This is the first of S.J. Parris’ thrilling Tudor mysteries centered on the former Italian monk and philosopher/scientist Giordano Bruno. The battlefront of the novel is in England, where Elizabeth I is fighting to keep her reign secure from Catholic forces in Europe and within her own country that want to topple her and capture the throne for Mary, Elizabeth’s imprisoned cousin and Catholic Queen of Scots. This first book gives us some background on our unlikely hero; Bruno has been buried in an Italian […]
A 16th Century Tudor Thriller
Prophecy is the second of a trilogy of historical fiction novels that take place in Elizabeth I’s England, where the so-called “art of diplomacy” is but a thin veneer for a war of intelligence over which empire—French, English, Spanish– will reign in Europe and beyond. The year is 1583, and the Italian philosopher/mathematician/astrologer/poet and former Dominican monk Giordano Bruno has fled the Catholic Inquisition in his homeland and settled in the “relatively more enlightened” city of London, where he lives in the home of the […]
Never Trust a Man Called Gaston
My grandmother loved Victoria Holt, and I must have read my fair share of these historical romances from her stash when spending summers at her place, back in the day. The only one I can actively remember is The India Fan, but there must have been others. How else would you explain the fact that I could predict much of the plot of Seven for a Secret by the end of the first chapter? Holt has her patterns, her beloved tropes, and she turns to them […]
The Invention of Sensationalism
“What class the murder was, what class the victim was, how the death occurred, all these things made a great deal of difference to public interest,” writes Judith Flanders. She’s referencing Victorian England, but she may as well be talking about the U.S. in the twenty-first century (and England and many other places, no doubt). A full century before the term “missing white woman syndrome” was coined, so much about justice in Victorian England resonates with frightening similarity to our own time and place. First […]
I’m glad I don’t have the sort of birthday parties Harry Dresden gets thrown
Dudes, this is book 14 in the series. Do NOT start with this one. Do NOT read this review if you haven’t read books 12 and 13, there will be spoilers, because it’s pretty much unavoidable when reviewing this book. If you’re interested in the series, I would recommend starting with nr 4, Summer Knight. I would also like to heartily endorse the audio books, narrated excellently by James Marsters. I’m hiding the review behind the link so as to avoid anyone being inadvertently spoiled. If you, however, have read […]
Are any of us really innocent when we get down to it?
3.5 stars This is book 24 in the In Death series. I wouldn’t recommend starting with this one, although if you’re interested in plot summaries of earlier ones, I’ve reviewed most of the previous ones on the blog. My experience is that either you really like these books, or you don’t. There seems to be very little in-between. Craig Foster is planning a history quiz for his pupils at a New York private school while having lunch, and dies horribly from ricin poisoning at his desk. The […]
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