Christopher "Kit" Marlowe is considered one of the greatest playwrights of the Elizabethan era, but was also known as a hothead, a scoundrel and a member of the secretive School of Night. When he was stabbed through the eye at the age of twenty-nine in 1593, those who had it in for him were no doubt relieved to hear of his death. He had worked as an agent under Queen Elizabeth's legendary spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham and had very likely taken some reputation-destroying secrets to his grave.

Many, however, believed that he was murdered, and theories swirl around his demise to this day. Did the man who stabbed Marlowe do it in self-defense, or was it really to get rid of him? Or did Marlowe actually fake his own death and go on to ghost write for William Shakespeare?

My guest is M.J. Trow, and his book is called "Who Killed Kit Marlowe?: A Contract to Murder in Elizabethan England". He shares the story of this complex figure and offers his own theory on who he believes was behind Marlowe's unfortunate end.

Amazon's M. J. Trow page is here.