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Title: The Dons and Mr Dickens: The Strange Case of the Oxford Christmas Plot by William J. Palmer ISBN: 0-312-26576-X Publisher: St Martins Pr Pub. Date: 01 November, 2000 Format: Hardcover List Price(USD): $23.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.67 (3 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Palmer Strikes Again
Comment: Very amusing. The Dons mentioned in the title, except for one now known MUCH better by his nom de plume, are appropriately corrupt/ineffectual, so gentle reader can safely trust that William J. Palmer has indeed been professing for many years, somehere, per the bio. Inspector Field is his usual gruff efficient sage self & the watch of Wilkie Collins, Cub Novelist, disappears promptly. An apprentice detective named Morse appears. One may predict that he will master his work, someday, plus enjoy his beer, ruefully, all around Oxford. Ellen Ternan, light of the life of late great Dickens, begins to materialize, participating as a character actress playing a lovely Irish barmaid snitch. Will she be ravished? Mr. Dickens is not sure he likes this role, much, but controls his inimitable self, barely. Petty deduction for gratuitous allusion, in French, but a good, even explosive, read.
Rating: 4
Summary: Authentic "Fictional History" from popular mystery scholar
Comment: It is quite evident in this latest addition to Palmer's stable of victorian mystery novels that the author enjoys an intimate knowledge of 19th century England in general and Oxford University specifically. Had I not read his Bio I would have believed that William Palmer was a "public school" boy raised in the UK. While somewhat less "bawdy" than his earlier contributions, Palmer nonetheless succeeds in incorporating the Dodgson character in to his standard Dickens/Collins partnership, and in the process delights us with even more details surrounding the "Sherlock Holmes type" of Opium prevalence during the period. All in all, this Christmas release is yet another credit to the numerous kudos earned by Palmer with previous books.
Rating: 5
Summary: A very clever who done it
Comment: In 1853 London, Metropolitan Protective Inspector William Field asks Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins to identify the corpse of a white man found in a nearby opium den. The tie that the victim wears tells Wilkie that the dead man is a member of Oxford. Another associate of the two writers, Charles Dodgson recognizes the deceased as a history don at Oxford.
At the urging of Inspector Field, the three associates decide to investigate the murder of the don. Although they have worked previous cases, Dickens, Wilkie, and Dodgson remain writers/wannabe authors playing amateur sleuths. Their actions soon place their very lives and that of Dickens' mistress in danger from an unknown assailant.
The fourth Dickens-Collins Victorian mystery is a clever who-done-it, populated by literary references and their associated footnotes. The story line is fun although the use of Victorian era dialect makes one wonder if Dickens is heading in the direction of Chaucer and Shakespeare, difficult to read without a translator. The plot belongs to the trio of writers as the audience sees a glimpse of them beyond the classroom and outside their novels.
Harriet Klausner
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Title: The Price of Murder (Sir John Fielding Mysteries (Hardcover)) by Bruce Alexander ISBN: 0399150781 Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons Pub. Date: 09 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Patient's Eyes by David Pirie ISBN: 0312990987 Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur Pub. Date: 01 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Castle Rouge (Irene Adler Mysteries) by Carole Nelson Douglas ISBN: 0765345714 Publisher: Forge Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Outcast Dove (Catherine Levendeur Mysteries (Hardcover)) by Sharan Newman ISBN: 0765303779 Publisher: Forge Pub. Date: 01 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Legion by William Altimari ISBN: 0972872604 Publisher: Imperium Books Pub. Date: 01 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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