Sedley (Dance of Death, 2009, etc.) provides another fine mystery set against the backdrop of the turbulent 15th century.
Forsaken by his family, Roger the Chapman follows them from Bristol to London, and despite his desire for peace and quiet is again embroiled in mystery and intrigue.
After a woman shows up on her doorstep along with what she claims is Roger’s child, Roger’s wife Adela celebrates 1483 by fleeing to the home of distant relatives. Arriving at the home of the Godslove family, Roger is surprised to receive a warm greeting. Adela, it seems, wants Roger to help the family solve the mystery of the often fatal accidents that are plaguing them. Clemency, Sybilla and their lawyer brother Oswald live with their half-sister Celia in a rambling house run by housekeeper Mistress Rokeswood, who appears to be in love with Oswald. Two of their siblings are dead, and others have had close shaves. Who’s responsible? Oswald suspects a doctor who’s in love with Celia and a silversmith whose family used to own their home and wants it back. But Roger wonders if the plotter may be a displeased client. When Celia vanishes, the family is desperate to find her. Roger searches London while trying to avoid involvement with the Duke of Gloucester. Though he’s undertaken several secret missions for the Duke, he’s wary of getting mixed up in the latest royal infighting now that King Edward IV has died.
Sedley (Dance of Death, 2009, etc.) provides another fine mystery set against the backdrop of the turbulent 15th century.Pub Date: June 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7278-6870-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Severn House
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2010
This ran in the S.E.P. and resulted in more demands for the story in book form than ever recorded. Well, here it is and it is a honey. Imagine ten people, not knowing each other, not knowing why they were invited on a certain island house-party, not knowing their hosts. Then imagine them dead, one by one, until none remained alive, nor any clue to the murderer. Grand suspense, a unique trick, expertly handled.
Pub Date: Feb. 21, 1939
ISBN: 0062073478
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Dodd, Mead
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1939
SEEN & HEARD
More of a western than a mystery, like most of Joe’s adventures, and all the better for the open physical clashes that...
Wyoming Game and Fish Warden Joe Pickett (Free Fire, 2007, etc.), once again at the governor’s behest, stalks the wraithlike figure who’s targeting elk hunters for death.
Frank Urman was taken down by a single rifle shot, field-dressed, beheaded and hung upside-down to bleed out. (You won’t believe where his head eventually turns up.) The poker chip found near his body confirms that he’s the third victim of the Wolverine, a killer whose animus against hunters is evidently being whipped up by anti-hunting activist Klamath Moore. The potential effects on the state’s hunting revenues are so calamitous that Governor Spencer Rulon pulls out all the stops, and Pickett is forced to work directly with Wyoming Game and Fish Director Randy Pope, the boss who fired him from his regular job in Saddlestring District. Three more victims will die in rapid succession before Joe is given a more congenial colleague: Nate Romanowski, the outlaw falconer who pledged to protect Joe’s family before he was taken into federal custody. As usual in this acclaimed series, the mystery is slight and its solution eminently guessable long before it’s confirmed by testimony from an unlikely source. But the people and scenes and enduring conflicts that lead up to that solution will stick with you for a long time.
More of a western than a mystery, like most of Joe’s adventures, and all the better for the open physical clashes that periodically release the tension between the scheming adversaries.Pub Date: May 20, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-399-15488-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2008
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