Bill's Reading List
Well, I seem to be falling farther behind, but so it goes:
9) An Experiment in Treason, Bruce Alexander (2002). This is a historical mystery in Alexander's Sir John Fielding series, set in late eighteenth century London and featuring Sir John Fielding, the blind magistrate of the Bow Street Court as detective. The story is told from the perspective of his assistant Jeremy Fielding, a young man taken in by Sir John as an orphan after being falsely accused in the first of the series.
In this installment, set in 1774, a burglary has taken place at the home of the English minister for the American Colonies, and a prime suspect is Benjamin Franklin, then in London as agent for the Massachusetts colony. As usual, the mystery is rich with details of eighteenth century life and law as well as tying into an interesting historical episode. If you like historical mysteries or are interested in life in Georgian London, I'd recommend this series, which starts with Blind Justice.
10) The Brief, Madcap Live of Kay Kendall, Eve Golden (2002). Eve Golden, whom many of you know, is among other things a biographer of somewhat obscure stars of stage and screen. This is the story of Kay Kendall, an English film star of the 1940s and 50s. This biography goes through Kendall's roots in an theatrical family in southern England, her start in acting as a teenager in the war years, her mixed results in post-war English film, her various friends and lovers, her growing success in the 50s, her romance and marrige to Rex Harrison and her death of leukemia shortly thereafter.
Unfortunately, this biography is not as crisp or funny as some of Golden's earlier works, like those on Theda Bara or Anna Held. Golden is credited as "with Kim Kendall", Kay's sister, though the writing is clearly Golden's. Perhaps Golden's penchant for sharp remarks was stayed by the association with a close relative of the subject or perhaps it was because the story was set in a more recent time, but this bio struck me as a lot less interesting than the others she has written.
9) An Experiment in Treason, Bruce Alexander (2002). This is a historical mystery in Alexander's Sir John Fielding series, set in late eighteenth century London and featuring Sir John Fielding, the blind magistrate of the Bow Street Court as detective. The story is told from the perspective of his assistant Jeremy Fielding, a young man taken in by Sir John as an orphan after being falsely accused in the first of the series.
In this installment, set in 1774, a burglary has taken place at the home of the English minister for the American Colonies, and a prime suspect is Benjamin Franklin, then in London as agent for the Massachusetts colony. As usual, the mystery is rich with details of eighteenth century life and law as well as tying into an interesting historical episode. If you like historical mysteries or are interested in life in Georgian London, I'd recommend this series, which starts with Blind Justice.
10) The Brief, Madcap Live of Kay Kendall, Eve Golden (2002). Eve Golden, whom many of you know, is among other things a biographer of somewhat obscure stars of stage and screen. This is the story of Kay Kendall, an English film star of the 1940s and 50s. This biography goes through Kendall's roots in an theatrical family in southern England, her start in acting as a teenager in the war years, her mixed results in post-war English film, her various friends and lovers, her growing success in the 50s, her romance and marrige to Rex Harrison and her death of leukemia shortly thereafter.
Unfortunately, this biography is not as crisp or funny as some of Golden's earlier works, like those on Theda Bara or Anna Held. Golden is credited as "with Kim Kendall", Kay's sister, though the writing is clearly Golden's. Perhaps Golden's penchant for sharp remarks was stayed by the association with a close relative of the subject or perhaps it was because the story was set in a more recent time, but this bio struck me as a lot less interesting than the others she has written.