Scan barcode
showell's review against another edition
4.0
Maybe it's that I came to this book with low expectations after not enjoying the first two. Maybe Ross really does get better. Or maybe this is truly a good book. Whatever the case, although I guessed most of the answers before they were revealed, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
ktaylor1164's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this third installment in the series. A solid mystery, interested character development, and a nice bit of history for good measure.
elusivity's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 STARS
Enjoyable.
And yet, the victim had such extreme personality that he became a cardboard version of a cliche. Plot is rather convoluted--although masterfully so--but some of the twists defies belief.
As usual, Regency details and atmosphere masterfully rendered. The living characters are all unique and vivid, act and react in ways that makes sense for who they are. A very good locked drawing room mystery.
Alexander Falkland was a narcissistic, sadistic sociopath who only cared about having everyone love him. He appeared charming and delightful, accomplished at everything. In private he was petty and mean, have no compunction to blackmail, torment, or murder. He married his proper wife because she's the most beautiful, but found her boring so mostly ignored her. In secret, he kept a mistress who procured a stream of young women for him. It was hinted that he beat them up as part of sex.
He blackmailed the young lawyer, Mr. Clare, to write learned letters to his father. He wanted to go into politics or something, and wanted to win his father to his side and promote his career. Mr. Clare's secret was that he was in fact a she, a female twin who is accomplished actress and was classically educated exactly as her brother. When the real Mr. Clare died of a fever, she took his place.
Meanwhile, Alexander spent and speculated wildly, and eventually lost a fortune. David Adams, a rich Jewish moneylender/business man, managed Alexander's finances and knew his vices, hated him, and loved Mrs. Falkland. He bought up Alexander's IOUs and absolved them in exchange for a chance to sleep with her. Alexander plotted with his mistress and tricked his wife into going off into some corner, where Adams became overcome with emotions and raped her. She became pregnant as result, and later rigs things so her horse threw her, causing her to lose the fetus.
Alexander wanted to get rid of evidence of the wife-exchanging scheme, so he drugged his mistress and committed her to a private insane asylum in the dark of night. He returned to murder the maid, and threw her body in a field with her face bashed in and obliterated.
This was because, for amazing coincidence, that maid was the identical twin sister of Mrs. Falkland's own maid servant! and he did not want a corpse from his secret life to draw the attention of people in his "real" life. This maid servant discovered Alexander killed her sister, and took the first good opportunity to bash his head in with a poker.
Julian Kestrel prevails and discovers all these crazy things. The maid gets sent to Australia, which is not bad for having committed murder. Mr. Falkland was disillusioned about his son, but finds love with now-Miss Clare. Mrs. Falkland will travel to the Continent with her younger brother. Julian wins his bet and gets 500 lbs.
Isn't this crazy convoluted???
Enjoyable.
And yet, the victim had such extreme personality that he became a cardboard version of a cliche. Plot is rather convoluted--although masterfully so--but some of the twists defies belief.
As usual, Regency details and atmosphere masterfully rendered. The living characters are all unique and vivid, act and react in ways that makes sense for who they are. A very good locked drawing room mystery.
Spoiler
It feels kind of a cheat that the victim turned out to be such a terrible creature, having zero redeeming quality and basically asking to get killed.Alexander Falkland was a narcissistic, sadistic sociopath who only cared about having everyone love him. He appeared charming and delightful, accomplished at everything. In private he was petty and mean, have no compunction to blackmail, torment, or murder. He married his proper wife because she's the most beautiful, but found her boring so mostly ignored her. In secret, he kept a mistress who procured a stream of young women for him. It was hinted that he beat them up as part of sex.
He blackmailed the young lawyer, Mr. Clare, to write learned letters to his father. He wanted to go into politics or something, and wanted to win his father to his side and promote his career. Mr. Clare's secret was that he was in fact a she, a female twin who is accomplished actress and was classically educated exactly as her brother. When the real Mr. Clare died of a fever, she took his place.
Meanwhile, Alexander spent and speculated wildly, and eventually lost a fortune. David Adams, a rich Jewish moneylender/business man, managed Alexander's finances and knew his vices, hated him, and loved Mrs. Falkland. He bought up Alexander's IOUs and absolved them in exchange for a chance to sleep with her. Alexander plotted with his mistress and tricked his wife into going off into some corner, where Adams became overcome with emotions and raped her. She became pregnant as result, and later rigs things so her horse threw her, causing her to lose the fetus.
Alexander wanted to get rid of evidence of the wife-exchanging scheme, so he drugged his mistress and committed her to a private insane asylum in the dark of night. He returned to murder the maid, and threw her body in a field with her face bashed in and obliterated.
This was because, for amazing coincidence, that maid was the identical twin sister of Mrs. Falkland's own maid servant! and he did not want a corpse from his secret life to draw the attention of people in his "real" life. This maid servant discovered Alexander killed her sister, and took the first good opportunity to bash his head in with a poker.
Julian Kestrel prevails and discovers all these crazy things. The maid gets sent to Australia, which is not bad for having committed murder. Mr. Falkland was disillusioned about his son, but finds love with now-Miss Clare. Mrs. Falkland will travel to the Continent with her younger brother. Julian wins his bet and gets 500 lbs.
Isn't this crazy convoluted???
thunguyen's review against another edition
5.0
The 3rd murder mystery for Julian Kestrel. This time he didn't stumble across any dead body, he was respectfully requested by the victim's father to step into an investigation that Bow Street so far failed to make any progress. And this time, we're back into Regency's drawing rooms world.
This, for me, is the best mystery so far in the series. Mind-boggling intrigues, so many pieces of puzzles that are impossible to fit together because they don't click directly with each other but the mind wants them to, to make it a convenient solution when the answer is convoluted and full of deceptions that became gripping stories that left a scar on your conscience.
My initial theories were romantic and utter rubbish but keep following Julian and I've arrived at the answers at the same time. This is one of the reasons why I like the series, the writing helps you think, with Julian reading witnesses/suspects' statements, him making a note of the events chronologically, him doing a lot of interviewing, and him wording out all of his theories, no matter how twisted and against the evidences they were. Dr. MacGregor isn't in this book, but we have Sir Malcom, the client, there to comment on how devilish a mind Julian has in concocting theories of suspects, and to compliment him on keeping tabs of all the details. The series definite has a hardcore police procedures structure to it, a rare gem among a stream of Regency lady sleuths who rely on gossips and carefully veiled conversation.
Also, this is why I prefer historical mysteries to modern ones, the crime was committed 80 years too early for fingerprint identification so the perpetrator got away at once and would have to be found by a lot more evidences put together.
While not surprised about the whodunit and whydunit, it's still heart-breaking to witness the characters' confession. The previous 2 books are nowhere near cozy, but this one tops it with a strong sense of loss and anger. I will remember this book as one of those dramas that remind me of human's ugly side and what it costs.
This, for me, is the best mystery so far in the series. Mind-boggling intrigues, so many pieces of puzzles that are impossible to fit together because they don't click directly with each other but the mind wants them to, to make it a convenient solution when the answer is convoluted and full of deceptions that became gripping stories that left a scar on your conscience.
My initial theories were romantic and utter rubbish but keep following Julian and I've arrived at the answers at the same time. This is one of the reasons why I like the series, the writing helps you think, with Julian reading witnesses/suspects' statements, him making a note of the events chronologically, him doing a lot of interviewing, and him wording out all of his theories, no matter how twisted and against the evidences they were. Dr. MacGregor isn't in this book, but we have Sir Malcom, the client, there to comment on how devilish a mind Julian has in concocting theories of suspects, and to compliment him on keeping tabs of all the details. The series definite has a hardcore police procedures structure to it, a rare gem among a stream of Regency lady sleuths who rely on gossips and carefully veiled conversation.
Also, this is why I prefer historical mysteries to modern ones, the crime was committed 80 years too early for fingerprint identification so the perpetrator got away at once and would have to be found by a lot more evidences put together.
While not surprised about the whodunit and whydunit, it's still heart-breaking to witness the characters' confession. The previous 2 books are nowhere near cozy, but this one tops it with a strong sense of loss and anger. I will remember this book as one of those dramas that remind me of human's ugly side and what it costs.
roshk99's review against another edition
4.0
An entertaining book with a main character very similar to Sebastian St. Cyr, but better because thus far he avoids romantic entanglements. Julian Kestral is a cocky, yet extremely intelligent and perceptive gentleman who expertly solves the murder mystery.
siria's review against another edition
2.0
This gallops along at a very enjoyable clip for the first two-thirds or three-quarters, with the dandy and amateur sleuth Julian Kestrel roaming around 1820s London trying to solve the murder of another member of the Ton, the (perhaps too-charming) Alexander Falkland. Kate Ross writes a serviceable Regency-ish pastiche for the most part, although the servility of the working-class characters and their cod Cockney dialogue grated a bit.
And then it all sort of falls asunder a bit.
The unfolding of the whodunnit in the last part required suspension of disbelief about some very stagey, melodramatic elements and moustache-twirling villainy, all of which sat uncomfortably alongside some revelations that were far darker than you might expect to encounter in this particular genre of novel—in fact, darker than Ross seemed to have fully grasped. That Whom the Gods Love was written in the mid-90s is also pretty apparent in some of the dated ways it frames gender, sex, relationships, and ethnicity.
And then it all sort of falls asunder a bit.
The unfolding of the whodunnit in the last part required suspension of disbelief about some very stagey, melodramatic elements and moustache-twirling villainy, all of which sat uncomfortably alongside some revelations that were far darker than you might expect to encounter in this particular genre of novel—in fact, darker than Ross seemed to have fully grasped. That Whom the Gods Love was written in the mid-90s is also pretty apparent in some of the dated ways it frames gender, sex, relationships, and ethnicity.
Spoiler
(This isn’t a straight-up reworking of The Merchant of Venice, but there are some nods to it. And that particular Shakespeare play has some beautiful language, but it’s also deeply messed up. Ross creates here a character who is the archetype of the Self-Loathing Rich Jew, one who nurtures a passion for a beautiful, blonde Christian woman whom he barely knows desperate enough that he’ll forgive her husband tens of thousands of pounds worth of debts for the chance to have sex with her—in other words, since she neither knows about this in advance nor is willing to do so, for the chance to rape her. Near the end of the book, we’re told that the woman in question “understands” why the man did it and that “she forgives [him]”, that they’re “two of a kind” and that this “was a great love squandered.” If you’re not wrinkling your nose after reading all of that, I don’t know what to tell you. Add to that a Portia-esque character who’s written in a way that today would probably be interpreted as non-binary/genderqueer but who ends the novel having reverted to heteronormative modes of dress and behaviour and seems happy to be married off to a man twice her age, and you get a book that really, truly lost me in the last few chapters.)hoperu's review against another edition
4.0
First read 2001. Reread 2016.
I didn't remember much of the mystery of this book, so it was like reading it anew. I still like Julian Kestrel, the dandy amateur detective and wish there was more of His servant Dipper in this one. This time through, I did start to roll my eyes at the depictions of the servants and lower classes, with their unwavering devotion to their masters - it seemed overly romanticized at times. But given that the detective is a mysterious dandy, and it is a mystery novel and not a heavy work of historical fiction, that is mostly forgivable.
I didn't remember much of the mystery of this book, so it was like reading it anew. I still like Julian Kestrel, the dandy amateur detective and wish there was more of His servant Dipper in this one. This time through, I did start to roll my eyes at the depictions of the servants and lower classes, with their unwavering devotion to their masters - it seemed overly romanticized at times. But given that the detective is a mysterious dandy, and it is a mystery novel and not a heavy work of historical fiction, that is mostly forgivable.
ladyhighwayman's review against another edition
4.0
London dandy Julian Kestral is fast becoming known as a successful amateur sleuth. He has already solved two separate murder cases. However, those murder cases were cases that Julian took upon himself to solve. This time, he is actually being sought out to solve a murder.
Sir Malcolm Falkland has reached out to Julian to help solve the murder of his son, Alexander, who was found with his head smashed in by a fire poker in his own study. Julian is hesitant, not sure if Sir Malcolm will be able to see it though, but agrees to help.
Julian comes across a vast variety of interesting characters, all it seems with something to hide (what fun would it be if they didn't?). We have Alexander's wife, her half brother, a few mysterious friends and some secretive servants.
Through his investigation he discovers that the Alexander the world saw was not the real Alexander. He also suspects that Alexander's death is connected with another murder that occurred a week before, a murder of a woman who had her faced smashed in, making her unrecognizable.
Julian realizes that the real Alexander has crossed someone, and that someone paid him back. Julian has to race against time to solve the case - he has 500 pounds riding on it!
Ross perfectly captures 1820s London. We see all aspects of life, from the upper to the lower class, and everything in between. I can't explain how absorbed I get while reading her books. It's almost like I'm there, following Julian around on his investigation and before I know it, an hour has gone by! These are the kind of books I never want to end, but yet, I can't wait to find out the ending, because I can never see it coming!
This is definitely an A+ historical mystery series. Unfortunately, only one more book to go, and from what I hear, the fourth installment is the best of the series!
Sir Malcolm Falkland has reached out to Julian to help solve the murder of his son, Alexander, who was found with his head smashed in by a fire poker in his own study. Julian is hesitant, not sure if Sir Malcolm will be able to see it though, but agrees to help.
Julian comes across a vast variety of interesting characters, all it seems with something to hide (what fun would it be if they didn't?). We have Alexander's wife, her half brother, a few mysterious friends and some secretive servants.
Through his investigation he discovers that the Alexander the world saw was not the real Alexander. He also suspects that Alexander's death is connected with another murder that occurred a week before, a murder of a woman who had her faced smashed in, making her unrecognizable.
Julian realizes that the real Alexander has crossed someone, and that someone paid him back. Julian has to race against time to solve the case - he has 500 pounds riding on it!
Ross perfectly captures 1820s London. We see all aspects of life, from the upper to the lower class, and everything in between. I can't explain how absorbed I get while reading her books. It's almost like I'm there, following Julian around on his investigation and before I know it, an hour has gone by! These are the kind of books I never want to end, but yet, I can't wait to find out the ending, because I can never see it coming!
This is definitely an A+ historical mystery series. Unfortunately, only one more book to go, and from what I hear, the fourth installment is the best of the series!
jessalynn_librarian's review against another edition
4.0
The only thing I didn't like about this third installment in the Julian Kestrel series? Knowing that there's only ever going to be one more. Authors should never be allowed to die young.
The plot definitely stands alone in each book, but why not read them in order? Start with [b:Cut to the Quick|351385|Cut to the Quick (Julian Kestrel Mysteries, #1)|Kate Ross|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223675280s/351385.jpg|742856]. Julian is something of a mysterious character, and I was relieved to see that Ross includes a few more judicious details about his family and background in this book. I was starting to be afraid that she wouldn't have gotten around to it in any of the published books. There isn't as much of Dipper - or his sister - in this book, and I especially wondered what his sister had gotten up to since the last book.
The mystery is nicely complex and satisfying, with a few things that you can figure out along the way and a few more that come as a surprise - just the way I like it. There's an authentic historical feel, and the whole series is more smart than sensational.
The plot definitely stands alone in each book, but why not read them in order? Start with [b:Cut to the Quick|351385|Cut to the Quick (Julian Kestrel Mysteries, #1)|Kate Ross|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223675280s/351385.jpg|742856]. Julian is something of a mysterious character, and I was relieved to see that Ross includes a few more judicious details about his family and background in this book. I was starting to be afraid that she wouldn't have gotten around to it in any of the published books. There isn't as much of Dipper - or his sister - in this book, and I especially wondered what his sister had gotten up to since the last book.
The mystery is nicely complex and satisfying, with a few things that you can figure out along the way and a few more that come as a surprise - just the way I like it. There's an authentic historical feel, and the whole series is more smart than sensational.
faintingviolet's review against another edition
3.0
Whom the Gods Love is filled with literary allusions and death. The book picks up a small while after the activities of A Broken Vessel finding Julian and Dipper back into the normal pattern of life. That is, until Julian is approached by Sir Malcolm Falkland, father of the deceased Alexander Falkland. Sir Malcolm is distraught, the Bow Street Runners have run into a dead end and the Quality won’t fully participate in the investigation. Sir Malcolm approaches our amateur sleuth to piece together the mystery of who would kill such a popular young man.
Julian takes on the challenge, if only to occupy his time and give Sir Malcolm peace of mind, but it quickly becomes clear that there is much more below the surface than Sir Malcolm or any of Alexander’s acquaintances could have known. Ms. Ross utilizes a character list in the beginning of this book, partly because there are so many characters to keep track of, and partly I think as a nod to Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice which gets referenced once again. While this book had a slow start I’ve decided to give it a three star rating because it’s full of historical insights and kept me guessing about the mystery at hand.
http://faintingviolet.wordpress.com/2012/11/03/whom-the-gods-love-cbr4-44/
Julian takes on the challenge, if only to occupy his time and give Sir Malcolm peace of mind, but it quickly becomes clear that there is much more below the surface than Sir Malcolm or any of Alexander’s acquaintances could have known. Ms. Ross utilizes a character list in the beginning of this book, partly because there are so many characters to keep track of, and partly I think as a nod to Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice which gets referenced once again. While this book had a slow start I’ve decided to give it a three star rating because it’s full of historical insights and kept me guessing about the mystery at hand.
http://faintingviolet.wordpress.com/2012/11/03/whom-the-gods-love-cbr4-44/