Death on the Holy Mountain (Lord Francis Powerscourt)
Soho Constable - Soho Constable
Release date: 2008-04-01
Hardcover
Author: David Dickinson
English Mystery & Suspense Fiction, Fiction, Fiction - Mystery/ Detective, Mystery/Suspense, Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Traditional British, Mystery & Detective - Traditional British, Mystery & Detective - Police Procedural, Historical fiction, Mystery fiction, Powerscourt, Francis, Lord (Fictitious character)
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Death on the Holy Mountain (Lord Francis Powerscourt)
Date undefinedAnxiously awaiting the next installment of the Lord Francis Powerscourt series, I pre-ordered this book. I'm sorry to say it was a disappointment. I WAS hoping this book would have less of the grizzly murder and torture scenes David Dickinson seemed to delight in in his previous books like Death of a Chancellor and Death on the Nevskii Prospekt. However, in Murder On The Holy Mountain there is only one murder, briefly described. At the very end of the book, almost as an afterthought, Dickinson mentions that, yes, the victim was horribly tortured. Oh. This book was SO tame it seemed like it was written by a different author.
The book is short on story and long on filler. There is a sub-story about donkeys that goes nowhere. There are songs, poetry and even parts of the Latin Mass quoted liberally. If you're looking for a mini-course in the woeful political history of Ireland, this book is for you. I found it distractingly didactic.
Death on the Holy Mountain (Lord Francis Powerscourt)
Date undefinedIn 1905, though semi retired, English private investigator Lord Francis Powerscourt accompanied by his wife Lucy travel to Ireland to look into some odd art thefts. Someone is stealing low valued familial portraits from the mansions of Protestant Lords, but ignoring highly valuable masterpieces from some of the Masters.
Francis struggles with the motive as money is obviously not the objective; so he assumes a political statement is being made. However, when the portraits with altered faces begin to reappear on the walls they were stolen from, Francis ponders even more the motive behind the crime. Soon after that the bewildered sleuth rescues kidnapped Protestant noblewomen from Irish nationalists but not before someone is murdered inside the chapel at Croagh Patrick while the pilgrimage has begun.
Moving deeper into the Edwardian Era from the Victorian Age of much of the previous Powerscourt historical mysteries; David Dickinson provides a deep period piece. The story line obviously contains a strong investigative whodunit, but also much more as the audience obtains a feel for Ireland's struggle to become a modern nation. Powerscourt personally feels the tugs, but it is the larger scale of early twentieth century pragmatism warring with rich ancient tradition that makes this book incredible.
Harriet Klausner
