SCHOOL OF THE NIGHT
by Judith Cook Reviewed by Rachel
Hyde, MyShelf.Com This is the fifth outing
for Dr Simon Forman, real-life physician and sometime sleuth who has a
tough job staying out of trouble in 1590s London. This time he is in a
worse mess than usual as not only has he joined the School of the Night
(a secret society of "new thinkers" such as scientists, mathematicians
and alchemists) he also finds himself suspected of poisoning three people!
Is the candied sea holly at fault, which he wants to test out as an aphrodisiac?
Two people fall ill after eating it at a School of the Night house party
held at Sir Walter Ralegh's Sherborne residence and then a patient of
his, an old man with a lusty young bride, eats some of his prescription
and dies. It's gaol for Simon and a possibility of his license being
revoked unless he can uncover the identity of the real murderer.
His footsteps seem to be dogged by doctors of all kinds for some reason,
he is aided by none other than Kit Marlowe and the lusty Countess of Pembroke
and plagued by slanderous posters. Somebody has a grudge, but Simon
can't think Another exciting and
suspenseful yarn from Judith Cook that brings to life the London of Shakespeare's
plays in all its muck and majesty. The pace is unfailing and although
it was easier to guess than some of the other titles in the series it
was still a very enjoyable read. My main criticism though would
be the portrayal of Dr Forman himself. By all accounts he was a
wily customer and must have been a likeable rogue, attractive to women
and having come up from nothing tough and clever and surely not lacking
in style. Cook 's Forman is in contrast a bland fellow whose gentle
nature and lack of |
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