Laetitia Talbot’s beloved godfather, Daniel Thorndon, has recently met his end in Burgundy,
and our plucky heroine is determined to go over there to find out whodunit. Her father is not
keen on this idea and insists that she finds an ugly old soldier to go with her, or somebody of
that description. She does indeed come upon somebody who might fit the bill—if you stretch
it a bit under some unusual circumstances—and thus the pair of them go forth. Ostensibly
she is part of an excavation, but when she is not digging in the dirt she is digging up dirt of
a different kind, and getting closer and closer to the dangerous truth.
Frequent readers of these reviews will know that this author is one of my very favorites,
reliably dishing up plot-ridden, highly inventive treats once a year. This is the second of a
new series, and although her first—The Tomb of Zeus (also
reviewed on this site)—is
written in her usual style, for the second book she has experimented with something of a departure.
Whereas her work is usually 100% detective story, this time the story is more of a gentle romance
with the detecting and crimes in the background. Romantic suspense is how it would best be
described.
I was reminded very much of Elizabeth Peters, and if you are a fan of her work this will
certainly appeal and fill a gap in the market for this type of story. Readers keen on the
mystical and magical will find something to their taste in here as well, which again makes this
nothing like her other work. I am interested to see what surprises the third book in the series
holds.