|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
Catherine Glenelg comes to her senses by the corpse of Lady Russell, her mother-in-law. She has no memory of the events that led up to this murder nor can she explain the scraps and injuries she has sustained. Catherine and Lady Russell did not get along as they had different opinions on how Lord Glenelg, an eight-year-old child, should be raised and cared for. Gavin, the current Lord Glenelg, is at King James’ court where the two children receive lessons together. Catherine would rather her son was at home but Lady Russell was happy with the honor this posting entails. Their inability to get along causes Catherine to wonder the worst. At the insistence of former royal spy Annabel MacReynolds she flees the estate. Lady Susanna Appleton and her significant other, Nick Baldwin, travel to Scotland in hopes of finding Catherine and fixing the situation. Unfortunately no one seems to know where she has gone nor is the household concerned. Being unable to believe her friend a murderer, Susanna must dig into everyone’s background in order to determine who else would want Lady Russell dead. This leads her to investigate the politics in King James’ court as well as the politics back in England. Somehow Susanna must clear Catherine Glenelg’s name, unite the Glenelg family and catch the killer without getting herself killed in the process. FACE DOWN O’ER THE BORDER features numerous characters some of whom are better developed than others. As this book is an addition to a long-standing series, the author assumes the reoccurring characters, such as Susanna, Nick, Susanna’s household and so on, are familiar to the reader. To this end these characters are not further developed in this book. For readers familiar with this series, it is interesting to see how the re-occurring characters behave and interact with those they meet. For readers who have not previously read a book in this series, this lack of development is disappointing. Engaging and well-developed characters can make any story better as these characters allow the reader to overlook any other flaws in the book. Unlike some historical mysteries, FACE DOWN O’ER THE BORDER does not focus much on historical details or a lot of background on the historical period. This can be either a good thing or a bad thing depending on your reading preference. If you want a richly detailed, highly accurate historical mystery, this book is not going to meet your requirements. On the other hand, if you want a historical mystery with little historical detail but few modern conventions, then this book should satisfy. I find historical detail interesting and would have liked more information about the period in question. I like to see how the situations presented in a story fit against the time frame in general and how they reflect the social mores of the time. While being a historical mystery, FACE DOWN O’ER THE BORDER does not provide this type of depth. Even though FACE DOWN O’ER THE BORDER does not provide the depth and historical detail that I look for in a historical mystery, it is still nice to read about familiar characters and scenes. For some reason that I have never been able to explain, I always find myself wondering what Susanna Appleton will do next. This curiosity has resulted in my avidly reading each new book.
Reviewed by Sarah Dudley, May 2007
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
| 
