A Bitter Chill
Aurelia Marcellus series #2
by Jane Finnis
Four years on from the momentous events detailed in Get Out Or Die (also
reviewed on this site) Aurelia Marcella is still
running The Oak Tree mansio. It is a snowy Saturnalia, and she is looking forward to spending it with her
investigator brother Lucius, while her sister Albia is dreaming about her impending nuptials with Candidus. But
firstly Lucius has business of his own to attend to and cannot come, and then they are lumbered with a large party
of wealthy, important people wanting board over the holidays. The paterfamilias is convinced that he is going to be
murdered, and before long somebody does indeed die, making the finger of suspicion point squarely at Aurelia and
Albia.
There is so much story in here you need a rubber band to hold it all in - the perfect antidote to anybody who,
like this reviewer, finds too many books long on words and short on plot. Told in Aurelia’s own words, it is not
so much a case of what happens as what does not happen - murders, a protection racket, a band of villains calling
themselves the Wolf Pack, robbery, kidnapping, corruption and Christmas, or something very like it.
I don’t think the events stopped long enough for me to draw breath, but I was not conscious of too much going on
at once, merely of a nicely crammed novel. Ms Finnis ought to run courses for writers on the topics of pacing and
brevity; less is more, and there is a lot more in here than in any other book I have read for a very long time.
Very highly recommended. |
The Book |
Poisoned Pen Press |
1 June 2008 |
Paperback |
1590584015 / 9781590584019 |
Historical Mystery / 95 AD York, England |
More at Amazon.com
US ||
UK |
Excerpt |
NOTE: Second review, click here to read the
first review, of the hardcover.
Holiday read: Christmas |
The Reviewer |
Rachel A Hyde |
Reviewed 2008 |
NOTE: |
|