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Rating: 
Summary: Some interesting parts, too much blah...
Review: I am a big fan of historical mysteries, and had high hopes of one involving Poe. I found myself losing interest frequently throughout the novel. Other times, I just was confused. In the end, I just didn't really care what happens. Not horrible, but not worth the price, especially for a hardcover.
Rating:
Summary: What Poe's Got to do with this book?
Review: I loved Mr. Taylor's first book, the iridiscent Caroline Miniscule. I have tried to read his 'village mysteries' and found them rather heavy going. I just loved Quincunx (by Charles Palliser). I am surprised at some of the rave reviews this book is getting.
The atmosphere is fine, the characters, especially the women are predictable. Edgar Allan Poe is a small boy and the mystery involves his buddy's family. What's the point of making such a noise about Poe in this book? This is one of my main bones of contention with the book. The other is the over writing that has become the hallmark of most writers. Yes, I did read the entire An Instance of the Fingerpost, a much superior thriller. An average Regency mystery. I got tired of the repeated 'thrashing' of the students. So got the Crime Dagger for the best Historical Mystery! Left me quite cold.
Rating: 
Summary: Edgar Allen Poe revisited
Review: In Andrew Taylor's atmospheric feast, AN UNPARDONABLE CRIME, a man is found brutally murdered on a building site; another goes missing in the teeming stew of the city's notorious Seven Dials district. A deathbed vigil ends in theft, & a beautiful heiress flirts with the wrong class of people.What connects these events? A school master & an American boy, Edgar Allen (Poe), brought to England by his foster father & sent to a boarding school in the sleepy village of Stoke Newington. It is 1819 - Britain & America have at last quit fighting. The Regency Period is in high swing & the traffic of people & money between the countries is flowing fast. Into this new world where social classes are re-forming, a young teacher & the boys in his care, boys who could almost be twins, are drawn into a maelstrom of intrigue, murder & love. Rebeccasreads highly recommends AN UNPARDONABLE CRIME for those who relish historical fiction, based on journals & research. It will be right up your cobblestoned alley.
Rating:
Summary: THIS VOICE PERFORMANCE IS PURE PLEASURE
Review: Noted Shakespearean actor Sir Derek Jacobi certainly needs no introduction to audiences. He is one of the most acclaimed actors of our time and deservedly so. Born in Britain and knighted by the Queen, he received a Tony Award for his performance in Much Ado About Nothing; his most recent film appearance was with Russell Crowe in The Gladiator. It is rare when an actor and a story seem so perfectly matched that it is nigh on to impossible to imagine anyone else presenting the reading. Such is the case with Sir Derek Jacobi and "An Unpardonable Crime," a mystery set in 19th century London. Early in the century a bank collapses, and a man is found dead at the site. One more man seems to have disappeared in the dangerous Seven Dials area of the city. At this same time Edgar Allan Poe was ten-years-old, and a student in a small village, Stoke Newington. It would seem that all would be sanguine and safe in this protected enclave, but that is not the case. London's grisly doings have a far reaching effect, stretching to a schoolmaster, Thomas Shield, who is at first confused then understandably frightened by this puzzling chain of events. Listening to this story as read by Sir Derek Jacobi is pure pleasure. - Gail Cooke
Rating:
Summary: THIS VOICE PERFORMANCE IS PURE PLEASURE
Review: Noted Shakespearean actor Sir Derek Jacobi certainly needs no introduction to audiences. He is one of the most acclaimed actors of our time and deservedly so. Born in Britain and knighted by the Queen, he received a Tony Award for his performance in Much Ado About Nothing; his most recent film appearance was with Russell Crowe in The Gladiator. It is rare when an actor and a story seem so perfectly matched that it is nigh on to impossible to imagine anyone else presenting the reading. Such is the case with Sir Derek Jacobi and "An Unpardonable Crime," a mystery set in 19th century London. Early in the century a bank collapses, and a man is found dead at the site. One more man seems to have disappeared in the dangerous Seven Dials area of the city. At this same time Edgar Allan Poe was ten-years-old, and a student in a small village, Stoke Newington. It would seem that all would be sanguine and safe in this protected enclave, but that is not the case. London's grisly doings have a far reaching effect, stretching to a schoolmaster, Thomas Shield, who is at first confused then understandably frightened by this puzzling chain of events. Listening to this story as read by Sir Derek Jacobi is pure pleasure. - Gail Cooke
Rating:
Summary: A superb epic historical mystery
Review: There are certain historical novels that are so large and all encompassing that they not only evoke a time and place but truly place the reader realistically in its midst. Immediately coming to mind are the Dickens books that were contemporary when they were written but are considered historical to the present readers. A contemporary book such as THE QUINCUNX by Charles Palliser (who also wrote a testimonial for this work) also comes to mind. Andrew Taylor admirably succeeds in recreating both London and the British countryside of 1819 and peoples the book with enough shadowy and colorful characters to make the trip very worthwhile.
The narrative we are reading is that of Thomas Shield, a tutor at a private school of Stoke Newington. He comes across a child named Charles Frant who is a targeted by the other students as a scapegoat until another young man appears by the name of Edgar Allen. Edgar, by fighting the other students wins a certain amount of respect for himself and for Charles, as well. It is soon thereafter that while walking in the neighborhood, Thomas witnesses an inebriated man accosting the two boys. He rescues them from the situation and a grateful Henry Frant, father of Charles invites Thomas to come to the house as a tutor. So begins the long tale of Thomas' intertwined relationships with this household.
Andrew Taylor is a unique author of many talents. This very large epic novel follows close on the heels of the wonderful Roth trilogy. There is much good in this current work. The strength of any historical novel is the ability of the author to bring the era to life with a compelling and intriguing story. With that he readily succeeds. A problem, however, is that he takes so darn long to get through it. When we finally reach the end, the exposition must be extremely lengthy and complex. THE AMERICAN BOY has won the CWA Ellis Peters Dagger for historical mysteries. It is an award well deserved.
Rating: 
Summary: Who Calls the Shots?
Review: This book had lukewarm reviews in the national press, which seems unwarranted to me. I read it with absorption in every available minute over the course of four days. Mr.Taylor's adoption of the late-Regency language and authorial tone -- adapted for modern readers -- is pleasing, and the England of that era comes alive. As far as I can tell, it is faultlessly portrayed; the setting [Dickensian London, Austen-esque country-house]is almost as important as the characters. We might think with good reason that Mr. Taylor has been impressed both by the books of Patrick O'Brian and by The Quincunx of Charles Palliser, all books set just a few years earlier in time. And although anyone who has read The Quincunx will think of it off and on while reading An Unpardonable Crime, Taylor's book is nowhere near the harrowing experience -- so if you want to be harrowed, don't read this. Taylor is far more benevolent in his outlook than Palliser. Instead, An Unpardonable Crime is a leisurely but satisfying excursion through the increasingly troubling adventures of an impoverished gentleman, thrown by accident into the bosom of a wealthy but sinister family. Certainly the mysteries mount up, the suspense builds. Our hero is in a perpetual quandry as to whether he acts or is acted upon: chance and will are equal forces here.
Rating:
Summary: Who Calls the Shots?
Review: This book had lukewarm reviews in the national press, which seems unwarranted to me. I read it with absorption in every available minute over the course of four days. Mr.Taylor's adoption of the late-Regency language and authorial tone -- adapted for modern readers -- is pleasing, and the England of that era comes alive. As far as I can tell, it is faultlessly portrayed; the setting [Dickensian London, Austen-esque country-house]is almost as important as the characters. We might think with good reason that Mr. Taylor has been impressed both by the books of Patrick O'Brian and by The Quincunx of Charles Palliser, all books set just a few years earlier in time. And although anyone who has read The Quincunx will think of it off and on while reading An Unpardonable Crime, Taylor's book is nowhere near the harrowing experience -- so if you want to be harrowed, don't read this. Taylor is far more benevolent in his outlook than Palliser. Instead, An Unpardonable Crime is a leisurely but satisfying excursion through the increasingly troubling adventures of an impoverished gentleman, thrown by accident into the bosom of a wealthy but sinister family. Certainly the mysteries mount up, the suspense builds. Our hero is in a perpetual quandry as to whether he acts or is acted upon: chance and will are equal forces here.
Rating:
Summary: a fantastic read
Review: This is all that I' going to "say" about the plot of "An Unpardonable Crime:" that it is set in 1819, and that it opens with our narrator, Thomas Shields, (a young man of education and who has managed to survive the peninsula war, but who has little money and fewer expectations), explaining how he managed to secure a job as an under usher (a sort of tutor) at the Reverend Mr. Bransby's school, and how he came to become so intimately involved in the affairs of the Wavenhoe, Frants and Carswall families, death, greed and murder. To say more, would only detract from the overall enjoyment for anyone who's not yet read this skillfully crafted novel. Enough to say that if you enjoy reading Victorian-era suspenseful novels (like those written by Wilkie Collins, for example), you're bound to enjoy "An Unpardonable Crime." As with many of the novels of similar genre, Andrew Taylor has successfully coloured his novel with a dark and almost menacing atmosphere, added enough intriguing and suspenseful plot twists, and peopled it with characters that both engaged and filled me with loathing. In other words, this was a riveting read. Andrew Taylor did a fantastic job of making England of the early 19th century real and vivid. "An Unpardonable Crime" won the CWA Historical Dagger for 2003, and it definitely deserves the award. I picked up the book after dinner, and had to force myself to put the novel down and go to bed -- it was that "unputdownable!" All in all, a rousing 5 stars!
Rating:
Summary: a fantastic read
Review: This is all that I' going to "say" about the plot of "An Unpardonable Crime:" that it is set in 1819, and that it opens with our narrator, Thomas Shields, (a young man of education and who has managed to survive the peninsula war, but who has little money and fewer expectations), explaining how he managed to secure a job as an under usher (a sort of tutor) at the Reverend Mr. Bransby's school, and how he came to become so intimately involved in the affairs of the Wavenhoe, Frants and Carswall families, death, greed and murder. To say more, would only detract from the overall enjoyment for anyone who's not yet read this skillfully crafted novel. Enough to say that if you enjoy reading Victorian-era suspenseful novels (like those written by Wilkie Collins, for example), you're bound to enjoy "An Unpardonable Crime." As with many of the novels of similar genre, Andrew Taylor has successfully coloured his novel with a dark and almost menacing atmosphere, added enough intriguing and suspenseful plot twists, and peopled it with characters that both engaged and filled me with loathing. In other words, this was a riveting read. Andrew Taylor did a fantastic job of making England of the early 19th century real and vivid. "An Unpardonable Crime" won the CWA Historical Dagger for 2003, and it definitely deserves the award. I picked up the book after dinner, and had to force myself to put the novel down and go to bed -- it was that "unputdownable!" All in all, a rousing 5 stars!
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