-3 Delacroix 1844

Quotes from Shakespeare set an ominous tone for the novel and are used as death threats to the Lord Chancellor and to open each part. Also the book repeatedly mentions the gothic features of the estate.

Structure

The book is split into four parts; Prologue, Development, Denouement and Epilogue.

Prologue

The guests begin to arrive at the magnificent Scamnum Court as their hosts make the final preparations. However here is perhaps a slight apprehension from some of those involved, which soon seems to be warranted when one of the actors is killed by an unknown assassin.

Reception

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'' said: "Michael Innes is in a class by himself among writers of detective fiction". In 1990 it was placed at number 68 by the Crime Writers' Association in its

Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time ''The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time'' is a list published in book form in 1990 by the British-based Crime Writers' Association. Five years later, the Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is an organization of mystery ...

.''The Crown Crime Companion'' "The Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time Selected by the Mystery Writers of America", annotated by Otto Penzler and compiled by Mickey Friedman New York, (1995)

References

* ''The

Hatchards Hatchards claims to be the oldest bookshop in the United Kingdom, founded on Piccadilly in 1797 by John Hatchard. After one move, it has been at the same location on Piccadilly next to Fortnum & Mason since 1801, and the two stores are also nei ...