- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Robinson Publishing; New edition edition (25 July 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1841195650
- ISBN-13: 978-1841195650
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 645,057 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
'Shows how a society that is founded on inequality and injustice can be a perfect hunting-ground for the deranged... Saylor goes to considerable trouble to make the atmosphere of the place feel authentic.' - Times Literary Supplement; 'A riveting mystery... fascinating and provocative' - The New York Times; 'This captivating historical romance noir should be heralded a breakout for the seasoned author.' - Publishers Weekly; 'Saylor, a veteran of the historical novel... saves a cunning twist for the end.' - Washington Post Book World; 'A convincing account of old-time, good-old-boy Southern corruption and bigotry.' - The Spectator
Product Description
The year is 1885. A brutal killer is terrorizing the streets of Austin, Texas, and panic engulfs the city as one black servant after another is slain. The spectre of bigotry emerges when lawmen indict a black man but as the bodies continue to mount it becomes apparent that the killer is still on the loose...and the resulting trial uncovers one explosive scandal after another, threatening to tear the city of Austin apart. Steven Saylor, author of the resoundingly successful series of murder mysteries set in Ancient Rome [Roma Sub Rosa], proves his sure touch with this sinister and gripping thriller set nearer our own times, with resonances that still ring out.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A very different Saylor novel,
By A Customer
This review is from: Honour the Dead (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:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fan of Steven Saylor,
By
This review is from: Honour the Dead (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.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gory, gory, hallelujah!,
By
This review is from: Honour the Dead (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.
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