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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
fantastic historical mystery, February 8, 2006
Two years earlier, though the competition is fierce, the Marconi Wireless Telegraphy Company successfully sent the first wireless message across the Atlantic from their Bass Point Station in Lizard Village, Cornwall. However, by 1903 much of the initial euphoria has worn off as sabotage slows down progress. More frightening, a fisherman finds the battered body of Jack Gordon who the officials declared fell off the nearby cliff to his accidental death. When a second accident leaves another employee dead, the company and the locals conjecture whether a rival is warning off the workforce; no one believes an accident occurred as two tragedies so close together seem too coincidental especially since more damaging disruption including the stealing of a key valuable piece of equipment has occurred at the wireless station.
While Lady Kate Sheridan visits her grieving friend Lady Jenna Loveday, whose daughter Harriet recently drowned, local authorities ask her husband Charles, a successful amateur sleuth, to investigate the two "accidental" deaths that they now believe are homicides. He soon connects Harriet's drowning, the deaths of the employees of the wireless company to the industrial espionage and sabotage, but that knowledge places Charles and Kate in danger from a person willing to kill to take control of the growing international communications business.
DEATH ON THE LIZARD is a fantastic historical mystery, which in spite of a wonderful who-done-it investigation, the early twentieth century communication technology takes front and center as readers cannot help but to compare it with cell phones and internet instant chat lines, etc. The story line is action-packed, but also provides a deep historical look at Cornwall and at the beginnings of the technology revolution. The key cast members, not just the sleuthing marital team, are fully developed as Team Paige is at their best with this insightful look at the late Victorian Age.
Harriet Klausner
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
AN EDWARDIAN MYSTERY..., July 12, 2011
This is the twelfth in a series of period mysteries written by a husband and wife team under a pseudonym. Well-written and well-researched, they are replete with detail evocative of a bygone era. The main characters are engaging and with each passing book, the reader becomes more interested with the details of their lives. As with all cozy mysteries, it is not so much the mystery that is of import but the characters that revolve around the mystery. While the mystery is intriguing, it is simply the framework around which the characters evolve.
The series revolves around Lady Kathryn and her husband, Charles, Baron of Somersworth. In 1903, they are off to Lizard Village in Cornwall. Charles is an enthusiast of all new scientific inventions, and the wireless is no exception. Lizard Village just happens to be the home of Guglielmo Marconi's wireless station. When apparent sabotage and unsatisfactorily explained deaths occur, Charles, an amateur detective, is asked to make an inquiry into what exactly is going on in Lizard Village and at the Marconi station. Aided by his wife, Kathryn, what they discover involves national security and an old nemesis.
It is of interest that these books always seem to include a historical personage or event that is intertwined into the mystery at hand. The authors' notes at the end of the book are most enjoyable, as they allow the reader to understand the reasoning and research that went into such inclusion. In this case, they provide a lot of information about the development of the wireless in England and some of its practices. The injection of Guglielmo Marconi into the storyline was also quite interesting, and, again, the authors' notes are illuminating as to why. For those who enjoy history, these notes are an added bonus to these books. Those who enjoy the historical cozy mystery genre will definitely love this series.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
#12, March 28, 2006
Kate & Charles Sheridan are back in their 12th novel, set in Cornwall in 1903. The well-known person featured in this story is Edward Marconi, who is working on his new technology, the telegraph. Charles is asked to investigate some strange happenings with Marconi's company, while Kate (separately) was asked to help a friend in the same area who is grieving for her daughter's recent death. While Kate is ferreting out the mysterious goings-on with the child's death, Charles is knee-deep in bodies and clues. The two are kept busy, but manage to solve the cases but not without some danger to themselves. Not my favorite of their (Bill & Susan Wittig Albert) stories, but another good read.
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