Customer Reviews

Cut to the Quick

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a teenager I devoured every regency romance ever written by Georgette Heyer and have wondered why there aren't any Regency period mysteries. A friend directed me to Kate Ross's Julian Kestrel series, and I am hooked.

Julian Kestrel is, like most of the heroes in Georgette Heyer's romances, a dandy with a difference. Behind his suave and witty exterior lurks a serious young man with great intelligence and compassion. It's that compassion that gets him involved with Hugh Fontclair, who he rescues from a gaming club. After this act, Fontclair invites Kestrel to his home to serve as groomsman at his wedding. Once there, Kestrel meets the family (all of whom have secrets, a la Anne Perry), and discovers a dead woman in his bed. Suspicion turns from Kestrel to his wonderful servant Dipper (a reforming Cockney thief also saved by Kestrel) before turning to the possible connections the lady might have had with members of the family.

If you like the regency period, the Scarlet Pimpernel, or Georgette Heyer I think you will love this book and the others in the series.

As most of you, I read all the time and keep books "in reserve" so I am never without one. For a recent trip to London, I wanted to have a mystery set there, and stumbled onto this one. I bought it, but just wasn't sure about it, and kept putting it aside, reading other things. Eventually I ran out of others, and picked it up. WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG? I was captivated immediately by the historical details and the character of Julian. He is interesting, as is his manservant. I was CRESTFALLEN to learn that Kate Ross died recently of cancer. That makes the other three books left in the series ones to cherish. I agree with everyone who reviewed this: buy them all and read them all. I am now on the second, trying to savor it, but it, like this one, is so good it is hard to pace yourself! Enjoy.

Upon discovering Julian Kestrel and Kate Ross, I was in love. The writing style is for readers who want an intellectual experience with their mystery. The hero is historically interesting ( an English dandy) and emotionally interesting as well ( certainly not the typical private eye). The outcomes of all four Kate Ross books make sense, there is no gratuitous violence, and the writing does not insult your intelligence. I never write reviews, but I wanted other mystery readers to discover this under-valued writer.

Julian Kestrel is, to outward appearances, a Regency Dandy. In reality, his is a keen and logical mind, well suited to solving mysteries. Invited to be groomsman (best man) at the wedding of a young man, Hugh Fontclair, whom he barely knows, Kestrel becomes involved in that proud and arrogant family's worst secrets, secrets that come to the fore when a young woman is found murdered. In Kestrel's bed. Who is she? And why was she murdered? And, by whom? Initial suspicion falls on Dipper, Kestrel's valet, formerly a London pickpocket. Kestrel must redouble his efforts to find the answer to the mystery -- and the murderer -- before his manservant is led away to be hanged. Meanwhile, the relationship between Hugh and his bride-to-be, the daughter of a cit of low origins (he used to work in the Fontclair stables)becomes problematic when Hugh is convinced Julian Kestrel is a rival for Miss Craddock's affections. Lots of twists and turns in this ingenious plot, and I defy anyone to come up with the murderer before Kestrel does! An auspicious beginning to a very fine series. Kate Ross's prose is elegant and her descriptions exquisite. She's in a class by herself.

Writers are frequently told to summarize the entire plot of their book into one sentence; it is indeed an excellent exercise. That being the case, 'Pride goeth before a fall" could be the condensed theme of this dazzling mystery by the late Boston attorney, Kate Ross.

The book jacket claims her detective, Julian Kestrel, as a worthy addition to the ranks of the 12th Century Brother Cadfael and the 1920's Lord Peter Wimsey, excellent company indeed. Kestrel is an inhabitant of London in the 1820s; a dandy lacking a gentleman's education, family, title or riches. During that era, façade was all important, when hours might be spent in tying one's cravat just so. Perhaps ten years after the self-exile of Beau Brummel, style over substance was still given too much emphasis.

This first novel is redolent with the sights, sounds and smells of the era, as we've come to know it from the books of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer. Two years before the beginning of this book, Kestrel is the unwilling victim of a pickpocket. Because the theft was of a valuable (although only to him) pocket-watch, Kestrel chases the thief and finally brings the miscreant down with a well-placed toss of his walking stick.

Impressed with the Cockney lad's sense of personal integrity--he made no excuses for himself, but accepted his fate stoically--Kestrel refuses to press charges, and takes the lad into his employ. Dipper becomes a valet, but bemoans to his new employer, "When you got a gift, even if it was the Devil give it to you, you get a hankering to use it now and again." It is only by a brief return to the underworld of Dipper's London to uncover information available nowhere else that Kestrel is able to solve the mystery presented to him during a stay at Bellegarde, for centuries the country home of the Fontclairs.

Kestrel is not burdened with the pride of the Fontclairs. Good thing, too. They have more than enough for the entire country. It is easy to understand why England has been invincible for centuries with just this kind of back-bone, which prizes personal honour above all, while seemingly ignoring the deception and lust which lay just under the surface.

Kestrel had rescued the Fontclair scion, Hugh, from a gambling den one night, and then, to his surprise, is invited to be groomsman for Hugh's upcoming wedding. The bride, Maud Craddock, and her father, along with Kestrel are the only outsiders present. Hugh's parents, Sir Robert and Lady Cecily; his uncle, Sir Geoffrey, a retired colonel lamed during Boney's war; and his son, (who is also Hugh's cousin,) Guy, and Lady Catherine, Robert and Geoffrey's sister, along with a young woman, Isabelle, who is actually cousin to Sir Robert rather than Hugh, make up the family. Lady Catherine has a husband and a home of her own, but she much prefers Bellegarde. She was, after all, born a Fontclair.

Lady Catherine is so prideful and bitter, she becomes the most obvious choice of villain; the wonderful character whom one loves to hate. On the other hand, Sir Geoffrey, who is responsible for the situation that makes a marriage by blackmail possible, is so wounded, both physically and emotionally, that you hope he is somehow found innocent, even when proof upon proof of his involvement is provided.

Maud and Hugh are tentatively drawn to each other, but the burden of the arranged marriage, the failure of which can only lead to the downfall of the Fontclairs, nearly destroys them, not to mention the balance of the family. Lady Catherine, spitting and spiteful, has hoped for an alliance between Hugh and Isabelle, but Isabelle has always been drawn to the carefree, penniless Guy, who is barely aware of her existence.

The mystery comes when an uninvited and unidentified young woman is found, having been stabbed to death, in Kestrel's assigned bed. Without fingerprints, chemical analysis, or any of the other resources known to today's Scotland Yard, Kestrel sets out to discover not only who she was, but why she was left in his bed.
Ms. Ross skillfully keeps track of her myriad characters, and the somewhat sprawling plot; the denouement is a surprise. Her use of the language of the time provides a wonderful and colorful image of what the London and England must have been like during that age of elegance. This book is elegance personified.

A leisurely developed closed-room murder mystery story set in a lovingly rendered 1823 England. It is an "onion peel" mystery, wherein a small number of suspects is peeled down, layer by surprising layer, to their rather smelly cores, but still, it seems, without settling on who murdered the beautiful stranger. Ross seems to have caught the elegant yet tawdry activities of the Regency period, which, like the 1920's, must have been a time of exhuberance after a similarly exhausting war (Napoleon's). Ross skillfully evokes the colors and morals of the period. It would only take listening to a disc of John Field or Franz Schubert's piano music to complete wrapping you in the period mood.

The "upstairs" dandy, the style-setting fashion-plate Julian Kestrel, is in fact a sentimental rescuer of the naive groom and bride in a remote country house. His "downstairs" servant is a low-life who speaks the amusing cant of thievery (his previous, but useful, occupation until Kestrel's rescue, again). Kestrel becomes a covert (undignified) private sleuth in the course of this first book in the series. While Kestrel is undoubtedly the principal character, narrative viewpoints do shift among the main characters, sometimes rapidly, so one glimpses many motivations, not always generous, that it would be hard for Kestrel to discover alone. One character comments on the original Gothic novels by Mrs. Radcliffe, although ghosts and terror are most minor parts here. I find it a little hard to credit Kestrel's initial motivation for sleuthing on his own, but he's not really a vapid dandy and once he starts it's fun to follow. A map of the house, which Kestrel eventually acquires (but does not show us), would have been a helpful aid in visualizing the scenes.

This is my second Kate Ross novel and I was not disappointed. Not only is the story a great mystery, but it is quite a history lesson as well. Smooth character development, great interaction among the characters, and baffling mysteries simply explained make this one of the better series that I have read lately. The protagonist Julian Kestrel is something out of a Dumas novel (and that's a good thing!) and the ending actually follows the plot. I will read the other novels in the series too.

This is the first of four books in the Julian Kestrel series. The other three are: A Broken Vessel, Whom the Gods Love, and The Devil in Music.

Kate Ross's prose is masterful, elegant, and flows naturally. The mystery is tight, suspenseful, and all encompassing. The characters are colorful and fascinating. The protaganist, Julian Kestrel, has got to rank amongst the best characters in fiction, ever. I found myself rereading the book just for the dialogue between Julian and the other characters. It's wonderfully entertaining.

If my review sounds too enthusiastic, it's simply because the book deserves it.

The plot:

The book takes place in 1800's England. Julian Kestrel is a "dandy", a man who wears fashionable clothes, is charismatic, and is quite popular with the ladies. But, he also has intelligence, compassion, impeccable manners, a strong sense of justice, and a witty, dry sense of humor. One night, he comes to the aid of a shy, rather naive young man at a gambling hall who was clearly out of his element and had had too much to drink. Sensing the young man was about to ruin himself, Kestrel put him in a carriage and sent him home. The grateful young man, who is Hugh Fontclair of the wealthy and infamous Fontclair family, later asks Kestrel to serve as best man at his wedding. Kestrel is stunned, as he doesn't even know the young man; he'd only spoken to him briefly that night. But, Kestrel is curious and intrigued, especially when he noticed that Hugh looked rather glum about getting married. What's wrong with this picture, Kestrel wonders? He accepts Hugh's invitation to visit him and his family at their estate in Bellegarde. After his second evening there, Kestrel finds the dead body of a young woman in his bed. He has no idea who she is, how she came to be in his bed, or why she was murdered. Kestrel takes an interest in the murder investigation, but becomes absolutely determined to SOLVE it after his faithful manservant, Dipper, is accused of the murder. Kestrel strongly believes Dipper is innocent. While investigating, Kestrel finds himself embroiled in Fontclair family secrets: deceit, dishonor, and blackmail. The mystery is intriguing and the suspects plentiful. But Kestrel discovers the truth - he not only figures out the culprit, but unearths the secrets and the reasons behind them. And he does so in a gentlemanly, humanely, and skillful manner.

I am profoundly sorry that Kate Ross passed away. She was a brilliant storyteller and her books - including Cut to the Quick - are gems.

I literally stumbled over this when I found it lying on the floor of our library, and I'm so glad I didn't just reshelve it. The mystery is involving and fast-paced -- and not easily solved, the characters are all fully developed and engaging, and the hero is one of those characters you wish you could find in real life. My only disappointment is that Ms. Ross has recently died and there will be no more wonderful Kestral mysteries to come.

I am so glad I found Kate Ross. Cut to the Quick was excellent: I found myself putting my child to bed a bit earlier just so I could settle down with the book. I think Julian Kestrel is a fresh addition to the mystery genre and have already rushed to buy the next three novels.