Tim Mason (4)

Enjoyable, but I was a bit disappointed. While Darwin provides the somewhat implausible motive, he hardly appears. At least when he does, he is favorably portrayed. Poor. Captain Fitzroy deserves better. Dickens , one of my favorite authors is probably fairly depicted, if somewhat unfavorably.
The plot, while complicated, is fairly well laid out and there is a large cast of suitably Dickensian characters. The combination of children and such terrible and constant violence got a bit hard to take. There was a bit of humor to relieve here and there, but could have used more… (mehr)

A murder mystery with a dual setting (Scutari Turkey in 1854 and London of 1867), THE NIGHTINGALE AFFAIR by Tim Mason was totally absorbing. The Nightingale of the title is Florence with her political connections and her belief that sanitation and nutrition were key elements in treating the war wounded. Other historical figures also appear in the story - Disraeli, Dickenson, Wilke Collins - to name a few. A consistent theme in the storyline examines the historical controversy of women as autonomous beings. Well worth the read… (mehr)

I tried this book on a whim since I usually enjoy historical mysteries. The book is set in England during the lifetime of Charles Darwin (June 1860). It begins just after Darwin released The Origin of the Species, and the book clearly describes the hubbub that arose in England after this book came out. It caused a huge rift between the Church and the State. In the book we meet Chief Detective Inspector Charles Field and his lovely, and intelligent wife, Jane. It opens with Field attending a royal cortege on the streets of London, when an assignation attempt was made on Queen Victoria. At the same time, and only a block away, a gruesomely murdered male is discovered. The main thing of note about the victim is that one of his ears has been neatly sliced off and is missing. These two events set off a string of brutal slayings and a series of death threats against the royal family. As Field continues to investigate, he uncovers a far-reaching plot of murder, assassination and kidnapping. Field determines fairly early into the book that this assassin is a very wicked villain indeed, and as the bodies pile up Field and his team realize that this conspiracy reaches far and wide, and they do not know who to trust. The plot continues on at a fairly quick pace, but I found that I was getting a little jaded from all the violence and the totally wicked people throughout. It ran on a bit too long for me and at the end, there was no clear resolution. I did listen to the book on audiobook and the narrator did a good job of reading the story. 2 1/2 stars, rounded up to 3 for me on this book.… (mehr)