The Gardens of the Dead (Father Anselm Mysteries) [Mass Market Paperback]

William Brodrick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 2007 | Series: Father Anselm Mysteries

In his acclaimed debut, The Sixth Lamentation, William Brodrick introduced one of the mystery genre’s most indelible heroes: Father Anselm, English barrister-turned-monk. Marking his triumphant return, The Gardens of the Dead begins with the unexpected death of a former colleague of Anselm’s who had reopened an old case—one in which Anselm featured prominently. The monk, soon immersed in a mystery that sheds light on the darkest corners of London’s judicial system, finds himself confronting age-old questions: What is justice? What, ultimately, is evil? Psychologically complex and suspenseful, this atmospheric novel establishes William Brodrick as a singular writing talent.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sharply etched characters who owe a lot to the darker side of Dickens lift Brodrick's sequel to his well-received debut, The Sixth Lamentation (2003), which introduced Father Anselm, an English lawyer turned monk. Unfortunately, many of the descriptive scenes—a homeless man endlessly sharing toast and hot chocolate with a shrewd London female barrister for whom he acts as an informant, for example—start off with poignant power, but eventually become just padding. At the time of her death by heart attack, this highly principled woman, Elizabeth Glendinning, was trying to correct a miscarriage of justice that she and Father Anselm had been involved in when he was still a lawyer. A convicted sex criminal was set free who had always proclaimed his innocence and blamed the crimes on his employer, known only as "The Pieman," whose identity has never been revealed to readers—until now. Brodrick has all the right moves, but fewer slices of toast would have made for a tighter plot. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Many novelists working in crime try to deepen readers' involvement by always upping the ante: more bodies, more gore, more misery. Brodrick, a monk-turned-barrister whose hero, Father Anselm, is a barrister-turned-monk, does the opposite with riveting results. When Elizabeth Glendinning dies suddenly, she leaves behind a tangle of mysterious directions but one overriding imperative: "Leave it to Anselm." Anselm plays out his friend and former associate's complex but flawed scheme, learning that her last acts were attempts to undo a long-ago evil and discovering even more than she'd meant him to. Though wise, Anselm is no supersleuth, rather "shy and boyish, as if he were on his way to the podium to pick up the diligence prize after all the clever children had returned to their seats." And Brodrick's England is a somber place that stands somehow out of time, lending an allegorical quality to the several journeys here. But Brodrick gains remarkable power from the life-or-death seriousness with which he treats his characters' moral travails, of the urgent value he places on something often ignored in crime fiction--their souls. With just his second novel (The 6th Lamentation, 2003), Brodrick already writes like a master. Keir Graff
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (October 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143112406
• ISBN-13: 978-0143112402
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #582,709 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars "... the trial took a wrong turn and no one noticed.", February 19, 2008

By 

Amanda Richards (Georgetown, Guyana) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Gardens of the Dead (Father Anselm Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

To be perfectly honest, reading this novel was a trial. I haven't read the author's first book "The Sixth Lamentation", but from somewhere around chapter six, I was lamenting the fact that I'd started reading it at all. The best word to describe it is "dreary".

None of the characters come to life, or HAVE lives for that matter, and none are even remotely likeable. The story goes on and on in circles, covering and recovering the same scenarios over and over again.

There's the barrister (Anselm) who chucked the bench for a monastery, and who finds himself in the middle of a mission to correct the wrongs of a trial that took place years before. The chain of events is started by his former colleague, Elizabeth Glendinning, who takes great pains to lay out a tortuous scheme related to a closed case just before she dies by natural and foreseen causes.

Said scheme includes her son, with whom she hasn't seen eye to eye for a while, and a motley collection of characters related to the case. Back and forth we go, between a long suffering lawyer, a homeless man with a dark past, a young man with a darker past, and an assortment of female characters of various ages that become difficult to keep track of as the story progresses. The one character that could have saved this is the elusive "Pieman", who unfortunately is never allowed to play a significant role in the slowly unfolding drama.

Devoted fans of literature may use words such as "allegorical", "moral", "spiritual" and intellectual" to describe this one, but in my personal and considered opinion, I'd say "convoluted", "slow" and "not-the-kind-of-novel-to-read-if-you're-looking-for-a-good-tight-mystery"

Leave this one to fans of serious literary works, and people who like to ponder.

Amanda Richards, February 20, 2008

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poetic Tapestry, November 24, 2006

By 

Tulip (Maryland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gardens of the Dead (Hardcover)

This story is intricately crafted, and skillfully told. The intellectual and spiritual themes that run through the story transend the typical mystery novel genre. Brodrick's heavy use of metaphor and simile creates poetic prose (I love this; it may not be to everyone's taste). The story unfolds through several different characters--each a strand of different colored thread--so at first it seems impossible that all of the characters and events will come together to provide a cohesive conclusion. At the end, the full tapestry comes into view, and the beauty of the complete work becomes apparent. Days after having finished the book, I still find myself reflecting back on it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Complex, gorgeously written, August 14, 2008

By 

Jane G. Barnard (Wisconsin, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Gardens of the Dead (Hardcover)

This literary mystery is really an old-fashioned morality tale, modern in its shuttle-weave structure, but universal in its theme of good and evil, forgiveness and hope. The writing is gorgeous, poetic and rich. Yes, the double flashbacks were a bit distracting, but the prose more than made up for it. Reminded me a bit of Iris Murdoch, in theme. I admire Brodrick's reach which, if it occasionally exceeds his grasp, is nonetheless worth the time spent. A great read.