The Camelot Caper

Rating:
Summary: Guinevere included .....
Review: A long time reader of Elizabeth Peter's Amelia Peabody series, I found The Camelot Caper to be a good change of pace. As a trained archeologist, Peters's books are always a good combination of realisitic history and imaginative mystery.

In The Camelot Caper, young American Jessica Tregarth is summoned to England by an elderly grandfather whom she has never met. On the outs with her father and his son, Grandpa has to wait while Jess dodges two unsavory characters who harass and threaten her across jolly old England. Along the way she meets David Randall, a young writer of suspense novels, who helps Jess in sorting out the whys and wherefores of the chase and manages to fall in love with her, too.

The chase was something of a drag, but the moment they pull up in front of the old family homeplace in Cornwall, the excitement escalates. A dreary, decrepit old manor house, complete with a now deceased Grandpa, sets an excellent scene for the unmasking of the two unsavory characters and the explanation for the cross-country stalking.

As with any book written decades ago, the time warp issue becomes a factor. It was rather enjoyable to try to picture the clothing the characters were described as wearing. All in all, this is a solid, interesting suspense novel. An enjoyable read!

Rating:
Summary: Guinevere included .....
Review: A long time reader of Elizabeth Peter's Amelia Peabody series, I found The Camelot Caper to be a good change of pace. As a trained archeologist, Peters's books are always a good combination of realisitic history and imaginative mystery.

In The Camelot Caper, young American Jessica Tregarth is summoned to England by an elderly grandfather whom she has never met. On the outs with her father and his son, Grandpa has to wait while Jess dodges two unsavory characters who harass and threaten her across jolly old England. Along the way she meets David Randall, a young writer of suspense novels, who helps Jess in sorting out the whys and wherefores of the chase and manages to fall in love with her, too.

The chase was something of a drag, but the moment they pull up in front of the old family homeplace in Cornwall, the excitement escalates. A dreary, decrepit old manor house, complete with a now deceased Grandpa, sets an excellent scene for the unmasking of the two unsavory characters and the explanation for the cross-country stalking.

As with any book written decades ago, the time warp issue becomes a factor. It was rather enjoyable to try to picture the clothing the characters were described as wearing. All in all, this is a solid, interesting suspense novel. An enjoyable read!

Rating:
Summary: Non-stop fun, but...
Review: I have to put my two-cents in on the question of the heroine's qualities. I happened to read this book at the same time as Mary Stewart's "The Gabriel Hounds" (both books written in the late 60's) and I found the heroines curiously similar. There can be no doubt about their courage, but they both appeared to be somewhat mentally deficient in comparison with their male counterparts. In both books, the boyfriends seem to figure things out on their own and withhold the information from the girlfriends, who only slowly and painfully begin to understand what's going on.

The technique tends to keep the reader in a bit more suspense, but, as a male reader with a lot of experience in reading suspense stories with female protagonists, I found myself rather irritated that the heroines both seemed to be so dim-witted.

Given a heroine who made more of a contribution to the solution of the mystery, this book would easily have been at least four stars for me.

Rating:
Summary: Non-stop fun, but...
Review: I loved every Elizabeth Peters book I had ever read until this one. She is one of my favorite authors and I am a huge King Arthur fan. My expectations were high. The book was horrible. The plot was loose and the writing was like a bad romance novel. The only good parts were the descriptions of the towns and sights in the Enlgish countryside. From the copywrite this must be one of Ms. Peters early books. She should be ashamed to leave it in print. This is the only book that I ever bought that was so disapointing that it made me angry that I had spent money on it. (For some reason following this review it says it is for the audio version of th book only. I have never listened to the audio version. This is referencing the actual written book.)

Rating:
Summary: Hooked from the get-go!
Review: I really enjoyed this book. This was the second book I've read by Elizabeth Peter's (a.k.a. Barbara Mertz)and I was just simply hooked. I've been desperate to go back to England and see for myself the vivid landscapes that she writes about in this book. I loved the banter between Jessica and David. If you are an Anglophile, you will love this one.

Rating:
Summary: Full of Thrills
Review: Jessica Tregarth is unwillingly towed into a mystery when two sinister and mysterious men follow her throughout England on her vacation to her grandfather's house. For unknown reasons the men say that they want an ancient ring Jessica processes, and Jessica confused, refuses to give in. She meets up with David Randall, a novelist, who decides to take her under his wing as they set out to solve the mystery of the ring, her grandfather's strange conviction that the remains of Camelot lie on his property, and the motives of the two villains that pursue her. With all it's action and adventure this book is definitely hard to put down. The reader is thrown into the mystery and adventure from the book's very beginning. Elizabeth Peters does a terrific job of creating the character of David. He's wit, charm, and daring all woven into one. The romance and Peter's blended in sense of humor are a refreshing bonus throughout "The Camelot Caper".

Rating:
Summary: Sir John's bad beginnings
Review: The very early prequel to the Vicky Bliss series. The villian and his sidekick thug - the beautiful tourist - the confused hero - all the ingredients for an exciting and fun read. Jessica visits England to return THE RING to her grandfather....alas, once she reaches England annoying and progressively more dangerous things happen to her. She meets her "Knight" in a red Jag and he thinks it all a joke,,,until the "Villians" pay him a visit and leave him bruised and believing. The dark and gloomy castle, THE RING, the villians unmasked and the exciting conclusion to the story. Remember Cousin John and read "The Street of the Five Moons". It is always pleasant to find a favorite villian move his base of operations....I do love a great "villian/hero" ..Hooray for Cousin John Tregarth

Rating:
Summary: Peters takes all the Gothic novel cliches and runs with them
Review: This novel was an enormous amount of fun. All of the standard gothic novel cliches are here. A young woman alone, travels to England to visit relatives that she has never met at a gloomy manor house. The relatives turn out to be after an heirloom ring left to her by her late father, and a dashing stranger saves her and provides a bit of romance. Peters brings all of these elements together with a sense of humor and an element of excitement. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Fun, but don't expect more than that
Review: To know Elizabeth Peters is not to know this book. I think there can be general agreement that her Amelia Peabody series (although I dearly wish she would write a new Vicky Bliss book) is her best work but some of her other stand alone books can be great fun. The kind of think that is good to pack when you have a long flight ahead of you.

It is best to go into these books expecting nothing more than a little lighthearted fun. With that said though I must note that this is not the best one in that class- you would be better off with Peters' Summer of the Dragon or Naked Once More.