MRC RECOMMENDS: Shakespeare’s Table by Howard Gimple
“Author Howard Gimple clearly knows how to keep readers guessing all the way to the end of the story.” – The Mystery Review Crew
Shakespeare’s Table
By Howard Gimple
Genre: Mystery, Cozy Mystery
Howard Gimple, author of Get Gribnitz, the comedy-thriller that skewers the world of Madison Avenue advertising sets his sights on the hallowed halls of academe with Shakespeare’s Table.
Jordan Day, the young head of the Melville University’s Special Collections library, is told her department is slated for elimination due to budget cuts. Then out of the blue, the university’s most esteemed professor declares that he will donate to her department a table that once belonged to William Shakespeare. He then announces that this newly discovered artifact provides definitive proof that Shakespeare never wrote the works attributed to him.
Thrilled that the donation will take her department off the chopping block, Jordan’s relief turns to despair when she finds the professor’s severed head impaled on a pole outside her window and the priceless table nowhere to be found. Things get worse when she is accused of stealing Shakespeare’s table and is named a suspect in the professor’s murder.
To save her department and clear her name, Jordan must find Shakespeare’s table, reveal the real murderer and discover who really wrote the works of William Shakespeare. All while navigating the back-biting, petty jealousies and and academic treachery that characterizes university life.
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Review of Shakespeare’s Table by Howard Gimple
Shakespeare’s Table hits the sweet spot between a cozy mystery and standard mystery fare. Even hard-core mystery fans will likely be delighted with the originality of Howard Gimple’s tale about murder, deception, and rivalry in academia.
The story follows the events at the fictional Melville University over the period of several days, just prior to Halloween. Pranks are typical at this time of year, but it soon becomes apparent that the disembodied head appearing on a spike outside a library window is the actual head of Spenser Berg, the university’s most decorated faculty member.
On the cusp of the biggest homecoming event ever—the Whale-a-Palooza—University President Angelina DellaRosa just wants it all to go away. As she orders the campus cops to get it wrapped up, some other bodies begin to turn up. Suspects for the grisly murders fall in and out of favor.
The main event at the Whale-a-Palooza was scheduled to be a lecture by Spenser Berg, who was supposed to deliver proof to show that Shakespeare didn’t write Shakespeare. Rather, it was all written by a man in direct lineage to the university’s biggest donor. Will we learn the truth about Shakespeare? Will the murderer be identified and caught?
We think one of the most compelling features of this story is the “round robin” effect the author creates with the characters. When a character identifies as a protagonist, that does not mean he (or she) will continue to be a protagonist. The same is true with antagonists. Author Howard Gimple clearly knows how to keep readers guessing all the way to the end of the story.
There are three characters who can identify as the main characters: Jordan Day, the Head of Archives and Special Collections at the library (where the bodiless head was discovered); her twelve-year-old brother Tristan; and, Harry Gabriel, a Shakespeare authority and former student of Spenser Berg. Although almost all characters are considered as the murderer at some point, Gabriel is considered the favorite since he had a public argument with Berg the night before Berg’s death.
Since a variety of characters are suspected of being the murderer at some point, the reader can expect a few plot twists. The author delivers on those twists with surprising originality, which keeps the story fun to read.
Gimple ably demonstrates his gift for writing avid descriptions! One of the things we like about this author is his ability to include a variety of senses in his description, rather than just sight and hearing, like most authors. For instance, in describing Edie Kaiser, the president’s secretary, the author wrote: “When she stood she was well over six feet tall, with long, slender, perfectly manicured fingers, thick wavy hair the color and texture of honey and steely gray eyes that belied a sensitive soul.” The use of textures helps to immerse readers into the story.
We enjoyed Shakespeare’s Table and highly recommend it to all readers who enjoy the concept of “story.”
Our Concerns:
We have several concerns with this story:
For a university with such an interest in Shakespeare as to have its own campus journal, it’s confusing that only a few people showed up for the lecture about whether Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare.
The ending, while exciting, also borders on the edge of believability. The nature of the character ultimately identified as the killer does not resonate as someone truly capable of committing the murders.
Lastly, the end of the story seems abrupt. Rather than a “fade to black” type of ending, the reader is immediately cut off during a character’s action.
About Howard Gimple
Howard Gimple has been a penslinger for most of his adult life. He was a writer at Newsday, the editor of a newsletter for the New York Giants football team, and a copywriter and creative director for several New York ad agencies. He has written English dialogue for the American releases of Japanese anime cartoons and reviewed books for the Long Island History Journal and movies for a pay-per-view television network.
Howard was Chief Creative Officer at TajMania Entertainment, a film and TV production company dedicated to creating socially conscious programming. He wrote ’The Garbageman,’ an award-winning documentary about a waste management executive who helped save the lives of more than 50,000 children with congenital heart disease.
Howard was a writer and sports editor for the Stony Brook University alumni magazine. He also taught two seminars at the university, ‘Rock & Relevance,’ about the political influence of 60’s rock & roll and ‘Filthy Shakespeare,’ exploring the dramatic use of sexual puns and innuendos in the Bard’s plays and poems.
Obviously unable to hold a job for any length of time, Howard turned to writing novels, where his chances of getting fired are minimal.
Howard grew up in Brooklyn, which became cool shortly after he departed. He now lives in Glendora, California with his wife, Chris, and his goldendoodle, Brinkley.
