Book Reviews and More: All Our Yesterdays - Guy Hale

Monday, 10 August 2026

All Our Yesterdays - Guy Hale - Shakespeare Murders Book 2

All Our Yesterdays

Shakespeare Murders Book 2

Guy Hale

Bullington Press

ISBN 9781068363320

eISBN 9781068363344

ASIN B0F2XXRMVV

All Our Yesterdays - Guy Hale - Shakespeare Murders Book 2

I picked up the first volume in this series for a few reasons. First over the last several years I have become a big fan of mystery books coming out of England, Ireland and Scotland. I have read most volumes from the likes of J.D. Kirk, Alex Smith, K.T. Galloway, and J.E. Mayhew and am always willing to give another author a try. Second my kids and I are huge fans of Shakespeare and we attend the Stratford Festival in Ontario often and typically go to all the Bards plays each year. Third I have been reading some other Shakespeare based fiction lately like Ted Neill’s Post Apocalyptic Space Shakespeare Series and the Shakespearean Shorts from Pettyfeather Publishing. And finally it was highlighted in a Kindle blast of books on sale I might be interested in. I loved that first volume and almost started this offering as soon as I finished that first one. About the author on his site we are informed:

“Guy Hale was born in Worcestershire, England. His first job was as a Professional Golfer. He also played Rugby and raced motorcycles until his mid-twenties. When this failed to kill him he started writing plays, mostly two handers which he performed in pubs and assorted venues with his mate, Andy.”

This was another very good story I am planning on reading everything in print from Guy Hale. My friends call me a ‘completionist’ in that when I find an author I love I try and read everything they have in print. But I am getting ahead of myself, back to the volume at hand.

The description of this volume is:

“Act II

Stratford-upon-Avon, Spring 1932

Six years after fire destroyed the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, a new troupe of actors is taking Stratford by storm. But offstage, Felix Richards suspects something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

Morris Oxford feels he needs no introduction. The greatest actor of a new generation…The theatre means everything to him but his talent is tainted by the depths of his ambition.

All Our Yesterdays, takes us back to where it all began. The stage is set, but uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.”

This story is a little different. First it jumps back in time almost exactly 40 years. The previous volume’s main action took place in 1972, but with reference back to events when the antihero was an actor and even earlier when his father was on stage. This one goes back to that period during 1932. The first story was a revenge story and police procedural. This one gives us a much deeper look at the backstory to cause those events. 1970s Stratford-upon-Avon police procedural. This story features elements from Othello, MacBeth and quotes Henry IV, Part 2. We are given a lot more of the history and what a burden Felix has carried for 4 decades, and why he likely provoked the events of book 1.

As the bard penned “All the world's a stage” and in this volume we get to see how Morris Oxford is a far worse villain in real life than he ever played on stage. We get an insight into how he created his ‘legacy’ that we see 4 decades later in the first volume. And we get to see that others are nearly as bad. I would not go so far as to say murderer, but negligent homicide would not be a stretch. At one point in the text it states:

“Shakespeare was the master of comedies but his greatest plays were tragedies and we, unwittingly, were trapped in one of our own. But all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. The play had begun and we were but players.”

The chapters or scenes in this Act are:

Prologue

Veni, Vidi, Vici (I Came, I Saw, I Conquered)

Fault Lines

We Happy Few

A Clash of Kings

The Lesser of Two Evils

The Man Who Would Be King

Dead Men’s Shoes

The Key to Sorrow

The Silent Witness

A Deal with the Devil

Childhood’s End

The Closing of the Ranks

A Gilded Cage

Storm Clouds Gathering

We Few, We Happy Few

Farewell, Sweet Prince

The characters are excellent, the plot surprising and fresh. And the book leaves you desperate for the next instalment! A great read I can easily recommend. And I look forward to the remaining two volumes in the series.