By Any Other Name

September 4, 2023
Struggling teen actor Will Hughes unintentionally becomes embroiled in a high-stakes murder mystery in Cotter’s careening adventure romance debut, set in 1593 Elizabethan England. Sixteen-year-old Will gets by playing female leads under the mentorship of playwright Christopher Marlowe at the infamous Rose Theater in London. But even offstage he must assume a role, having adopted his name as a pseudonym to hide the fact that he is the gay son of anti-monarchist parents, from whom he was kidnapped as a child. Determined to earn enough money to return to them, Will agrees to oversee an illegal playhouse for attractive Lord James Bloomsbury in exchange for gold. After witnessing Christopher’s murder, Will—enlisted as a spy for the queen he detests—finds himself masquerading as English nobility as he pursues an unknown assassin and tries to quell his undeniable attraction to James. Sharp-tongued Will is riveting as the earnestly melodramatic and ill-fated hero whose tumultuous and forbidden romance with James pulses beneath every scene. Cotter weaves deep research on historic events and figures such as William Shakespeare and Irish pirate queen Gráinne Ní Mháille into this leisurely and delightfully wrought tale of love and deceit. Main characters present as white. Ages 14–up.

September 1, 2023
An Elizabethan actor witnesses the murder of Christopher Marlowe and accidentally becomes the queen's spymaster in this Achillean historical fiction. In 1593 London, Will Hughes scrapes together a life as a teenage actor at the Rose Theatre under the mentorship of Christopher Marlowe. Kidnapped from his anti-monarchist family at a young age, Will escaped indentured servitude and is now determined to get back to them. So when handsome young nobleman Lord James Bloomsbury offers him an exorbitant sum to stage an illicit play, Will is sure he's found his ticket home. But when Will sees Marlowe get stabbed through the eye and finds a phial of poison that may be meant for the queen, their plans are derailed. James convinces Will to team up with him to solve the murder and earn the queen's favor--something that's vitally important to James but that Will sees as risky. As their investigation grows, the two are pulled into an increasingly tangled web that includes spies, noblemen, the infamous pirate queen Gr�inne N� Mh�ille, and Queen Elizabeth I herself, not to mention complicated feelings for each other. Will and James' romantic arc is captivating, and Will's first-person narration is propulsive. The existence of Black people in Elizabethan England is acknowledged through the presence of Will's roommate Inigo. A well-balanced, well-researched dramedy, Cotter's quippy, heart-wrenching debut is ideal for fans of Mackenzi Lee and F.T. Lukens. To read or not to read? There's really no question: pick this one up. (Historical fiction. 14-18)

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 6, 2023
Grades 9-12 London, 1593. Meet 16-year-old Will Hughes, a suddenly unemployed and impoverished actor. Desperate for help, he turns to his friend, the playwright Christopher Marlowe, who, alas, is unable to assist--but a visitor to Marlowe's house, young James Lord Bloomsbury, is. In the meantime, Marlowe summons Will to a tavern where Will witnesses his friend's murder and vows, with James, to investigate the act. By several twists of a very twisty plot, this finds Will saving Queen Elizabeth's life. By way of a reward, she makes Will her spymaster, charged with the nearly impossible--and highly dangerous--task of finding her attempted murderers. In the meantime, Will and James fall desperately in love. Cue the happy ending music? Not just yet. Cotter has crafted an engaging mash-up of historical fiction and romance that, despite some agonizing decisions by Will, is sure to please its readers.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

December 2, 2023

Gr 9 Up-London, 1593. When 16-year-old Will Hughes's voice cracks in the middle of a performance, his days playing the women's roles in theatre productions are over. Desperate for work, he meets with his friend, playwright Christopher Marlowe, to seek out new roles. Unfortunately, Marlowe is murdered before Will's eyes, and he's the prime suspect. Suspecting that Marlowe may have been one of Queen Elizabeth's spies, Will finds himself in tangled in a treason plot more twisted than any play he's performed in. This historical fiction mystery features espionage, court intrigue, and queer romance. Readers will find themselves immersed in Elizabethan life and culture due to Cotter's excellent worldbuilding and intriguing characters. While recommended for readers of Mackenzi Lee and Virginia Boecker, this novel is slightly more serious, and some readers may be put off by the numerous twists and dragged-out ending. VERDICT An enjoyable historical fiction mystery with a prominent queer romance. Recommended.-Kaetlyn Phillips

Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2024
A fanciful treat set in the 1590s, Cotter's debut novel takes us from London's Rose Theatre to the court of Elizabeth I, onto the ship of famed pirate queen Grainne Ni Mhaille, and off to a trial at Dover Castle. Aptly, an excerpt of Elizabethan love poetry opens most sections of the story. Although this is a tale of traitors, murder, spying, poison, play-acting, and breathless risks and escapes, it is also the love story of actor and commoner Elias Wilde, his farming family made destitute by the queen, and Lord James Edmund Bauffremont of Bloomsbury: would-be medical man, scion of a brutal father, and reluctant fiance of a noblewoman. When Elias witnesses the savage murder of his friend Kit Marlowe, he vows to unmask the culprit. He thus comes into the employ of Lord Bloomsbury and finds himself disguised as a lord, ineffectually sleuthing but somehow winning the good graces of the queen, who appoints him and Bloomsbury her spymasters. Their career is one of wrong turns, misinterpretations, and bad judgments; what runs steadily through all the novel's eventfulness is Elias's fraught emotion: his forlorn urge to find his family and his growing passion and confidence in James's love. Cotter packs many sly literary and historical references into this playfully far-fetched queer tale, along with much romance and affection. Deirdre F. Baker

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2024
A fanciful treat set in the 1590s, Cotter's debut novel takes us from London's Rose Theatre to the court of Elizabeth I, onto the ship of famed pirate queen Grainne Ni Mhaille, and off to a trial at Dover Castle. Aptly, an excerpt of Elizabethan love poetry opens most sections of the story. Although this is a tale of traitors, murder, spying, poison, play-acting, and breathless risks and escapes, it is also the love story of actor and commoner Elias Wilde, his farming family made destitute by the queen, and Lord James Edmund Bauffremont of Bloomsbury: would-be medical man, scion of a brutal father, and reluctant fiance of a noblewoman. When Elias witnesses the savage murder of his friend Kit Marlowe, he vows to unmask the culprit. He thus comes into the employ of Lord Bloomsbury and finds himself disguised as a lord, ineffectually sleuthing but somehow winning the good graces of the queen, who appoints him and Bloomsbury her spymasters. Their career is one of wrong turns, misinterpretations, and bad judgments; what runs steadily through all the novel's eventfulness is Elias's fraught emotion: his forlorn urge to find his family and his growing passion and confidence in James's love. Cotter packs many sly literary and historical references into this playfully far-fetched queer tale, along with much romance and affection.

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)