Focusing on 16th- and 17th-century English drama,
Journeymen in Murder
shows how assassins, although embroiled in violence and intrigue, often serve to address issues of political and moral concern in the period, such as the dangers of tyranny, or the corrupting power of money. Broad in scope, the book covers the entire corpus of English Renaissance drama, and it offers detailed critical consideration of many plays, including several that are here studied in depth for the first time. Throughout, the achievement of major dramatists is placed in the context of other writers' use of similar material, illuminating the ways in which they create their own distinctive and disturbing effects by using the audience's prior experience of the character.