Scan barcode
eososray's review against another edition
4.0
Another sordid murder in London, more great characters and a foray into the horse racing world continue to make this a great series.
roshk99's review against another edition
3.0
An exciting mystery set in London, where the fragmented pieces of the puzzle slowly come together
marilynsaul's review against another edition
4.0
Always enjoyable, but I must admit I'm getting a little annoyed at Jeremy. He's supposedly so bright and eager to learn, yet he is in so many ways clueless and easily prone to umbrage when he thinks he's being slighted (when it's all in his clueless mind). Oh, well....I'll plow my way through the rest of the series :-)
weaselweader's review against another edition
3.0
An enjoyable, lightweight historical mystery!
The novel opens on a shocking, dark and deeply tragic note with a waterman's unsettling discovery of five year old Maggie Plummer's naked body floating in the Thames. That she has been brutally sexually molested outrages and appals the brilliant, blind magistrate, Sir John Fielding, who institutes an immediate, urgent investigation with the assistance of his protégé, Jeremy Proctor, and Jeremy's fiancée, Clarissa Roundtree. Jeremy and Clarissa, the intrepid and stalwart Constable Patley and Maggie's uncle, the celebrated jockey Deuteronomy Plummer (who is heart-broken at his niece's death), determine that Maggie's mother, a gin-soaked doxy from Seven Dials, sold her daughter and promptly disappeared to parts unknown. Subsequent investigation reveals that Maggie's mother, thinking she was giving up her daughter to a better life through adoption to a wealthy family, had been tricked into selling her into prostitution and slavery. The plot thickens as key witnesses are murdered and the evidence begins to point to London's upper class.
The Price of Murder is a delicious, eminently readable potpourri of styles - first person narration of the tale by Jeremy Proctor in the style of Conan Doyle's Watson; a finely crafted,immensely satisfying mystery plot reminiscent of Agatha Christie's efforts; and a darker, earthier, much more candid representation of Georgian England's working and criminal class that might have been penned by the likes of Anne Perry. I personally would have preferred a deeper exploration into the criminal class and a story that probed prostitution, slavery and trafficking in children as opposed to the less controversial exploration of the horse-racing class in England which the reader was given. That particular disappointment was perhaps a little more profound than it otherwise might have been had Alexander not whetted my appetite so strongly with such a cruel, hard opening to his story!
The sub-plot of the disappearance of Clarissa's erstwhile friend, Elizabeth Hooker, effectively wove in and out of the main narrative and was used to provide a very cute, clever ending which it would be quite unfair to disclose. You'll have to read the story yourself for that! The atmosphere and ambience that many other writers of historical fiction would have chosen to provide through the use of extensive descriptive passages or exposition of surrounding historical facts and details was, in a word, absent! Nevertheless, the reader is granted a pleasing feel for the period by Proctor's first person narrative that provided period appropriate conversations, motives, characteristics and actions, for example, appropriate to the stimuli that would have driven a resident of 18th century Georgian England.
Equal parts historical fiction, police procedural and mystery with just the tiniest dash of Upstairs, Downstairs tossed in for good measure, The Price of Murder is a thoroughly enjoyable, light, fast-paced read. You won't regret taking a copy to the cottage or the beach!
Paul Weiss
The novel opens on a shocking, dark and deeply tragic note with a waterman's unsettling discovery of five year old Maggie Plummer's naked body floating in the Thames. That she has been brutally sexually molested outrages and appals the brilliant, blind magistrate, Sir John Fielding, who institutes an immediate, urgent investigation with the assistance of his protégé, Jeremy Proctor, and Jeremy's fiancée, Clarissa Roundtree. Jeremy and Clarissa, the intrepid and stalwart Constable Patley and Maggie's uncle, the celebrated jockey Deuteronomy Plummer (who is heart-broken at his niece's death), determine that Maggie's mother, a gin-soaked doxy from Seven Dials, sold her daughter and promptly disappeared to parts unknown. Subsequent investigation reveals that Maggie's mother, thinking she was giving up her daughter to a better life through adoption to a wealthy family, had been tricked into selling her into prostitution and slavery. The plot thickens as key witnesses are murdered and the evidence begins to point to London's upper class.
The Price of Murder is a delicious, eminently readable potpourri of styles - first person narration of the tale by Jeremy Proctor in the style of Conan Doyle's Watson; a finely crafted,immensely satisfying mystery plot reminiscent of Agatha Christie's efforts; and a darker, earthier, much more candid representation of Georgian England's working and criminal class that might have been penned by the likes of Anne Perry. I personally would have preferred a deeper exploration into the criminal class and a story that probed prostitution, slavery and trafficking in children as opposed to the less controversial exploration of the horse-racing class in England which the reader was given. That particular disappointment was perhaps a little more profound than it otherwise might have been had Alexander not whetted my appetite so strongly with such a cruel, hard opening to his story!
The sub-plot of the disappearance of Clarissa's erstwhile friend, Elizabeth Hooker, effectively wove in and out of the main narrative and was used to provide a very cute, clever ending which it would be quite unfair to disclose. You'll have to read the story yourself for that! The atmosphere and ambience that many other writers of historical fiction would have chosen to provide through the use of extensive descriptive passages or exposition of surrounding historical facts and details was, in a word, absent! Nevertheless, the reader is granted a pleasing feel for the period by Proctor's first person narrative that provided period appropriate conversations, motives, characteristics and actions, for example, appropriate to the stimuli that would have driven a resident of 18th century Georgian England.
Equal parts historical fiction, police procedural and mystery with just the tiniest dash of Upstairs, Downstairs tossed in for good measure, The Price of Murder is a thoroughly enjoyable, light, fast-paced read. You won't regret taking a copy to the cottage or the beach!
Paul Weiss
plantbirdwoman's review
3.0
This wonderful series continues in its tenth installment. Sir John Fielding and Jeremy are as vivid in their characters as Holmes and Watson and they are just as effective as a team. Reading this - preferably after having read all other nine in the series - will just leave you wanting more.
More...