Archive for the ‘United Kingdom’ Category
STONE’S FALL by Iain Pears (1)
A panoramic novel with a riveting mystery at its heart, STONE’S FALL is a quest to discover how and why John Stone dies. Chronologically, it moves backwards–from London in 1909 to Paris in 1890, and finally to Venice in 1867– and in the process the quest to uncover the truth plays out against the backdrop of the evolution of high-stakes international finance, Europe’s first great age of espionage, and the start of the twentieth century’s arms race.
May 18, 2009
Tags: London, Money, Mystery, Paris, Venice Posted in: Espionage, Facing History, Fiction based on Time Period, France, Mystery/Suspense, United Kingdom 
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STONE’S FALL by Iain Pears (2)
Iain Pears’ Stone’s Fall: A Novel traces back the lives of arms mogul John William Stone and his beautiful wife Elizabeth (aka Lord and Lady Ravenscliff), as well as others around them. The densely detailed novel opens in Paris in March of 1953 as a journalist attends a funeral and is given a package. This man, Matthew Braddock, then launches into his recollections of the momentous events he experienced in London in 1909 when, after the sudden death of John Stone, he was commissioned by Lady Ravenscliff to find a long-lost child who was bequeathed a sum in her husband’s will.
May 18, 2009
Tags: London, Money, Mystery, Paris, Thriller, Venice Posted in: Espionage, Facing History, France, Historical Perspective, Mystery/Suspense, United Kingdom, Victorian period No Comments
SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE by Alan Bradley
It is 1950. At Buckshaw, her family’s old country estate, wronged Flavia de Luce is out for vengeance and poison is her weapon of choice. This eleven-year-old British girl, whose passion is unquestionably “the central science,” has access to a thoroughly outfitted lab, and plenty of plants in the garden from which to distill gleaming liquids of wicked retribution.
April 28, 2009
Tags: 1950s, British, Detective, Feisty, Mystery Posted in: Amateur Detective, Debut Novel, Humorous, United Kingdom, murder mystery No Comments
THE RAIN BEFORE IT FALLS by Jonathan Coe
THE RAIN BEFORE IT FALLS is an elegant, multi-generational saga that draws the reader in with a unique narrative format. Before she died, Rosamund left behind a series of cassettes for her niece, Gil, who must pass them onto someone named Imogen.
April 23, 2009
Tags: mothers & daughters, Unique Narrative Posted in: Contemporary, United Kingdom, Women's Fiction No Comments
