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Title: An Unpardonable Crime : A Novel by Andrew Taylor ISBN: 1-4013-0102-9 Publisher: Hyperion Pub. Date: 03 March, 2004 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.8 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: THIS VOICE PERFORMANCE IS PURE PLEASURE
Comment: Noted Shakespearean actor Sir Derek Jacobi certainly needs no introduction to audiences. He is one of the most acclaimed actors of our time and deservedly so. Born in Britain and knighted by the Queen, he received a Tony Award for his performance in Much Ado About Nothing; his most recent film appearance was with Russell Crowe in The Gladiator.
It is rare when an actor and a story seem so perfectly matched that it is nigh on to impossible to imagine anyone else presenting the reading. Such is the case with Sir Derek Jacobi and "An Unpardonable Crime," a mystery set in 19th century London.
Early in the century a bank collapses, and a man is found dead at the site. One more man seems to have disappeared in the dangerous Seven Dials area of the city.
At this same time Edgar Allan Poe was ten-years-old, and a student in a small village, Stoke Newington. It would seem that all would be sanguine and safe in this protected enclave, but that is not the case. London's grisly doings have a far reaching effect, stretching to a schoolmaster, Thomas Shield, who is at first confused then understandably frightened by this puzzling chain of events.
Listening to this story as read by Sir Derek Jacobi is pure pleasure.
- Gail Cooke
Rating: 4
Summary: Who Calls the Shots?
Comment: This book had lukewarm reviews in the national press, which seems unwarranted to me. I read it with absorption in every available minute over the course of four days.
Mr.Taylor's adoption of the late-Regency language and authorial tone -- adapted for modern readers -- is pleasing, and the England of that era comes alive. As far as I can tell, it is faultlessly portrayed; the setting [Dickensian London, Austen-esque country-house]is almost as important as the characters. We might think with good reason that Mr. Taylor has been impressed both by the books of Patrick O'Brian and by The Quincunx of Charles Palliser, all books set just a few years earlier in time.
And although anyone who has read The Quincunx will think of it off and on while reading An Unpardonable Crime, Taylor's book is nowhere near the harrowing experience -- so if you want to be harrowed, don't read this. Taylor is far more benevolent in his outlook than Palliser.
Instead, An Unpardonable Crime is a leisurely but satisfying excursion through the increasingly troubling adventures of an impoverished gentleman, thrown by accident into the bosom of a wealthy but sinister family. Certainly the mysteries mount up, the suspense builds. Our hero is in a perpetual quandry as to whether he acts or is acted upon: chance and will are equal forces here.
Rating: 5
Summary: Edgar Allen Poe revisited
Comment: In Andrew Taylor's atmospheric feast, AN UNPARDONABLE CRIME, a man is found brutally murdered on a building site; another goes missing in the teeming stew of the city's notorious Seven Dials district. A deathbed vigil ends in theft, & a beautiful heiress flirts with the wrong class of people.
What connects these events? A school master & an American boy, Edgar Allen (Poe), brought to England by his foster father & sent to a boarding school in the sleepy village of Stoke Newington.
It is 1819 - Britain & America have at last quit fighting. The Regency Period is in high swing & the traffic of people & money between the countries is flowing fast. Into this new world where social classes are re-forming, a young teacher & the boys in his care, boys who could almost be twins, are drawn into a maelstrom of intrigue, murder & love.
Rebeccasreads highly recommends AN UNPARDONABLE CRIME for those who relish historical fiction, based on journals & research. It will be right up your cobblestoned alley.
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Title: A Question of Blood: An Inspector Rebus Novel by Ian Rankin ISBN: 0316095648 Publisher: Little, Brown Pub. Date: February, 2004 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: The Bookman's Promise: A Cliff Janeway Novel (Cliff Janeway Novels (Hardcover)) by John Dunning ISBN: 0743249925 Publisher: Scribner Book Company Pub. Date: 01 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: The Narrows: A Novel by Michael Connelly ISBN: 0316155306 Publisher: Little, Brown Pub. Date: 03 May, 2004 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: A Spectacle of Corruption by David Liss ISBN: 0375508554 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 01 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Game: A Mary Russell Novel (KING, LAURIE R) by Laurie R. King ISBN: 0553801945 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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