Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great storytelling, 16 Jun 2004
This book is set in London in 1899. A leading art critic has been murdered. Now I hesitate to read books about the art world because either the writer talks down to the reader, or a non-art historian hasn't a clue what it's all about. This writer manages to explain the art world quickly, simply and effectively. I understood and I didn't feel patronized.This is a good story; it moves right along with plenty of action. The characters are so well drawn that you don't even notice the writer doing it. The background is authentic and the various motivations very true to the time, the setting and the plot. The dialogue was crisp and the transitions barely noticeable. This is John Buchan meeting Anne Perry, with the addition of a sense of humor. I really enjoyed it.
|
|
|
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A masterpiece of story-telling, 11 Nov 2008
This is the third in the Lord Powerscourt series but the first for me. I don't usually go back in time to catch up on what has preceeded a book but this one was so good I certainly will be reading the earlier two books.
The author's knowledge of history coupled with that of art make this an absorbing read. The possibility that both history and art provide dull subjects is far removed from this murder mystery. Francis Powerscourt and his wife, Lucy, make for an adventurous couple, something which I guess could only take place in Victorian times. But this adds to the flavour of the book and, having had to put it down, I was anxious to continue it as soon as possible.
It does become clear who would be the killer from clues scattered around but the story is well told and the almost 'Boys Own' action-man in our hero of the book (if I can mix my analogies) make this a compelling read. Heartily recommended to those who like classic murder mysteries - with some extra tidbits of knowledge thrown in for nothing!
|
|
|
5.0 out of 5 stars
Murder in the art world, 4 Mar 2009
First Sentence: The old man walked slowly across the fields.
When art critic Christopher Montague is found garroted, enquiry agent Lord Francis Powerscourt, is asked to investigate. Powerscourt finds that the critic had been having an affair with a married woman. The husband, Mr. Buckley, is the obvious suspect and is arrested.
Powerscourt is not convinced Montague was working on a book to expose the gallery of de Courcy and Piper of selling fake old masters. If he's right, it will discredit the gallery and all the other appraisers who have claimed the work to be genuine. The gallery has a lot at stake selling expensive painting to wealthy American industrial millionaires. With plenty of motives and possible suspects, Powerscourt must find the truth before Buckley is convicted.
With each book, I become a bigger fan. Dickinson does everything right.
There are great characters, each of whom is fully developed. Powerscourt isn't stuffy, but a family man in love with his wife and children. He is well-placed in society, but also ex-military and highly-regarded by those in power. But all the characters are wonderful; Charles Augustus Pugh, the barrister defending Buckley; Orlando Blaine, the artist; Johnny Fitzgerald, Powerscourt friend; Lady Lucy, Powerscourt's wife, and her battalion of relatives, and all the others. They are all fully developed and alive. I was amused at the American millionaire industrialists being portrayed at uncultured rubes, which they may well have been.
The sense of time and place is wonderful. When the characters travel, you travel with them. When they are freezing in the snow, you reach for a blanket. The courtroom scenes were fascinating as was the look inside the world of art and galleries. The suspense was excellent all the way to the end.
I very much enjoy that each book can stand on it's own but there is a segue at the end that makes me want to read immediately for the next book but doesn't make me feel I'm being tricked into it.
This was a wonderful book in a series I shall definitely continue.
|
|
|
|