Let There Be Blood

Rating:
Summary: exciting historical mystery
Review: He fought in Greece against the Turks but returned to his English mansion Malfine to heal from the wounds he received in Crete. His face is scarred and he is a recluse unable to deal with his tenants, the landed gentry or women for fear of frightening them to death. Unfortunately Lord Ambrose is not allowed to stay apart from the affairs in his corner of the world. A gypsy is accused of killing the male Crawshays and the tenants want to personally to punish him.

Lord Ambrose refuses to allow vigilante justice to prevail and he takes the gypsy into his own custody, putting him in the dungeons beneath his mansion. When the local men try to rape the gypsy's wife, Ambrose takes them to a place where they will be safe; in return she tells them a secret about one of the women living in the Crawshay house. At first, Lord Ambrose thinks Mrs. Crawshay and the governess Elisabeth Anstruther played a part in the men's murders but when a strong sturdy farmer set to guard the woman is killed, Lord Ambrose thinks he misread the evidence.

England in 1830, months after the death of King George, is a gloomy place with Edward on the throne and the workers rioting because they are losing their jobs to machines. The hero is scarred both physically and mentally but the mystery of the deaths of the Crawshays brings him back to life. He once again becomes a commanding figure who through force of will becomes a leader. Jane Jakeman has written an exciting historical mystery with so many viable suspects readers won't be able to figure out who the killer is.

Harriet Klausner


Rating:
Summary: Interesting historical mysterey set in England in 1830.
Review: Lord Ambrose Malfine, still much emotionally affected by his wartime experiences in Greece, as well as physically scarred by them, comes out of his self-imposed isolation in order to investigate the murders of a local farmer and his son.This book is set in a period and place, early 1800's England, about which I love to read. I thought the presentation of the effects of Lord Ambrose's wartime experiences and memories was very well done and added depth to the story.I would have rated this book as a four-star story except for two reasons: One, I thought the resolution of the mystery relied too much on a comment given to the protagonist, but not known to the reader for most of the rest of the book, which was frustrating for the reader who was trying to figure out whodunnit; and two, the author just never succeeded in making me really care about the female character (who, from the ending of book one, presumably is a part of books two and three). She (and I can't be more specific without including a spoiler) seemed like someone who could be developed in future books, but in this first book, I never made an emotional connection with the character.Overall, though, I liked this book. I liked it well enough that I'm going to pay the somewhat higher-than-average price, and the longer delivery time in order to see where the author takes the characters in the next two books .

Rating:
Summary: Better luck next time, Lord Ambrose!
Review: This novel is something of a disappointment. A literate book with a promising premise, it can't seem to decide if it's a Bronte-style gothic, a mystery story, or a bodice-ripper. If it's a gothic, it's far too openly psychological in a contempory way (and there's way too much bodice-ripping!). If it's a mystery, the protagonist keeps too many clues (the gypsy woman's warning, for example) to himself. If it's a hot novel with a historical setting, there's not enough bodice-ripping! The hero's return to life after being hideously wounded in the war of Greek independence seems pat and unreal. This is one of a series; I hope Lord Ambrose fares better the next time out.

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