Customer Reviews

Bright Hair About the Bone (Laetitia Talbot Mysteries)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a devoted fan of the Joe Sandiland series by Barbara Cleverly. I thoroughly enjoyed her first Laetitia Talbot book - "The Tomb of Zeus" - and was panting with anticipation to get my hands on this one. However, it was just plain disappointing. I still like the characters, love the archaeological settings, and find the writing good. However, the plot just plain fell flat. The story in this book appears to predate the story in the first book of the series, and I remember noticing while reading "Tomb of Zeus" that it seemed to be a sequel. I can see why a decision was made to publish the second part of the story first - assuming that's what was done - it's immeasurably better and readers are much more likely to come back for more than if this one was first.

I am wondering if Ms. Cleverly might need a vacation. I found that the last two Joe Sandiland books were also not up to the quality of the previous ones - and that's a shame. I own all of them and they are on the list of books I reread every couple of years. I'm going to continue to buy and read Cleverly books - good writers don't grow on trees, and she is definitely in the top bunch of mystery writers. Whatever it takes to come back - do it and continue to delight us with your wonderful prose.

First Sentence: The priest smoothed down his white robe and prepared to make his entrance into the Village Hall.

Laetitia Stella St. Clair Talbot receives a postcard from her beloved godfather after learning he has been murdered in a medieval town in France. Determined to discover what happened, she employs her archeological talents to gain a position on a dig going on in the town. As her father won't allow her to travel alone, he employs an injured veteran of WWI who is also a cleric. Once there, the encounters an imperious count and a town linked to Mary Magdalene and Celtic goddesses.

I love Barbara Cleverly's Joe Sandilands series but wonder what she was thinking to create a character as annoying as Laetitia. She leapt to conclusions about people, she was arrogant and, at times, too stupid to live. It's a shame because once you got past her, which is hard to do as these the protagonist; the story had some very good points.

The secondary character of Gunning was excellent. A former Army chaplain invalided out of WWI, he provided a means by which I learned more about that time; both the war and the aftermath. There is a tragic statement, which was believed at the time, that France would never again be so weak there would be blood shed on its soil.

Cleverly is skilled at educating the reader without it ever being preachy or out of context with the story. Her other great still is in description and creating an evocative sense of place. That adds such richness to the story.

NOTE: I have recently learned this was Cleverly's first book, which was not originally published. Only after the Sandilands series and "Tomb of Zeus" did her publisher decide to release this. I'm happy to say Ms. Cleverly's writing has improved greatly since this book.

In 1926 in the village of Fontigny-Saint-Reine, Burgundy, someone stabs Daniel Thorndon while he was researching artifacts at the private library of Edmond d'Aubec. Before Thorndon dies he sends postcard to his goddaughter Leticia "Letty": Talbot; the message is in a code they made up years ago when she was a child.

A stunned Letty, accompanied by Army chaplain William Gunning, travels to France to learn who killed her godfather and why. To achieve her objective, Letty goes undercover obtaining work with the archeological dig led by Dr. Charles Paradee. However, instead of antiquity or even Victorian, they find the modern day corpse of a stable boy who worked at d'Aubec's nearby chateau. Letty persuades Edmond to allow her to look at Daniel's work on ancient religious manuscripts, which brings her to the attention of a killer.

With Joe Sandilands taking a well deserved breather (see RAGTIME IN SIMLA), independent Letty Talbot makes her second star appearance (see THE TOMB OF ZEUS) in a terrific historical whodunit. The story line is fast-paced from the moment that a determined Letty decides to investigate the murder of her godfather. Although the religious angle has been overdone a zillion times, fans will toast with fine French wine this fun 1920s amateur sleuth reminiscent of Carola Dunn's married Daisy Dalrymple.

Harriet Klausner

Laetitia Talbot is no Joe Sandilands -- and therein lies the problem.
While Cleverly's mysteries revolving around Sandilands are compelling and solidly-plotted, she appears to give less attention to this new series, revolving around a young archaelogist's (mis)adventures in Crete and, now, Burgundy.
In this book -- which is still a lively and engaging read -- Laetitia sets off 'undercover' to try to discover who murdered her godfather, working at the site of an archaelogical dig near Lyon. The typical cast of characters for this kind of book emerges -- the colorful locals, including a charming yet possibly sociopathic local count, who takes to Laetitia immediately and seems intent on seducing her. Then there is William Gunning, a former vicar who somehow survived four years of trench warfare physically, although he struggles to find meaning to his life in its aftermath.
Alas... you know a book hasn't lived up to its potential when its most compelling character isn't the heroine but Gunning, the troubled but thoughtful man assigned by Laetitia's father to make sure she runs into no harm during her explorations. In this kind of book, it's possible to overlook the sometimes choppy narrative (it leaps from a chapter where mysterious figures are suggesting that she vanish en route to Fontigny-Sainte-Reine to her safe arrivel there with barely a breath of any threat to her, and introduces scary characters who never really make another appearance as such until they are safely dead). But beyond the niggly details -- such as the inability to fit this book into any chronology with its predecessor The Tomb of Zeus (Laetitia Talbot Mysteries) as there is almost zero overlap in character development or personalities -- I found Laetitia's antics slightly incredible at times. For instance, although she is ostensibly incognito, her prime suspect immediately identifies her for who she is -- for reasons that are never really credible until far too late. The police captain, Laval, is aware of her true identity. And she herself acknowledges that she keeps her passport in a drawer at her lodgings. All of this begs the question of whether there was any need to go incognito at all, with all the effort implied. It certainly doesn't help the plot.
The plot -- well, it's lively and interesting and keeps you reading, which is the point. While the conspiracy at the heart of it may strike some as implausible, perhaps in the interwar environment which Cleverly has made her own it is believable enough to get a 'pass'. No surprises on who emerges as the culprit, however, and as in Laetitia Talbot's first outing, she tends to serve more as a catalyst for events than as a detective.
I've still given this three stars because it is an amusing read -- a kind of historical "cozy" with an edge -- and because of Cleverly's skill in depicting this troubled period. But I'll be waiting eagerly for Joe Sandilands's next outing!
(Note to publisher: please bring back a copy editor! Numerous typos and other snafus litter the pages -- Brittany becomes Britanny, etc....)

I think it is very funny. Several reviewers who know this writer well have said that this is her worst book. Not a bad book, just not as good as her others.

This is the first book that I've read from this author. I hope that the other reviewers are right because I will be in for a treat. I LOVED this book. I liked the character. I'm a history buff and for me the late 20s is a historical era. I wasn't born yet. But I've known a lot of people for whom it wasn't a historical era, and everything felt right. There might have been mistakes, but I didn't see them.

I liked the story too. Including the big what if in the end chapters. Because history would have been quite different if the book had ended differently.

And I liked the fact that I didn't know who to like and who not to like until the book was finished.

I'm looking forward to reading more by this author.

This is the first of the Series about archeologist Latitia Talbot, although I read the second one first. The style is clear and yet full of information about the subject, the time and location (in this case, it's Burgundy). The heroine is intelligent and brave, and all the characters are well drawn out. This mystery series is smart, interesting and well written.

When Laetitia Talbot learns of her godfather Daniel's murder, she knows that she must carry out his wishes and find out who killed him. Her father, Sir Richard, hired William Gunning, a previous vicar and army priest during the Great War, to watch over Laetitia much to Letty's dismay. As an archaeologist, the intelligent and very stubborn Letty travels to Burgundy, France where Daniel was murdered under the pseudonym Stella St. Clair. As she adjusts to her mother's homeland, she is encountered by Comte Edmond d'Aubec, who is a rogue gentleman who makes some advances towards Letty throughout the novel. As Letting gets closer to the comte, she begins to slowly unravel the mystery of her godfather's death, a plan to take over France and stop the growing menance in Germany (the Nazis), and a mystery of Mary Magdelene and the forms of the goddess of Epona, Isis, etc.

Bright Hair About the Bone by Barbara Cleverly is a historical mystery novel set in 1926 France. Although it is the second Laetitia Talbot novel to come out, it is actually the first novel Cleverly wrote about the character. Letty is a very modern woman, intelligent, resilient, and very stubborn. My favorite character though is Gunning, who is a complete mystery that is slowly unraveled; whereas, Letty is what you see, what you get type of woman. I enjoyed the novel for its historical aspects, but I felt that the mystery part of it was a tad slow. I enjoyed Cleverly's The Tomb of Zeus much more, although I do believe that Bright Hair About the Bone is worth reading. I do look forward to more Laetitia Talbot mysteries.