|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
The husband and wife team of Susan Wittig and Bill Albert have created a series which takes place in the early twentieth century in England and features two attractive protagonists. Lord Charles Sheridan is a wealthy aristocrat who is fascinated by scientific advances especially in the field of crime detection. His wife Kate is a best selling romance novelist under a pseudonym and uses his crime solving forays to generate plots for her series. The involvement of the Sheridans in their latest adventure is quite dramatic. While they were at Housesteads, a Roman camp along Hadrianıs Wall, they were summoned to a special train loaded with soldiers from the Household Guard with bicycles and were told the King needed them to join the train. They knew nothing else until they arrived at Glamis Castle where they found a servant from the castle had been brutally murdered and a strange reclusive guest there, Lord Osborne, had disappeared. They soon learn the very surprising identity of Lord Osborne and understand that German spies would find it very valuable to get him to Berlin and reveal that identity. So the Guards and Lord Charles along with Kate must find him first as well as foil the Germans in the increasing attempts to destabilize Britain. The mystery is fairly nonexistent. The knowledgeable reader will know quite early in the book what is actually happening and be surprised that it takes Lord Charles any time at all to figure out where ³Lord Osborne² is hiding and who his benefactors are. Rescuing him is fairly simple also, although foiling the Germans requires a bit more enterprise. There is a bit of adventure here and quite a bit of Scottish history to take the place of the mystery. It is the historical and physical setting that makes this story so attractive. The time period, the beginning of the twentieth century, is full of clashing swords and secret activities. The long peace of the Victorian Age is past and the new rulers are itching to try out their new toys, especially Kaiser Wilhelm. Spying and sowing discord among potential enemies is perfectly acceptable. Eventually all these activities will bring the world to the moment in the summer of 1914 when despite everyoneıs desire to avoid war it has become inevitable and thus the great defining moment of the twentieth century begins. Glamis Castle itself is absolutely fascinating. It is one of the oldest castles in Britain and associated with riveting historical figures such as Macbeth (who was probably never there); Mary, Queen of Scots; the Old Pretenders; and Bonnie Prince Charlie among others. Naturally there are ghosts as well including the Monster of Glamis who may well have been real. It was the ancestral home of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother who recently died. The Paiges have done an excellent job rooting their story in the time and in the setting. The castle is a very special place and we get a chance to see behind many of its doors. One of the purposes of this series is to show how rapidly technology was advancing in this time period. Each book tends to highlight a particular technology as Lord Charles applies it to the solution of the crime. He routinely uses fingerprints and in this book calls on newly acquired knowledge of blood and blood typing. All in all this was a most interesting book to read, especially if one is interested in British history and very particularly this so idyllic-appearing time, a time we now know ws rife with all those ingredients which would ultimately lead to war.
Reviewed by Sally A. Fellows, March 2003
This book has more than one review. Click here to show all.
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
| 
