DP54Cover - Deadly Pleasures

Reviews
what happened. He joins with the Duchess’s operatives
and Dame Frevisse to safeguard the lives and political
futures of Alice’s family and York. This book reunites both
of Frazer’s detectives with history at the center. Frazer’s
story follows exactly the historical action, although her
solution is novel. Thus the convoluted politics are authentic,
if bewildering to anyone who is not familiar with the
fifteenth century. Both face physical danger, Joliffe
directly and Dame Frevisse, as all Suffolk’s retinue face
violence from enraged patriots. The story abounds with
double crosses and layers of intrigue. As always, Frazer
excels in all the story elements.
Despite the exciting fights, the book was too talky
and too complicated for my taste. This may be a case of
too much history and not enough story.
Long Live Horace Rumpole –
And John Mortimer
T HE ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR OF HORACE
RUMPOLE by John Mortimer (PenguinViking, 18.99;
in U.S. RUMPOLE MISBEHAVES, Viking, $23.95).
Rating: A Anti-Social Behavior Orders, commonly
known as ASBOs, are the New Labour government’s
pride and joy. A child who plays or even loiters in an
unfriendly street can, on the complaint of neighbors,
have an ASBO slapped on him. If he offends again he’ll
be found in breach of his ASBO and thrown in jail without
a trial. All this, of course, raises the wrath of Horace
Rumpole when he is called upon to defend a Timson child
who has earned an ASBO for playing soccer on a posh
street.
In another case, he is defending a young man
who is accused of murder a prostitute who happens to be
a Russian illegal immigrant.
As Rumpole tries to get to the bottom of his two
cases, his fellow barristers in chambers decide to cite
Rumpole with a ASBO for bringing food and his beloved
wine into his room, and for causing global warming by
lighting small cigars. Will this derail his last attempt of
being appointed Queen's Counsel?
Any addition to the Rumpolian canon is most
welcome. John Mortimer is getting up in age so I live in
constant fear that the latest Rumpole novel may be the
last. I hope he’s been writing other Rumpole novels and
storing them in his attic. I can assure you that as long as
there are new Rumpole stories, they will always get an A
rating from me. The stories are always fun, but the
everyday Rumpolian banter and manipulations are
priceless.
Deadly Pleasures
JUST JUST IN IN CRIME
CRIME
by by Norma
Norma
Dancis
Dancis
59
THE EDGE by Clare Curzon (St. Martin’s Minotaur
2006, $23.95). RATING: A Superintendent Mike
Yeadings and his detectives in the Thames Valley police
need to solve a horrible crimes -- or is it two? A farmer finds
the body of a woman, staked out on hay bales like a
sacrificial victim. Up at the house are her husband and two
dead children, al stabbed. The family’s son is missing. The
detectives must find the son and decide if he is victim or
villain, then solve the crime(s). But first, they must discover
who the family is. How can you trace the actions from the
past that might have sparked the murder if you can’t even
establish who the victims are? Curzon is a fine writer. She
tells the story through the eyes of several detectives, plus
a victim.
While all these detectives are familiar from earlier
books, here Curzon spends more time with Yeadings and
Rosemary. There is an entertaining subplot of intersquad
rivalry. A new DCI has joined as temporary second in
command (and hopes to become permanent), while the
two Detective Sergeants are vying for the position as well.
Curzon easily introduces newcomers to the characters
without old hands even noticing. The story is both complex
and rich. The plot not only twists satisfactorily, but each
twist brings deepens the psychological understanding.
The real crime is how unfamiliar most Americans are with
this fine writer.
PUSHING UP BLUEBONNETS by Leann
Sweeney (New American Library 2008, $6.99). RAT-
ING: B+ Abby Rose is a Houston heiress who is also PI
specializing in adoption matters. She is asked to identify
a young woman injured in a car crash in Montgomery
County, Texas. The woman had no other identification
than Abby’s card. After some investigation, Abby identifies
the young woman, who is reunited with the man who
claims to be her natural father.
He hires Abby to investigate when it is learned that
the crash was a murder attempt, probably by one of his
other children. Since he is exceedingly wealthy, the stakes
are high. Kate, Abby’s twin sister and a psychologist, and
her lover, a detective in the Houston Police Force, assist in
the investigation. Abby is an attractive heroine, feisty and
believable even given the unlikely circumstances Sweeney
sets up. The back story, from the first book in the series,
is even less likely. However, Sweeney manages to make
the story work. The main problem with this series is but
that Sweeney is in love with Abby. She is presented as so
spunky, so determined, so loved by so many people that