Hamlet - John Marsden

I must admit to liking the odd murder mystery or two, but this book is something else. For those of you unfamiliar with Shakespeare's play Hamlet then this book may be a quirky gothic mystery - death of the king...widow remarries hastily.....ghost of dead king....young prince doubting his sanity....sexual tension simmering beneath it all....

Marsden's prose is lyrical and his setting of Hamlet in contemporary times is certainly effective. But who would want to read this type of novel? I found it a little self-indulgent and asked myself, "Why would you bother?" Shakespeare had such a good turn of phrase......