Cliquer sur une vignette pour aller sur Google Books.
Chargement... Crowner Royalpar Bernard Knight
Aucun Chargement...
Inscrivez-vous à LibraryThing pour découvrir si vous aimerez ce livre Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre. Series: Crowner John Mysteries The Burton Review Rating: 3 stars The blurb: "It is April 1196. At the command of King Richard and his Chief Justiciar Hubert Walter, county coroner Sir John de Wolfe—along with his officer Gwyn of Polruan and clerk Thomas de Peyne—has left Exeter for London where he is to become the first Coroner of the Verge. Thrust into the intrigues of the closed world of the Royal Court, John quickly finds himself embroiled in a case of theft, blackmail, espionage, and murder." This is the thirteenth novel in the Crowner John series, where a medieval detective gets the nasty job of determining the various whodunit's that all seem to happen at the same time. This one has a little bit of everything in it, from the main character brooding about women troubles to him avidly supporting his absent King. There are bodies floating in rivers, lying face down in marshes, missing suspects, and the very important English treasure trove has been looted as well. Before one mystery even gets close to solving another one occurs.. I was getting a little aggravated at the lack of expertise on the "coroner's" part. Crowner John was just recently awarded the post of "Coroner on the Verge" where he is in charge of all investigations that occur within the 12 mile radius of the Royal Palace of Westminster. Even that comes into question, where John needs to fight for his right to investigate the second murder. There was a lot of eating, in the Hall or in his rooms with the fare always being described in detail. The author takes a lot of time to create the atmosphere with his back story of the palace and the politics of the times. I was not overly fond of the characterization of John: he was gruff, moody, facetious. His two sidekicks were not quite as rough as John but added a bit of human to the story. They clearly wanted to be back in their homes in Exeter and not in London. I enjoyed the mini history lessons and facts that were inserted throughout the mystery story line, but I did find the solving the actual mysteries a bit long winded due to the repeated discussion of the times. The medieval era is certainly something the author has a lot of knowledge of, I would have preferred a bit more drama for the present as well as the history. Once we got to the last quarter of the book, things started occurring and advancement in unraveling the conspiracies was being made, which were quite comical in some parts. When we are not learning about the dark and musty residences, we are treated to John's apparent acute sex appeal, as the wife of a noble immediately sets him in her sights and blatantly makes passes at him during the aforementioned meals. John is portrayed as a man with an appetite for women and several times is caught commiserating about the wife he left behind in a nunnery. Yup. Seems I missed something in the previous novels, but despite John's attractiveness his wife has put herself in exile to be far from him and is now Sister Matilda. What's a man to do? He entertains an old girlfriend and of course has no qualms about bedding the married woman who bats her eyelashes. (OK, he does ponder his issues a few times.) Wait.. is this a conspiracy amongst the knights or the priests? The Old Queen Eleanor is on her way.. Her son Prince John does not have a good reputation yet some are talking behind closed doors about supporting him instead of his brother King Richard..Can John find the missing treasure trove pieces before she arrives, and can he find out who is behind all the dead bodies surrounding him? An interesting medieval mystery, and recommended for those who enjoy slow developing mysteries with interesting twists. Find it at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com, and Crowner Royal will be released on August 06, 2009 in Trade Paperback; Crowner Royal released on April 06, 2009 in Hardcover in the UK. aucune critique | ajouter une critique
Appartient à la série
London, 1196. At the command of Richard the Lionheart, Sir John de Wolfe has left his beloved West Country for the Palace of Westminster, where he has been appointed Coroner of the Verge. But with the king overseas, embroiled in a costly war against King Philip of France, Sir John is dismayed to discover that the English court is a hotbed of greed, corruption and petty in-fighting. The murder of one of the palace clerks, stabbed in broad daylight and thrown into the River Thames, leads John to suspect that there's a conspiracy underway to overthrow King Richard. And with the visit of the dowager Queen Eleanor fast approaching, the new Coroner must risk his life to prove his suspicions are right, root out the traitors within and prevent a national catastrophe. Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
Discussion en coursAucunCouvertures populaires
Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)823.92Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 2000-Classification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
Est-ce vous ?Devenez un(e) auteur LibraryThing. |
I recommend this book if you are a person who wants to read everything in a series, but I certainly don't recommend reading this book first. For one thing, a body would be lost at all the references to previous occurrences; for another, it is not a good example of the author's work and a new reader would likely be inclined to skip the other books in the series, thereby missing some good reading. ( )