- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: Constable (29 Mar 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1841192279
- ISBN-13: 978-1841192277
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,655,884 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| |||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Based on a string of horrifying crimes that have taken place, this book evokes a fledgling American South in the aftermath of the Civil War. A brutal serial killer is terrorising the streets of Austin, Texas. This is a departure from Saylor's popular series of Roman detective stories featuring Gordianus the Finder.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In "Honour the Dead" Saylor moves from ancient Rome to Austin, Texas: quite a shift in scene. The story itself is based on true events, although novelized successfully by Saylor. He seems rather less comfortable in this setting than in ancient Rome, but the series of murders that take place are gripping and interesting. His characterizations vary, with the main narrator being rather disappointingly like a cliché of the American southwest. A good read if your mind is open to a very different Saylor book, less even in tone, but beguiling nonetheless.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I picked this up with interest, having read all the Gordianus books I can lay my hands on. I loved it! Completely different to the Sub Rosa series but still has Saylor's talent for creating another time and place and making it real. I have no priory knowledge of early Austin Texas but it came to life for me. I don't feel it matters if the historic facts are correct but is it believable - yes!
I found it a good mystery, which kept me guessing for quite awhile. Half the fun of mystery/detective novels is trying to work out "whodunit" and seeing if you're right at the end. This book fulfilled these criteria.
I found it a good mystery, which kept me guessing for quite awhile. Half the fun of mystery/detective novels is trying to work out "whodunit" and seeing if you're right at the end. This book fulfilled these criteria.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This story is a wonderfully written fictionalised account of the crimes committed against, mainly, black servant women in the recent post-civil war era in Austin, Texas and, as such, represents something of a departure for its author. Saylor is rightly lauded for his Sub Rosa series featuring first century B.C.E sleuth Giordianus the finder in novels such as Roman Blood. However, this book is also about crimes, and particularly horrible ones at that, and their solutions in the context of a society in which slavery, although technically abolished, is still, effectively, part of the `mind-set' of its members, both black and white.
The story of the crimes is skilfully interspersed, by Saylor, with that of the renowned short story writer, O. Henry, the nom-de-plume of William Sydney Porter, who lived in Austin at the same time that the murders took place, and also features other prominent contemporaries, such as Elizabeth Ney, the celebrated sculptor of German origin, who sculpted the busts of several Texan notables of the time. But the real strength of the story is the way in which it reveals the ingrained attitudes of the controlling white population towards their black and largely servile `fellow' citizens. Moreover, the story illustrates how such attitudes blinded the law enforcement officers of the time to the possibility that the crimes could have been committed by those other than of black African racial origin.
As well as the crimes at the book's core the story, which is told partly in flash-back, is also about first love and the coming of age of a young man grown to middle age as he reflects on his youth and the choices he made when young and inexperienced.
The narrative pace is quite slow and suited to the gradual unfolding of the gruesome events that gripped the city at the time and one which is entirely in keeping with a seemingly valid evocation of the pace with which life was then lived. Nevertheless, the deftly drawn, engaging characters, Saylor's prose and adroit hand at authentic sounding dialogue ensure the reader's rapt attention from the first word to the last.
The story of the crimes is skilfully interspersed, by Saylor, with that of the renowned short story writer, O. Henry, the nom-de-plume of William Sydney Porter, who lived in Austin at the same time that the murders took place, and also features other prominent contemporaries, such as Elizabeth Ney, the celebrated sculptor of German origin, who sculpted the busts of several Texan notables of the time. But the real strength of the story is the way in which it reveals the ingrained attitudes of the controlling white population towards their black and largely servile `fellow' citizens. Moreover, the story illustrates how such attitudes blinded the law enforcement officers of the time to the possibility that the crimes could have been committed by those other than of black African racial origin.
As well as the crimes at the book's core the story, which is told partly in flash-back, is also about first love and the coming of age of a young man grown to middle age as he reflects on his youth and the choices he made when young and inexperienced.
The narrative pace is quite slow and suited to the gradual unfolding of the gruesome events that gripped the city at the time and one which is entirely in keeping with a seemingly valid evocation of the pace with which life was then lived. Nevertheless, the deftly drawn, engaging characters, Saylor's prose and adroit hand at authentic sounding dialogue ensure the reader's rapt attention from the first word to the last.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
