The first in a series of medieval mysteries by an author well known for her historical novels (When Christ and His Saints Slept, 1995, etc.) introduces 20ish Justin de Quincy, a foundling who's just discovered that his father is the Bishop of Chester. The Bishop, in the guise of charity, has overseen Justin's education and insured his welfare, but he refuses to acknowledge their relationship. Stunned and furious, Justin flees. On the road to London he comes across a pair of cutthroats and the Winchester goldsmith they've left to die—Gervase Fitz Randolph, who begs Justin to deliver a letter, hidden on his person, to Queen Eleanor in London. All England is talking about the disappearance of King Richard, the Queen's son, in the aftermath of his failed campaign to take the Holy Land, and of the scheming of his younger brother John to become king—with help, perhaps, from King Philip of France. The letter, delivered by Justin after much travail, is disquieting, but at least it reassures the Queen that Richard is sill alive. There are reasons to believe that someone had hired Randolph's killers to retrieve the letter, and the Queen commissions Justin to find out that person's identity. The search involves myriad helpers—from Luke de Marston, the undersheriff of Hampshire, and Sergeant Jonas of London's constabulary, to the denizens of Gracechurch Street, where feisty Nell runs an alehouse. It's a long haul, crowned with ironic success. A graceful style, plus a plot rich in local color, puts this among the most attractive by far of the recent spate of mysteries set in medieval times.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-8050-3885-X
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1996
An undisciplined but powerfully lacerating story, by an author who knows every block of the neighborhood and every hair on...
After five adventures for Boston shamus Patrick Kenzie and his off-again lover Angela Gennaro (Prayers for Rain, 1999, etc.), Lehane tries his hand at a crossover novel that’s as dark as any of Patrick’s cases.
Even the 1975 prologue is bleak. Sean Devine and Jimmy Marcus are playing, or fighting, outside Sean’s parents’ house in the Point neighborhood of East Buckingham when a car pulls up, one of the two men inside flashes a badge, and Sean and Jimmy’s friend Dave Boyle gets bundled inside, allegedly to be driven home to his mother for a scolding but actually to get kidnapped. Though Dave escapes after a few days, he never really outlives his ordeal, and 25 years later it’s Jimmy’s turn to join him in hell when his daughter Katie is shot and beaten to death in the wilds of Pen Park, and State Trooper Sean, just returned from suspension, gets assigned to the case. Sean knows that both Dave and Jimmy have been in more than their share of trouble in the past. And he’s got an especially close eye on Jimmy, whose marriage brought him close to the aptly named Savage family and who’s done hard time for robbery. It would be just like Jimmy, Sean knows, to ignore his friend’s official efforts and go after the killer himself. But Sean would be a lot more worried if he knew what Dave’s wife Celeste knows: that hours after catching sight of Katie in the last bar she visited on the night of her death, Dave staggered home covered with somebody else’s blood. Burrowing deep into his three sorry heroes and the hundred ties that bind them unbearably close, Lehane weaves such a spellbinding tale that it’s easy to overlook the ramshackle mystery behind it all.
An undisciplined but powerfully lacerating story, by an author who knows every block of the neighborhood and every hair on his characters’ heads.Pub Date: Jan. 30, 2001
ISBN: 0-688-16316-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2000
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
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