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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This book supplies the missing link between Joliffe the actor, and Joliffe the secret agent!Margaret Frazer has outdone herself on her latest medieval mystery. Her character of Joliffe, the player, is magical and at the same time believably human as he wends his way through a seemingly impenetrable trail of secrets about who killed whom and why.
Ms Frazer is reliable in her research, and compelling in her telling of stories; it is absorbing and very real. Inevitably, France is full of political intrigue, and warring, but the human interest never gets lost amidst the complex wars and quarrels of fifteenth century Normandy.
Ms Frazer is reliable in her research, and compelling in her telling of stories; it is absorbing and very real. Inevitably, France is full of political intrigue, and warring, but the human interest never gets lost amidst the complex wars and quarrels of fifteenth century Normandy.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
14 reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
best installment yet of the Joliffe series
14 Dec 2009
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I just finished reading this book, and loved it - it's well written, rich in detail about political realities in 15th century France/England, and the main character, Joliffe, is an enjoyable protagonist to follow. I also read Frazer's Dame Frevisse series, in which Joliffe occasionally appears, and "A Play of Treachery" fills a gap in that we finally get to see how Joliffe goes from being an actor to spy. In "A Play of Treachery" Joliffe goes to France to be trained as a spy, and he and the reader become aware that he's a bit player on the wider stage of court intrigue, who as yet knows little about what parts others play, or even what script is being performed. The end seems to hint that the next Joliffe book, too, will take place in the tumult of France, away from Joliffe's English home and the players who have become his family. But as Joliffe found a little romance in Rouen, perhaps his staying in France means there will be more on that front...!
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Worth Waiting For!
6 Dec 2009
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
It was almost six months from the time I ordered "A Play of Treachery" before the just-published book finally came from Amazon. It was well worth the wait.
Margaret Frazer has outdone herself on this latest medieval mystery. Her character of Joliffe, the player, is magical and at the same time believably human as he wends his way through a seemingly impenetrable trail of secrets about who killed whom and why.
Although there is a great deal of political warring and historical intrigue in the book, Frazer has good control of her material. The human interest never gets lost amidst the complex wars and quarrels of fifteenth century Normandy.
If you're a Frazer fan and you haven't yet ordered your copy of "A Play of Treachery," I highly recommend doing so. No more waiting for it--it's in stock right now!
Margaret Frazer has outdone herself on this latest medieval mystery. Her character of Joliffe, the player, is magical and at the same time believably human as he wends his way through a seemingly impenetrable trail of secrets about who killed whom and why.
Although there is a great deal of political warring and historical intrigue in the book, Frazer has good control of her material. The human interest never gets lost amidst the complex wars and quarrels of fifteenth century Normandy.
If you're a Frazer fan and you haven't yet ordered your copy of "A Play of Treachery," I highly recommend doing so. No more waiting for it--it's in stock right now!
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
An Actor's Most Perilous Role
21 Mar 2010
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Margaret Frazer wrote a superb series of medieval mysteries in which the keen wits of Sister Frevisse illuminated crimes both high and low. In taking a nun for her detective, Frazer had a character who was severely limited by her sex and station in life. Frazer always found a way around this, but the limitations chaffed, particularly as the series aged.
Happily for her devoted readers, Frazer took a minor character who had appeared sometimes in the Sister Frevisse books and built a new series around him. As fond as I was of Frevisse, I adore Joliffe the player. As an actor wandering with a small family troop, his situation was interesting and his life full of variety.
Each one of the Joliffe's titles starts with 'A PLAY OF ----'; so there is '...ISAAC', '...DUX MORAUD', '...KNAVES'. Each title is taken from the main production that Joliffe's troop is performing. The next book, A PLAY OF LORDS, is set in London and the crime Joliffe solves touches on some vital points of interest, bringing him to the attention of some powerful men.
In A PLAY OF TREACHERY, Frazer has upped the ante.
Joliffe's cleverness in solving crime has consequences. His latest set of instructions takes him away from the small troop of players that are closer than family to him. Now he dons the disguise of a disgraced clerk and travels to France in the train of a lordly bishop. Joliffe's new patron means to test him as well as train him.
France is at war; Normandy is in upheaval. Joliffe finds himself attached to the household of the young and beautiful duchess of Bedford, a widow in mourning for her much older husband. Playing a role that he dare not doff, even for an instant, Joliffe finds his talents tested to the utmost. Were he to solve this crime a second too late, the entire course of history would have changed. This is splendid fun!
Happily for her devoted readers, Frazer took a minor character who had appeared sometimes in the Sister Frevisse books and built a new series around him. As fond as I was of Frevisse, I adore Joliffe the player. As an actor wandering with a small family troop, his situation was interesting and his life full of variety.
Each one of the Joliffe's titles starts with 'A PLAY OF ----'; so there is '...ISAAC', '...DUX MORAUD', '...KNAVES'. Each title is taken from the main production that Joliffe's troop is performing. The next book, A PLAY OF LORDS, is set in London and the crime Joliffe solves touches on some vital points of interest, bringing him to the attention of some powerful men.
In A PLAY OF TREACHERY, Frazer has upped the ante.
Joliffe's cleverness in solving crime has consequences. His latest set of instructions takes him away from the small troop of players that are closer than family to him. Now he dons the disguise of a disgraced clerk and travels to France in the train of a lordly bishop. Joliffe's new patron means to test him as well as train him.
France is at war; Normandy is in upheaval. Joliffe finds himself attached to the household of the young and beautiful duchess of Bedford, a widow in mourning for her much older husband. Playing a role that he dare not doff, even for an instant, Joliffe finds his talents tested to the utmost. Were he to solve this crime a second too late, the entire course of history would have changed. This is splendid fun!
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