ALL OUR YESTERDAYS by Guy Hale

(Bullington Press, £3.95)

Rating: *****

AFTER leaving the police and readers alike with a Croaking Raven cliffhanger, Guy Hale turns back the clock for the second part of his Shakespeare Murders trilogy, taking us back to where the sinister Stratford-upon-Avon shenanigans really began.

It’s the spring of 1932. Britain is just clawing its way out of the Great Depression and, although life is hard, there’s a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. Meanwhile, in the Bard’s birthplace, thespian Morris Oxford is the Royal Shakespeare Theatre’s leading light.

His determination to maintain that position, traced here in prequel All Our Yesterdays, will sow the seeds of murder most foul to come by the time a spurned actor turns serial killer in the 1972 surrounds of the series proper – a thriller that will reach its conclusion in Act III.

Shot through with wry humour, a short outing – at just over 100 pages, more a novella – lets us in on the passions and ambitions that lie below the surface of this most famous of theatres, adding context to the trilogy while also working as a satisfying standalone read.

Killer Lawrence (no spoiler here: it’s revealed at the outset of The Croaking Raven) has yet to be born. His father, Richard Jenkins, is a wild Welsh talent; his mother Beatrice Smallman a theatrical spear-carrier with dreams of becoming a Shakespearian star herself.

Read more: My review of Guy Hale’s The Croaking Raven

But there’s something rotten in the state of Denmark. Plenty, in fact. As obnoxious Oxford builds an empire, anyone standing in his way should be wary. And, at the dark heart of the piece, there’s a terrible secret that will doubtless tear Lawrence’s life apart next time out.

With Shakespeare nods aplenty, punnily named actors – Dame Helen Smitten among them – and a keen sense of location, this is perhaps the background readers of Hale’s tale needed, but which would have been too unwieldy to include in Act I. 

I look forward to renewing acquaintance with coppers Toby Marlowe and Fred Williams when they eventually return, but let me make a confession.

After reading All Our Yesterdays, my sympathies have shifted. To quote Hamlet, I’ll be rooting for a murderer and a villain.

Read more: My favourites reads of the year – 2024

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