A Rendezvous with Death

Rating:
Summary: Good historical background
Review: This is a well-researched piece of English social history, revealing life in London at the end of the nineteenth century. The focus is on the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. The protagonist, Scotland Yard Inspector Sam Blackstone, is led through the streets of the poorer area of London and becomes involved with the emigres and outcasts of Russian society who have formed their own community there.

This is well plotted, but the social history and the period are much like those of Anne Perry, and comparisons between the two writers are inevitable. Anne Perry has nothing to worry about - this is a poor imitation of her work. This is actually quite a good book but it falls a long way short of Anne Perry's prose. A completely different setting might have shown this writer to better advantage.

This shows the obligatory comparisons between the life of rich and poor in Victorian England; it has a sympathetic and well realized protagonist and even a beautiful Russian spy. It's a decent, workmanlike book - but it ain't Anne Perry.