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A Deal With the Devil
Liz Carlyle
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ASIN: 0743470036 |
Book Description
The acclaimed author of The Devil You Know pens a shimmering novel about a Scottish noblewoman on the run from her past and a powerful English lord brought to his knees by desire.
Aubrey Montford claims to be a widowed housekeeper. Desperate to keep her new post -- and her secrets -- she transforms desolate Castle Cardow into a profitable estate. Yet soon after her employer, Lord Walrafen, returns from long years of absence, Aubrey is suspected of murder. Sparks and tempers ignite whenever she and the smoldering earl meet, but he may be her only hope.
Walrafen returns reluctantly to the childhood home he loathes. Cardow is said to be haunted -- by more than the earl's sad memories -- but it was no ghost that murdered his uncle. Is the castle's beautiful chatelaine a murderess? At the very least, she's a liar -- he has proof. Yet the truth of his soul is that he's drawn to her with a kind of fierce passion he's never known....
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"The acclaimed author of The Devil You Know pens a shimmering novel about a Scottish noblewoman on the run from her past and a powerful English lord brought to his knees by desire. Aubrey Montford claims to be a widowed housekeeper. Desperate to keep her new post -- and her secrets -- she transforms desolate Castle Cardow into a profitable estate. Yet soon after her employer, Lord Walrafen, returns from long years of absence, Aubrey is suspected of murder. Sparks and tempers ignite whenever she and the smoldering earl meet, but he may be her only hope. Walrafen returns reluctantly to the childhood home he loathes. Cardow is said to be haunted -- by more than the earl's sad memories -- but it was no ghost that murdered his uncle. Is the castle's beautiful chatelaine a murderess? At the very least, she's a liar -- he has proof. Yet the truth of his soul is that he's drawn to her with a kind of fierce passion he's never known.... "
Customer Reviews:
Very Strong Heroine.......2006-11-20
very frustrating plot!!
This is the story of Aubrey, a scots lass on the run from you're not sure what. She has young Iain in tow; he is purported to be her son, but you question everything about this lady from page one.
Everything but her resolve and her character.
Enter the owner of the castle that she's the housekeeper for. She brings his conscience and his heart back to life.
I find the hero of the story to be selfish and stupid, which is why the low review. I realize that he has had some trials in the past, but, please GROW A PAIR. He seems to rely on his friends and uncle to have a clue. The fact that there is so much steamy sex simply pisses me off. What happens when she gets pregnant? Do either of them care? I simply cannot put this into plausibility
The plot and subplot are more than enough to carry the story. I read anxiously through the end to see exactly who was whom, what was what, and just how the author would pull the heroine through all this. It was a satisfying ending, for sure.
(*)>
hot and magnificent.......2006-11-09
This is a rare find: an emotionally mature, intelligent romance, where sparks believably fly between the hero and heroine. It's funny, but also touches on some very dark themes. Very rich, and one of my favorite Liz Carlyle historicals. One star off for getting the ball of the plot rolling by a botched communications scenario that's not quite believable.
Get this book today.......2005-10-01
This was my first Liz Carlyle book and for anyone who appreciates character development, great dialouge and tons of romance in a novel this book's for you. Carlyle does an excellent job of introducing a mystery that is believable without overpowering the main purpose of the book -romance. Her characters don't beat around the bush about their feelings for one another or engage in misunderstanding after misunderstanding before admitting their love. There is also quite a bit of humor early on. I highly recommend this book.
Did not expect Giles to be so charming!.......2005-05-24
In other books I found Giles more annoying than anything, with his too much of an interest in his stepmother Cecilia and his too much of an interest in politics. He seemed boring. Aubrey had a determination that made her perfect for Giles. I think he was 1/2 in love with her just from her letters about his estate and uncle - so when he finally arrives at Castle Cardow and finds out she is beautiful too - well that sealed the deal for him. I liked the fact that he trusted her no matter what others were saying. He had grown to know her somewhat through all those letters. So often these historicals are built around the main characters not trusting each other. It is hard to feel true love between the couple when there is no trust. No matter what others were saying about Aubrey Giles would not hear it. So his good friends Max and Kem (what a duo they make!!!) go out and find out about the background of Mrs. Aubrey Montford. Thank goodness they did too because without their knowledge and stubborness the truth of Aubrey's flight from Scotland might never have been resolved. But wasn't it great that she confessed all to Giles before his friends came back with their truth. This was a great romance and finally Giles has his own true love and can quit looking too lovingly at Lady Delacourt!!
My favorite cover.......2005-03-25
While I loved the book, this is my favorite cover art. It shows in good detail the appropriate clothing of the day.
Aubrey certainly had her secrets, didn't she?
Book Description
Dead on, to the point, fearless. A third-generation black nationalist feminist, Pearl Cleage recognizes the pure power of telling the truth -- about African-American life and about the fate of the race in racist America. This book will incite any and all thinking people to ponder, argue, rage, reflect, and maybe even riot . . . .
"Uncompromising . . . Blistering." -- San Francisco Chronicle
Customer Reviews:
Incisive.......2002-08-26
This collection of essays from Pearl Cleage, Black nationalist, feminist (actually a womanist) and artist gives her views on sexism, domestic abuse and racism. These essays were written in the early 90's and delve into controversies as diverse as the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Miles Davis' brutality to women, the flap over Luther Campbell's raunchy lyrics and the fuss over Spike Lee's films. Lee came under fire from scared White folks who feared (unnecesarily)that "Do the Right Thing," would incite violence and angry Black activists who worried that "X" would be a disservice to Malcolm's legacy. Cleage gives her own take on these events and many others that I won't attempt to list here. She lets no one off the hook and challenges us all to think critically instead following the herd.
I was a little put off by the first few essays in this collection because the author comes off as overwrought in the discussions about sexism, but the more I read with an objective eye I began to get upset myself. If it is true as she says that five women are murdered each day by men who claim to love them -- then why aren't more people discussing this? Domestic abuse certainly affects Black women across all socieconomic strata, yet you rarely hear Black leaders discussing it. Where is the outrage and condemnation? Where are Jesse, Johnnie, Al and all the other perennial frontmen for issues of race and racism? I am ashamed to admit that I never really gave much thought to sexism and domestic abuse, and this book was a real eye-opener.
"Mad at Miles," asks why so many people continued to support an artist who admitted to being abusive to his wife and was rumored to have beaten other women also. According to Cleage, fans were willing to turn a blind eye to Davis' mean streak even after he revealed in book that a frightened Cicely Tyson once called the police on him after he slapped the taste out of her mouth. And the incident isn't relayed with any sense of remorse. Still, folks continue to buy his work reasoning that she either asked for it, or protesting that his private life was off-limits. Cleage asks whether the same support would be afforded to a White artist who admitted to beating Black men who got on his nerves. Very interesting. While Cleage is Mad at Miles, she is supportive (if uncomfortably) of Luther Campbell's right to make his profane "music" and even allowed her teenage daughter to buy his CD.
Although Cleage takes issue with Black men who supported Clarence Thomas publicly while voicing their misgivings privately just for the sake of supporting the brother, she is also critical of Anita Hill for having taken so long to come forward about the harrassment she endured at his hands. This delay lead Cleage to question whether Hill is really the "Shero" she was made out to be after the hearings concluded. The way Cleage sees it, Hill's failure to report the harrassment violated the laws she was supposed to be uphold, and she only came forward during the hearings because she was compelled to do so, which was not quite as honorable as it would have been had she come forward on her own. Or even better, if she had reported Uncle Thomas way back when he first got out of line.
Passionate and informed, Cleage has firm opinions on everything, and while I might not always agree with her position, I do admire her zeal. And just because you don't agree with someone that doesn't preclude you from learning something from her. This book will make you rethink some things about your own thought process and values, and for that I am grateful. After all, it is challenge that leads to growth.
Survival Manual for the Black Woman's Psyche.......2001-04-19
In this collection of essays, Pearl Cleage seems to speak my thoughts -- all of the things that I think about but am afraid to say for fear of being labeled as a traitor to my race. And she says these things in an easily readible down to earth tone. Cleage takes a brave stand - calling out the inequities that come from being a member of an oppressed sex within an oppressed race. This book is one of several that essentially changed my life, letting me know that the notion that gender struggles must take a backseat to racial struggles is not only misguided but dangerous.
This book is AWESOME!!!.......1999-06-15
Electrifying, Deep-joy crying! Undying! Never lying! This Book is a MUST READ!!! You GO GIRL!!!!!! Cleage is a truth teller...Buy this Book for yourself, your children, your children's children, your neighbor, their neigbor, your momma, yo momma's momma, and so on and so forth!! Pass it on as Oprah says, Pass it on........
THOUGHT PROVOKING.......1998-02-02
Cleage is an unsung master of the essay. She writes about issues that affect African Americans that are on eveybody's lips but also about things that do not come up as often. I would certainly recommend this book to any man or woman who wants to thinks critically about gender and how it plays itself out in the African American community. Cleage writes about people you know and celebrates them when they are beautiful as tell it like it is when they are wrong. "Deals With the Devil" is an excellent choice for book clubs because it lends itself easily to discussion and debate. In short, READ this book, then pass it on.
THOUGHT PROVOKING.......1998-02-02
Cleage is an unsung master of the essay. She writes about issues that affect African Americans that are on eveybody's lips but also about things that do not come up as often. I would certainly recommend this book to any man or woman who wants to thinks critically about gender and how it plays itself out in the African American community. Cleage writes about people you know and celebrates them when they are beautiful as tell it like it is when they are wrong. "Deals With the Devil" is an excellent choice for book clubs because it lends itself easily to discussion and debate. In short, READ this book, then pass it on.
Average customer rating:
- Panda Myrtle Young'n'Splat
- Nice, tight and full of the devil
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Deals with the Devil
Manufacturer: DAW
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Greenberg, Martin H.
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Resnick, Mike
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ASIN: 0886776236 |
Customer Reviews:
Panda Myrtle Young'n'Splat.......2006-03-04
BLOODY BORING. NO IMAGINATION. NO PUNCH. NO KICK. NO HOPE. TO HELL WITH IT...PUN INTENDED!!!
Nice, tight and full of the devil.......2001-12-09
A solid collection of extremely well-written and accesible tales about the oldest villain in the game: Satan. The takes some people have on him are numerous and colorful, and there's almost not a single stinker in the book. Not inundated with stories that require degrees in theology, either. Great fantasy with a social edge, and good for people who don't even dig fantasy.
Customer Reviews:
demons and how to deal with them.......2002-12-05
I orderd this socall book its only 26 pages long.
Average customer rating:
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Battling with the devil and depression
William S Deal
Manufacturer: Deal Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
General
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ASIN: B000714EUY |
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A Deal With the Devil
Leonard Maxwell
Manufacturer: Writers Advantage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 059522623X |
Book Description
Fletcher Stryker and his top assistant
Sonny Anderson are seconded to the U.S. President¡¯s special committee for International Corruption and Fraud to recover or destroy, a set of almost perfect U.S. dollar printing plates that have disappeared.
Their investigations take them to London, England; only to find that their lead, a young Barbadian man named
Joe Large, has been brutally murdered. They meet the
¡®Englishman¡¯ and their beautiful contact
Roberta Campbell and they challenge and uncover the interests of
Leonardo Giuliani, the head of the most powerful crime family in Italy, and his son
Fredo. Influential, black Lawyer
Oliver Sobers and his daughter
Bess get involved in the investigation as does
Tudor Knight a suburban housewife married to a successful lawyer and has two children. Exceedingly artful she cleverly constructs a double life where she is able to find the love and excitement t is so important to her but it gradually and unwittingly leads her into a web of international intrigue and crime. The story switches from Barbados to England and from America to Italy. At the end it is Tudor Knight who is left to make a crucial decision. Her actions have inadvertently put at risk the lives of her innocent children. To save them she has to sacrifice herself or perhaps make a deal with the devil.
Average customer rating:
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Deal with the Devil
Robert diChiara
Manufacturer: Forge/ A Tom Doherty Associates Book
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GWIDTW |
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Deal With The Devil
Sandra Marton
Manufacturer: harlequin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
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Marton, Sandra
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ASIN: 0373111940 |
Customer Reviews:
Followup to NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING.......2005-06-14
The story opens with "The Death of Donald MacAdam", familiar with readers of NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING through his involvement with Bobby Hannaford's ill-planned financial shenanigans. MacAdam's now famous as the man who'll send most of the rest of his generation of Main Line financiers to jail after agreeing to testify. Now a pariah in the financial community, he's just had his contract bought out by Baird Financial (although it's being run from the inside by Bobby's soon-to-be-released cellmate, Jonathan Baird).
Then somebody decided to be rid of MacAdam permanently, by way of a little strychnine - not in his cocaine, which would've passed for stupidity on his part, but by means unknown. MacAdam's death is one of two murders in the story, and is introduced with a lot of emphasis, but then fades from view for an extended period, which gives the story a lumpy feel. The main story doesn't pursue any investigation of the death of Donald MacAdam, in fact, but a subsequent coming-home/Thanksgiving celebration by Baird after his release: a little trip on the PILGRIMAGE GREEN, Baird's personal replica of the MAYFLOWER, complete with dysfunctional family, business partners, and one Gregor Demarkian and his sidekick Bennis.
Thanksgiving, a time for families to get together with an emphasis on the dinner table, seems tailor-made for Cavanaugh Street, with its family atmosphere and deeply held belief in feeding widowers like Gregor and Tibor who can't be trusted with coffeemakers. Unfortunately, whenever the good ladies of Cavanaugh Street get together they try to matchmake as well as cook, so Gregor and Bennis opt out this year by accepting Baird's invitation to spend Thanksgiving aboard the PILGRIMAGE GREEN, supposedly to investigate leaks at Baird Financial.
The firm's security isn't the only thing with weaknesses in it.
Baird's also invited:
- his son Tony (about to switch from "finding himself" to working at Baird Financial, if he can pass scrutiny in a tough regulatory atmosphere)
- his brother Calvin, business partner (too detail-oriented to succeed professionally)
- Charlie Shay, business partner (whose capacity for details is confined to crosswords)
- Jon's trophy wife Sheila
- Jon's ex-wife Fritzie (amazing what a woman will agree to when her ex controls her income)
- Jon's nephew Mark Anderwahl, whose success depends on his wife's professional contributions
- Julie Anderwahl, head of PR, coping with an unexpected complication to the life of the dual career couple
Baird says early on, "What is it about me, my wives aren't unfaithful with other men, they're unfaithful with credit cards and diet programs". Most of this dysfunctional family are emotionally barren and obsessed with image, just in different ways. Sheila is a typical Haddam-style trophy wife, concentrating on material possessions, emotionally uninvolved with her husband except as he affects her public image. Fritzie, suffering from an eating disorder, doesn't have enough energy to think clearly. The older male members of the family have an assortment of failed marriages between them thanks to their focus on their careers, which mostly hasn't gotten them anywhere.
As usual with the early Gregor books, we don't see much of Cavanaugh Street itself in FEAST OF MURDER except at the beginning and end of the story. Set during the same year that Armenia declared its independence from the Soviet Union, FEAST OF MURDER is set back-to-back with A STILLNESS IN BETHLEHEM, and marks Cavanaugh Street's transition from a refurbished old neighbourhood of the grown children of immigrants back to an immigrant neighbourhood, as the influx of distant cousins from the old country begins sweeping in. Father Tibor, of course, is working too hard settling refugees (the reason he, Bennis, and Gregor go on holiday in the next book).
The most noticeable item marking this book as an early 1990s period piece, though, is that Baird Financial's corporate headquarters are in the World Trade Center.
Demarkian deserves a better plot.......2003-04-22
On the good side, this was a fast and easy read. Haddam sometimes uses oddly phrased sentences in her other books but this wasn't as bogged down by that defect in her style.
Sadly, it doesn't give a first time Demarkian reader a sense of the Armenian-American former FBI agent's thought processes. I would start with Quoth the Raven or One to Die For or another one of the series if this is your first entry into the Demarkian books.
The ending was easily guessed ahead of time.
As Haddam uses holiday themes, this one is Thanksgiving. The one piece that bothered me most was the use of Puritan throughout the book when Pilgrims manned the Mayflower. There is a differnce between these Separatists. This use of "Puritan" detracted from my absorbtion in the book.
Book Description
This is the second in criminologist Aubert's series starring Ellis Portal, the disgraced former judge who solved the mystery in her 1997 novel Free Reign , praised by The New York Times as a smart, successful who-dun-it whose sleuth is a character with great dignity and unusual moral depth.
Customer Reviews:
Like Tony the Tiger.....this book is Grrrrrrrrrrrrrreat!.......2004-02-29
Looking for a great book with a little bit of everything? If so The Feast of Stephen is the book that you are going to want to read! This story contains a hidden love story, some drama, and lots of mystery. Ellis Portal is a had-been. He used to live the perfect life with a wife, a daughter named Ellen, and he was a judge. They all lived in a beautiful house in Toronto. When Ellis begins getting in to bad drinking habits, his wife walks out on him taking Ellen with. Ellis quits his job as a judge and now lives on the streets. The only person that he keeps in touch with is his friend Queenie. Queenie is uneducated and refers to Ellis only as "your honor". She lives on the streets also. When Queenie's friend Melia dies and the cops hide all information on the case she instantly takes action in to her own hands. Her and Ellis begin finding stranger and stranger clues. Each case is linked together could Ellis be the next victim?
This book is a great page-turner. I have a really hard time finding books that actually keep me interested enough to finish them. This book kept me reading. I never wanted to put it down! Rosemary Aubert has a superb writing style that will keep you interested. She is very descriptive with an interesting perspective. -The park was full of children sliding down its steep slopes on pieces of cardboard and plastic, the almost fluorescent blues, purples and pinks of their winter jackets making a bright confetti splash of color against the snow- this was one of my favorite lines out of the book. I really felt as if I was there when I read this line. Overall this is a really great book.
I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a great mystery. A lot of this book contains a lof of court context though, so you have to have a slight interest in the court system. I really enjoyed this book and I hope that you will too!
The Feast of Stephen.......2000-02-24
One of the sad facts of modern life as that the "have-nots" among us tend to die earlier and with less fanfare and official interest than the "haves". Ellis Portal is a homeless person who at one time was a judge. He's been on the streets for several years. Two years earlier, he was instrumental in solving the murder of a young homeless girl. Since that time, he's gone into isolation, living rent free in an abandoned government hatchery. A fellow street person and friend named Queenie walks 13 miles from the center of Toronto to find him. She believes that one of her homeless friends, a woman named Melia, has been murdered, although it looks like she froze to death. Since winter is just beginning and the homeless are fairly smart about living in the elements, this doesn't seem to be a probable cause of death. More suspicion is raised when a threatening Bible verse is found on her person.
Ellis doesn't really believe that Melia was murdered, only agreeing to look into it because of his respect for Queenie. Several other deaths of street people follow, all found with a different threatening Bible verse. Ellis doesn't mention it, but he has received several of these verses himself. The other link between all the deaths is that the victims appear to be court "groupies", those people who hang around courtrooms observing trials, possibly because they suffered at the hands of the justice system. It's difficult for Ellis to think about reentering the judicial environment because he is so far from the lofty heights he occupied as a judge. However, most fortuitously (and implausibly), he is offered the opportunity to serve as an Officer of the Court which gives him a bird's eye view of what's happening in various courtrooms.
Although the police don't seem terribly interested in the deaths of the impoverished, there is one man named Matt West who goes beyond a token effort. He finds out that the various deaths have been caused by administering the poison curare. And there appears to be some kind of connection to a crostic puzzle about saints that's appearing in the media.
Aubert has a gift for writing descriptive passages, some of them almost lyrical. She also introduces various elements of homelessness that bring the street people closer to the reader. What does one do with a winter coat when one has no home? How does one live with the constant rejection by the so-called civilized people? However, I felt she was less successful overall than in the first book in the series, Free Reign. For one thing, Ellis is not really that down and out. He earned some money and is able to live in a boarding house (which, oh so coincidentally, happened to be a house where he once lived with his family). It was much more interesting when his abode was a self-made shelter in the outdoors. Secondly, all the victims received one Bible verse and died; Portal has received about a dozen. I've never been too fond of the main character having an "aha!" moment where all becomes clear. Aubert is a good writer and the focus on the homeless interesting; but overall, the book is only average.
Interesting characters, twisting plot. Textures and layers........1999-08-22
I always liked Dorothy Sayers assumption that her readers were intelligent, educated and well read. Rosemary Auberg seems to start with the same assumption while leading her reader through interesting avenues. Her characters seem so real that one must decide if one is up to meeting them. Her clues so honest and wickedly devious they are a joy.
Book Description
"DELICIOUS . . . Robinson makes history live and breathe again."
*The New York Times Book Review
The small group gathered at Lord Meren's country house to celebrate his homecoming is soon to become yet smaller. Beautiful Anhai, Meren's cousin-in-law, falls victim to murder--an act of violence as inscrutable as the sphinx. True, she had myriad lovers and a scorpion tongue, but why was her body arranged so meticulously, as if for sleep? The most dreadful possibility is that the crime has to do with Lord Meren's awesome undercover mission for the pharaoh, for which his feast of rejoicing is in part a cover. This mission cannot, must not, fail. Ruthlessly stripping bare the deepest secrets of the nest of cobras who are his nearest relatives, Meren finds the thread that leads to the truth and the unmasking of a shocking crime in the court of the living god. . . .
"As Robinson deftly juggles ancient Egyptian political intrigue and a riveting mystery, she proves again her mastery of the historical whodunit."
*Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Customer Reviews:
Lord Meren series, the best of the Egyptian mystery series.......2007-03-24
Robinson, holds a PhD in anthropology. Apparently, her husband bet her she could put it to use writing mysteries set in the past. They are about Lord Meren, the "Eyes and Ears of the Pharaoh" (an actual position, sort of a secret service type of job) in the time of King Tutankamun "Murder in the Place of Anubis" is the first in the series, but very hard to find. This series is, to me, the best of all the current ancient Egyptian mystery series, and superior to the current popular ancient Rome series as well. Write more and re-release the older ones, please!!
A country house party in the *old* tradition.......2002-12-07
After being wounded at the conclusion of the previous story, Meren needs to leave Memphis, rest, and recover his health - and not-so-incidentally orchestrate the transfer of extremely secret royal cargo from the former heretic capital city, Horizon of the Aten, to its new resting place in Thebes. What could go wrong during a nice quiet rest on the family estate in Abydos?
If you have to ask, you *must* come from a small family.
Meren's widowed sister Idut is in charge, training Meren's younger daughters Bener and Isis in estate management - and against Meren's express orders, she's organized a great feast of rejoicing, inviting most of Meren's extended family, including outspoken great-aunt Cherit, Meren's spoiled younger brother Nahkt (called Ra), and widowed Lady Bentana (Meren's female relatives think she'd make him an excellent wife). At the end of the list are the two names Meren least wants to hear this side of the halls of judgement: Hepu and Nebetta, who disowned their son Djet. Meren blames them for the suicide of the cousin who was far closer than his own younger brother. Even their surviving son Sennefer is warped, forever boasting of his sexual conquests while his embittered wife Anhai poisonously points out that he hasn't given *her* a single child in a dozen years of marriage, and threatens divorce. All this doesn't include two or three lawsuits, Anhai's maneuvering to get a good settlement, Hepu's agonizing habit of reading his own proverbs at banquets, Idut's new suitor Wah, Ra's drunken irresponsibility, and the young scribe Nu, who's been hanging around Bener lately - and the typical embarassment of much older relatives treating Meren like a toddler.
When one of Meren's more poisonous relatives turns up dead in the grainary, Meren is in charge of the investigation - after all, he's the local lord, and he's the Eyes and Ears of pharaoh anyway. I believe the body count in this story rises to 3 - and if *that* weren't enough, pharaoh himself clandestinely visits the area to check up on the transfer of the cargo. Meren has his hands full persuading Tutankhamun *not* to try to pass himself off as an ordinary nobleman so he can watch the investigation close up.
Some of the physical evidence is strange, giving Meren's physician a chance to shine. Kysen, after days of putting up with Meren's family's attitude - 'get rid of the adopted peasant, remarry, and father more sons' - exacts beautiful payback from the worst bully of the pack.
Even without Meren's own opinions on the ineffectiveness of torture in interrogation - having suffered it on the orders of Ahkenaten - he tends to encounter cases in this series wherein the suspects' position protects them from such indignities. In the case of some of his more trying relatives, though, he's not above making certain threats - and for any man who thinks improper thoughts about Meren's daughters, Meren gets downright graphic.
Simply delightful read!.......2002-06-05
What a delightful read! I've read them all now and I think this is the best one--and it is very good indeed. I whooshed through them all with complete delight, and this is the most endearing of the series; but it is also the best-constructed. By that I mean it is by far the best puzzle--for mystery fans like me--and the plot had the fewest holes. Some of the books are slow to start; this one is not. All of them have wonderful and gripping climaxes that solder you to the page. It will be much more enjoyable if you read the series in order, beginning with "Murder in the Place of Anubis," which is the weakest of the series, but still a delight and a pretty good mystery. The three books that follow this one are also beautifully done--but it's very easy to guess the "who's" from the "dunits." I can't wait for the next book. A very, very charming and beautifully narrated and imaginative series.
Typical Family.......2001-08-07
Lord Meren is sent home to rest but his sister arranges a family reunion instead. How many of these characters actually come from your own extended family? I recognized the majority from mine
. This really makes Lord Meren into a human being rather than an historical personage. The series gets better with each book as I read them.
Lord Meren is supposed to rest, but murder finds him again........2000-10-10
Lord Meren was injured in the solving of the Murder at the God's Gate, and Pharoah has granted him a leave to journey to his home in the country and recover. Of course, Meren never rests, and this trip also has another purpose. The bodies of the heretic, Ahkenaten, and his queen, Nefertiti, are to be entombed near Meren's estate until a proper place for them can be constructed. Those who were injured during Ahkenatens rule tried to interrupt his eternal rest by disturbing the bodies and looting the tombs. It is most important to King Tut that his brother and sister-in-law are properly cared for in death.
Unfortunately, Merens sister, Idut, has planned a feast for his homecoming despite his express directions to the contrary. His estate is crawling with relatives who squabble, meddle in his romantic life, and accuse him of shirking family duties. To make matters worse, Pharoah shows up, wanting to make sure the bodies are properly entombed.
As Meren is at his wits end, his cousins wife turns up dead, her body found in a granery. There is no evidence of murder, but what was the woman doing there and how did she die? She did not lack for enemies, and Meren's job is made more difficult when his family members and friends become suspects.
Book Description
Over time, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine has published short stories against a background of varied Jewish occasions, incorporating these events into the story. Abigail Browning has gathered these works into a colorful collection that swings from a wedding that could be a comic Montague vs. Capulet to the touching tale of a women asking forgiveness for a murder on her conscience. Larry Beinhart's 'Funny Story' received the British Crime Writers Gold Dagger, Doug Allyn's 'The Christmas Mitzvah' clearly demonstrates why this author's short stories have won prizes year after years, and James Yaffee's 'Mom,' applies her common-sense solution of a crime for the benefit of her New York detective guest. The variety of moods, the believable insertion of a crime into a traditional event, all this combine to make a volume of stories notable for their authors, their publication in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, and the colorful customs of an age-old people.
Customer Reviews:
nice collection.......2006-04-10
I enjoy reading Jewish fiction because it makes Judaism come alive. Adding mysteries to the fiction makes them even more intriguing. I enjoyed all the stories in this collection. My only complaint was that three of the stories appeared previously in Mystery Midrash, another collection of Jewish mystery stories. That book, along with Criminal Kabbalah, were also good collections. The repeated three stories were all good, but I would just have preferred no crossover.
A Fascinating Collection of Mysteries with a Look at Jewish Culture.......2005-12-02
I am ashamed to say that a lot of the Jewish customs and holidays were confusing to me. However, since I read this superb anthology of mystery stories, I have a better understanding of some of the traditions and occations people of the Jewish faith celebrate.
Anyone who enjoys delightful mysteries, ranging from "cozies" to "hardboiled" private eye thrillers will find an excellent story within this collection.
"Bread of Affliction," by Michael Kahn, centers around the task of a female atorney to keep an elderly Holocaust survivors estate out of the hands of a distantly related family who have ties to Neo-Nazi groups. This story uses Passover as a backdrop.
"Comes the Revolution," by Gregory Fallis, is a delightfully funny story about a woman trying to get along with her boyfriend's adopted mother. The mother suspects that her next-door neighbor is a terrorist. Jewish beliefs are prevalent within this story.
"A Sabbath Flame," by Ronald Levitsky explores a murder within a family that occurred long ago.
"The Lipkin-Wexler Affair" by Louis Weinstein, is a hilarious story reminiscent of the Romeo and Juliet theme.
"Mom Remembers," by James Yaffee, is my own personal favorite, and involves a mother relating a story about her late husband, which aids a police inspector in solving a present-day murder. The mom is very similar to Agatha Christie's Miss Marple.
These are just a few examples of the extraordinarily unique and delightful stories that comprise this collection. There is also a glossary in the back of the book, which is helpful in translating some of the foreign words. This book is a must-read for those who love mysteries, and enjoy learning about different faiths. Happy reading!
exciting who-done-it collection w a Judaism base.......2004-03-28
This is a twelve story collection that uses Jewish traditions especially holidays and special occasions as a backdrop to a mystery mostly murder. Nine of the tales appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine with six of these since 1996; two are from the 1980s and one from 1967. Alfred Hitchcock Magazine provided two entries (1995 and 1998 respectfully). While the final tale is an Arthur Conan Doyle story (not Holmes).
Each tale is fun to read as the typical Jewish event is disrupted by a crime. Most of the contributions provide insight into the Jewish religion and customs while also furbishing a fine mystery. The glossary at the end of the book describes forty to forty-five terms/foreign words used within at least in one story with simple explanations. Fans of thematic anthologies and those who want to know a bit more about Judaism inside an exciting who-done-it collection will appreciate this powerful compilation that can be savored by reading a tale or two during Pesach (the eight day Passover holiday).
Harriet Klausner
Book Description
Glasgow, 1492: Gil Cunningham remarked later that if he had known he would find a corpse in the university coal house, he would never have gone to the arts faculty feast. But then—as Alys his betrothed replied—he would never have met ... Socrates.
In this mysterious adventure, Gil Cunningham and his colleagues are entertained by a play presented by some of the students at his old university for the Nicholas Feast. One of the actors, William Irvine, is later found murdered, and Gil, fresh from his success in solving the murder of the harper’s quine, is the obvious person to investigate. Assisted by Alys and her father, Pierre, he begins to disentangle a complex web of espionage and blackmail involving William’s tutors and fellow students.
First one chamber and then another is ransacked before Gil himself is attacked. It appears someone is looking for missing papers. Oddly, the late William’s wolfhound pup, Socrates, now becomes a focus for attention, and matters are complicated by the arrival of Gil’s formidable mother, who is determined to inspect his betrothed. Little do Alys and Gil realize that it will be she who provides the vital key to unmask the murderer and his motives.
Customer Reviews:
A feast for sore eyes?.......2006-08-12
"Oh what a tangled web we weave," Shakespeare would write some 100 years later. In the meantime, Pat McIntosh gives us a taste of what he might have meant in her second of a series featuring Gil Cunningham in "The Nicholas Feast."
Set in 1492 (a convenient year for any historical writer!), "The Nicholas Feast" finds young (and still single) Mr. Cunningham, student of law and nephew of a local official, embroiled in solving his second murder in less than a month (The first being "The Harper's Quine"). Gil is on hand to observe academic ceremonies of his alma mater during this church holiday and it's now time (hardly before lunch) that a murder is committed. Young William Irvine, one of the students and an actor at the pageantry observance, is found in the coal house with lots of clues and non-clues scattered about his person. He is the bastard son of the influential Montgomery family and Gil discovers that he is even more than that. He's a 16-year-old extortionist, who many at the school would have motive for his death. Complications, indeed, arise. And Gil is given two days to solve the case. Or else.
McIntosh clearly demonstrates her knowledge of historical Glasgow (which apparently was no more beautiful than it is now) and following the success of her first Cunningham novel knows how to create a readable historical murder mystery. Her style is terse and moves quite easily--except for the fact that, in order to accentuate the local color, she drops into too much Scots dialect for most American readers, anyway. Some would be fine, but too much is, well, too much and it becomes a stumbling block at times.
The plot moves quite well, despite that, until the climactic scene (ah, yes, Ms McIntosh has read all of Agatha Christie's works, it seems) and relies upon the old "gather everyone in parlor and I'll tell solve the crime while surrounded by all the characters who COULD have done the deed." Sigh, indeed.
Character-wise, though, the author gets a good mark here. Clearly, she's entranced by her central character (as she should be) and Gil Cunningham has the makings of a fine 15th century sleuth and academic. His romantic interest, Alys, though comes across a bit syrupy but credit goes to the author for providing us with a 15th century woman, ready to jump into the 20th century: she can read; she has a mind of her own; she's ready to act independently; and she's also likeable. I suspect Ms McIntosh will wed the two sooner of later.
A third in the series is already out (a good sign). "The Nicholas Feast" is a good read. (Billyjhobbs@tyler.net)
All right.......2006-07-18
The author obviously knows a great deal about the era.
With that said, I found the "brogue" (I guess it was Scots)very distracting and I really couldn't follow many of the character conversations. One of the pleasures of reading is the interplay/interaction of the characters themselves-since I couldn't understand much of what was written (although I could get the gist), it wasn't as enjoyable as it would have been otherwise.
Good but not as good as the first book in the series.......2005-11-14
While I liked this book, I did not feel it was as well written as the first book in the series. It felt as though the author was pushed to have a second in the series too fast to do as complete a job. Hopefully, the next book will match the quality and detail of "The Harpers Quine."
Books:
- A Fan's Notes
- Accordion Crimes
- Across the Nightingale Floor (Tales of the Otori, Book 1)
- Along Came a Spider (Alex Cross Novels)
- Any Rich Man Will Do
- Aunt Dimity Beats the Devil (Penguin Mysteries)
- Awaken Me Darkly (Alien Huntress, Book 1)
- Baa Baa Black Sheep
- Black Cherry Blues: A Dave Robicheaux Novel
- Blind Alley
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