- Paperback: 416 pages
- Publisher: Bantam (3 Mar 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0553813897
- ISBN-13: 978-0553813890
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 470,154 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
The Grenadillo Box is Janet Gleeson first foray into novel writing, her last two books, The Arcanum and The Moneymaker, were Coditude-style micro-histories of porcelain and the inventor of paper money. Gleeson has not completely abandoned the past, however; this is an atmospheric 18th-century whodunnit. It begins à la Agatha Christie with a mysterious death in a library and eventually concludes, in true Poirot fashion, with our detective explaining his deductions in the very same library. (A further ingenious genealogical twist is reserved until the final pages.)
Nathaniel Hopson, a journeyman to the great cabinetmaker Thomas Chippendale, is employed to install a new library in Horsehearth Hall, the Cambridgeshire seat of the cantankerous Lord Montfort. On the evening of its completion the obnoxious Montfort is found dead. His corpse is covered in leeches but he appears to have been shot and an elegantly carved wooden box lays by his side. With vast gambling debts it is assumed that he has committed suicide to prevent his creditor Lord Foley gaining control of the estate. Hobson (and Foley) are not so sure. After stumbling on the mutilated corpse of his colleague John Partridge (the man who designed the library) in a frozen pond nearby, Hobson is convinced Montfort was murdered. Could Partridge, a foundling, have had some claim to Montfort's fortune? How are Partridge, Montfort, Chippendale and Foley all connected to the Italian actress Madame Trenti? And just why is Chippendale so desperate to recover a series of drawings from Montfort's library? Although loosely based on real incidents and bolstered with plenty of authentic detail (Gleeson was a once a Sotheby's antique expert) this novel often resorts to some fairly hoary melodramatic conceits along the way. Hobson and cohorts, for example, seem to discover an extraordinary number of conveniently illuminating long lost letters. The dialogue doesn't always ring true, though there are a pleasing smattering of "I was a lusty one and twenty years" and more than a couple of wonderfully bawdy Boswell-isms. Despite its flaws this is still an immensely enjoyable historical detective yarn. --Travis Elborough --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
The Times
'Supremely juicy'
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Clumsiness rather than cleverness marked the starting point. Read the first page
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Clumsiness rather than cleverness marked the starting point. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book was recommended to me by a friend and although I'm a modern murder and thriller reader normally, I decided to give it a go - and I'm so glad I did.
Janet Gleeson has brought the 18th century vividly to life with her descriptions of not only the scenery and smells (and yes there are occasions when you really can smell things!) but also the social niceties of the day. The hero for instance due to his station in life is not allowed to question statments made by a Lord, even when they are patently wrong as it is 'not his place' to do so. This makes the murder mystery even more intriguing as many things we would take for granted that you could do nowadays, were closed off to him during his investigations.
The description of travelling on top of a carriage in the snow whilst the other travellers were inside with their feet buried in straw to keep them warm, made be glad to be alive today! There are many other descriptions of everyday life of which I was totally unaware so this book has educated as well as entertained me.
This book is unputdownable and I thoroughly recommend it.
5 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a very ordinary detective novel first and foremost. The plot, transposed into 20th / 21st would probably not make it past the publisher's in-tray. The fact that its shoe-horned into Georgian England doesn't make it much better in my view. What I found most disappointing was the flipping between 18th century speech patterns and more modern ones. Its the prose equivalent of a 18th Century character in a film listening to their iPod on screen. I didn't find any of the characterisations to be believable. I thought the narrative was inelegant. If you like authors like Griffin and Palliser you should steer well clear of this.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
7 reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
A highly atmospheric and exquisitely detailed debut
4 Mar 2004
Format:Hardcover
On New Year's Day, 1755, Nathaniel Hopson, an apprentice or journeyman to the cabinet maker, Thomas Chippendale, has just completed the finishing touches on the library of Lord Montfort at his country estate. He soon finds himself embroiled in a conflict as Lord Montfort is discovered dead in that same library. It is initially thought to be a suicide due to despondency as a direct result of excessive gambling debts. However, blood on a windowpane and the discovery of a body in a nearby pond tends to indicate a strong possibility of murder. One of the dead men is an old friend of Nathaniel and draws him into the investigation of the deaths. He travels, not only in this country village, but, throughout London to get at the truth.
A great deal of research went into this highly atmospheric and exquisitely detailed debut novel. A complaint might be that the author went into a bit too much detail thereby slowing the pacing, at times, to a standstill. However, characters were, overall, very realistically sketched and fit in quite well to the historical setting. It is this innate ability that Ms. Gleeson had to draw the reader into another world that makes this first novel so sterling. The highly compelling plot and clever solution only confirm this as one of the year's best.
A great deal of research went into this highly atmospheric and exquisitely detailed debut novel. A complaint might be that the author went into a bit too much detail thereby slowing the pacing, at times, to a standstill. However, characters were, overall, very realistically sketched and fit in quite well to the historical setting. It is this innate ability that Ms. Gleeson had to draw the reader into another world that makes this first novel so sterling. The highly compelling plot and clever solution only confirm this as one of the year's best.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
an excellent and riveting read
18 Jan 2004
Format:Hardcover
Because his good friend and fellow journeyman, John Partridge, is indisposed, cabinet maker Thomas Chippendale asks Nathaniel Hopson, to go to Cambridgeshire in order to install the new library that Lord Montfort had commissioned. And even though Nathaniel would much rather stay in London and pursue an acquaintance with the charming Miss Alice Goodchild (who is currently running her father's wood business), duty dictates that he obey Chippendale's orders. At Montfort's estate however, he finds himself at the beck and call of a petty tyrant, much given to violent displays of temper, and who's disposition has made life rather unpleasant for both his much younger second wife, as well as for his unmarried sister. Nathaniel is looking forward most heartily to finishing the job and leaving Cambridgeshire, when disaster strikes: on the very night that Lord Montfort had invited his neighbours to dinner and in order to show off his new library, he's found dead in the library. Everyone at first believes that he has killed himself, especially when it comes to light that Montfort had lost a great deal of money to his neighbour, Lord Foley. But Nathaniel observes certain things that leads him to the conclusion that Lord Montfort may have been murdered instead. Everything becomes even more complicated when the mutilated body of Nathaniel's friend, John Partridge, is found frozen in a lake on the estate. Are the two deaths connected? And if so how? Did the two men know each other? Did Montfort kill Partridge or vice versa? These are the questions that plague Nathaniel. And when Lord Foley, who for reasons of his own, decides to make use of Nathaniel in order to discover what really happened that fateful night, Nathaniel reluctantly agrees to play investigator. Because for Nathaniel, discovering who killed Partridge and why is far more important than discovering what the rich and the titled are up to. And he will use whatever pretext comes his way in order to bring Partridge's murderer to justice...
"The Grenadillo Box" made for some truly riveting reading. The authour is a rather well known art and antique expert, and her grasp for the history and social mores of the time (mid 18th century England) was fairly evident and added to the richness and texture of the novel. Also nicely one was the brilliant manner in which she captured the voice of her protagonist, Nathaniel Hopson. Nathaniel's awkwardness at mixing with those of a much higher social strata, the anger and loss he feels about Partridge's death, and the confusion he feels about his feelings for Alice is all very precisely and vividly portrayed. Indeed, it was this engaging and taking portrayal of Nathaniel that compelled me to read on. And while the plot did seem to be a little complicated (mainly because of the manner in which the story is allowed to unfold) the pacing was swift and taut, so that the book truly does make for an engrossing and suspenseful read. So that all in all, I'd vote "The Grenadillo Box" as a truly worthwhile and excellent read.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Can one used only to working with wood (and playing with women) unwind a murder mystery? Or will the truth be forever boxed up?
6 July 2008
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Lately I seem to have discovered my passion for mystery novels-only with a twist-they need to be set in a different time. That's why Janet Gleeson's novels are perfect for me-she writes historical mysteries which star unusual people as detectives.
"The Grenadillo Box" is narrated by Nathaniel Hopson, a journeyman apprentice of Thomas Chippendale whose life mostly revolves around wood and women. This all changes when he is sent to finish a job his best friend John Partridge started (rather unwillingly since he'd much rather stay in town and try to beat down the defenses of Alice Goodchild, who runs a wholesale wood business that supplies Chippendale's workshop.)
But it turns out the installation of Lord Montfort's library is no ordinary job. Not only is Nathaniel pushed into subbing for a footman by the housekeeper for New Years Eve dinner but he is also the discoverer of two dead bodies-first Lord Montfort during dinner and then his friend Partridge (who was supposed to be in London) the next morning.
Nathaniel is convinced the two deaths are connected as Montfort was clutching a box made of rare Grenadillo wood that bore Partridge's stamp when he was found dead. After voicing his opinion that the Lord was murdered and did not commit suicide, our hero is pressed into service investigating the deaths with Lord Foley, who stands to receive a great deal of money from Montfort's estate (a gambling debt) unless his death is declared a suicide, which would have meant Montfort was mentally unstable and therefore would have his estates restored to the crown
Soon Nathaniel is drawn into a web of intrigue, fake marriages, missing children, Chippendale's duplicity and the mysterious origins of his best friend. At the same time he is continuing to court Ms. Goodchild and soon finds that she is determined to act in the investigation also-by helping him find out where Partridge found such a thing as the extremely rare Grenadillo wood (also known as partridge wood.)
But whoever committed these crimes does not want to be found out-and soon Nathaniel finds his life, as well as Alice's, may be in danger......
This is a really great mystery-though a bit of a slow starter. It takes many twists and turns to get the end and was wonderfully plotted out-impossible to figure out the first time though once you know the answer its clear all the clues were present in retrospect. The writing is charming and Nathaniel comes off as an incredibly real person-faults and all. There's also a nice little romance, a great deal about the craft of a cabinet maker and insight into the early orphanages of England.
If you like mysteries, especially those of a historical nature, I recommend you read this book.
Four stars.
"The Grenadillo Box" is narrated by Nathaniel Hopson, a journeyman apprentice of Thomas Chippendale whose life mostly revolves around wood and women. This all changes when he is sent to finish a job his best friend John Partridge started (rather unwillingly since he'd much rather stay in town and try to beat down the defenses of Alice Goodchild, who runs a wholesale wood business that supplies Chippendale's workshop.)
But it turns out the installation of Lord Montfort's library is no ordinary job. Not only is Nathaniel pushed into subbing for a footman by the housekeeper for New Years Eve dinner but he is also the discoverer of two dead bodies-first Lord Montfort during dinner and then his friend Partridge (who was supposed to be in London) the next morning.
Nathaniel is convinced the two deaths are connected as Montfort was clutching a box made of rare Grenadillo wood that bore Partridge's stamp when he was found dead. After voicing his opinion that the Lord was murdered and did not commit suicide, our hero is pressed into service investigating the deaths with Lord Foley, who stands to receive a great deal of money from Montfort's estate (a gambling debt) unless his death is declared a suicide, which would have meant Montfort was mentally unstable and therefore would have his estates restored to the crown
Soon Nathaniel is drawn into a web of intrigue, fake marriages, missing children, Chippendale's duplicity and the mysterious origins of his best friend. At the same time he is continuing to court Ms. Goodchild and soon finds that she is determined to act in the investigation also-by helping him find out where Partridge found such a thing as the extremely rare Grenadillo wood (also known as partridge wood.)
But whoever committed these crimes does not want to be found out-and soon Nathaniel finds his life, as well as Alice's, may be in danger......
This is a really great mystery-though a bit of a slow starter. It takes many twists and turns to get the end and was wonderfully plotted out-impossible to figure out the first time though once you know the answer its clear all the clues were present in retrospect. The writing is charming and Nathaniel comes off as an incredibly real person-faults and all. There's also a nice little romance, a great deal about the craft of a cabinet maker and insight into the early orphanages of England.
If you like mysteries, especially those of a historical nature, I recommend you read this book.
Four stars.
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