Customer Reviews

High Rhymes and Misdemeanors: A Poetic Death Mystery (Poetic Death Mysteries)

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I'm not sure what genre I'd put this in. It's sort of a cozy-caper-Gothic, and I mean that in a good way. It incorporates some of the classic elements of the Gothic novel, but offers entertaining updates on them.

The central plot is this: Grace Hollister, American schoolteacher, PhD candidate, and devotee of the "bad boys" of Romantic poetry, is on a sort of research trip/vacation in the Lakes district of England when she stumbles over a body in a stream. The body turns out to be only mostly dead, and Grace is able to revive what turns out to be one Peter Fox, antiques dealer and a bit of a bad boy himself. It's clear from the circumstances that someone whacked Peter over the head and dumped him face-down in the water, and if Grace hadn't appeared in the nick of time the murder attempt would have succeeded.

Unfortunately for Grace, after she's seen with Peter the people who tried to kill him, apparently to get some sort of treasure, conclude that she's in league with him. The treasure appears to have something to do with the poet Lord Byron, and Grace soon learns that there are scarier things in life than trying to teach English to teenagers...

If the plot sounds far-fetched, that's because it is. What Gothic caper novel isn't? The thing is, this is internally-consistent, well-plotted, disbelief-suspending far-fetched, the kind that makes you hope for a rainy day so you can drink hot chocolate while reading it and really get the full experience.

The main characters are a major reason this story works as well as it does. Grace is lively and funny and deeply dubious about the wisdom of what she's involved in. She's also an update of the classic Gothic heroine--she gets in trouble more because of circumstances than because she goes wandering around in a diaphanous nightie with a guttering candle--actually, being a sensible California girl, I suspect she wears flannel pajamas and wooly socks to bed in Merrie, Chillie, Olde England.

I particularly liked the way the author handles Grace, who is occasionally wrong, sometimes downright silly, and not indulged by her author. You know the type of protagonist who is allowed to make ridiculous pronouncements and is never pulled up short, so you can't tell whether the author is having us on or really believes the words coming out of the character's mouth? Not here. Told that someone involved in the plot is a man in a turban, Grace immediately decides that turban equals cult. Oh, Grace, I thought. Shortly thereafter, Grace meets a local restaurateur, who is Indian and wears a turban. Grace feverishly wonders how thin the line is between stealing recipes and committing murder...

Stuff like the above is funny because the author recognizes that a schoolteacher in a mess like this isn't going to be Emma Peel right off the bat. There's a fine illogic to the proceedings, but as I say, there's also internal consistency. Characters do not behave conveniently to advance the plot, they're created and put in place on purpose to do so, if you see the distinction. This is fun and light-hearted fare, but when you look closely it's clear how much work went into getting the balance right.

Peter Fox is an important part of the balance. Let me say right here that I'm generally annoyed by Gothic heroes, who all-too-often strike me as pale imitations of Heathcliff (who I didn't like, either.) Peter Fox is more Mr. Rochester, sardonic but human--he's even funny. In fact, by the middle of the story I had stopped picturing him as looking like Rochester, or rather my mental image of Rochester, and was able to see the character described in the story, even to the blond hair. He has A Past, which influences his actions, but he doesn't endlessly angst about it so I almost never felt like cracking him over the head and dumping him back into the stream.

No book is perfect, and in this case I could have used a bit more exposition on the subject of Lord Byron's love life, which is important to the treasure angle. I know one generally avoids the expository dump, but as it was I had to keep flipping backward to remind myself who was who among the ex-lovers and wives and illegitimate children. A less serious problem is the fact that all the plotters appear to be...well, inept. They're far too prone to leave Grace with the tools she needs to engineer her hair's-breadth escapes. However, again, the story is set up so that this ineptitude is logical within the plot. I know some of the old noir writers claimed they were giving crime back to those who commit it, but most of us know that the vast majority of crimes are committed by clumsy amateurs. The final confrontation strikes the right balance (there's that word again) between the suspenseful and the grotesque. And the wrapup feels satisfactorily real--again, within the confines of the artificial but believable world Killian has created.

Grace Hollister is on a working vacation researching the Romantic poets in England for her doctorate. One night, she stumbles on a man face down in a stream. She manages to revive Peter Fox, and the two share drinks in the bar. But when she is kidnapped the next day to make Peter do something, she realizes there is much more going on then meets the eye. Now she must team up with Peter, who is hiding a past of his own, to solve this mystery before both of them are as dead as the poets she loves to study.

I really enjoyed this book. The plot gets a little convoluted at times, so you really need to pay attention. There is one major plot point that doesn't seem to be resolved. This really did bother me. The book is equal parts mystery and romance, and the romance aspect is more pronounced then I normally like, but I really enjoyed it. The two lead characters are interesting and entertaining. I especially loved Peter's sarcasm and Grace's resourcefulness.

While not as completely wrapped up as it seems like it should have been, this is still a worthwhile book. Pick it up and hang on for the wild ride ahead. I can't wait for the next in this fun series.

I was not expecting a dissertation of the poets, but rather an entertaining, page turner cozy mystery, with enough poetic references thrown in to please mystery reading poetic fans. Diana Killian delivers on that expectation.

The story takes place in England's Lake District. Those who like the cozy British influence in mysteries will not be disappointed with the British country side and old stately homes falling into disrepair, complete with secret passageways and family crypts.

The main characters are Grace Hollister, an usually sensible American schoolteacher and literary scholar and Peter Fox, handsome, dashing local antique dealer with a questionable past. They meet when Grace runs upon Peter's "body" face down in a stream and by all appearances dead. Grace winds up saving Peter and thus their adventure and unlikely relationship begins.

Normally, cautious Grace and adventurous Peter could seem like an unlikely sleuthing team. Their relationship lights an adventurous fire in Grace's normally all too predictable life and brings an element of "routine" to Peter's not so predictable life. It's a case of seemingly opposites attract, but with an entertaining freshness.

I found the characters well written and developed enough to be real people in an interesting, yet vague and not clearly defined relationship. I won't tell you what happens between Grace and Peter, but enough happens that there is already a next book in the series to come out in October 2004.

This book has a tease chapter for the next book "Verse of the Vampyre, A Poetic Death Mystery". After reading the chapter, I'm looking forward to reading the next one too.

Our online cozy forum had not schecduled this as a regular group read this year, but I have certainly recommended it to every one in the group.

moderator, Mystery Most Cozy

As a mystery writer, I need a rollicking good book to end a day filled with conjuring murder and mayhem. High Rhymes and Misdemeanors filled that need perfectly! Grace and Peter are truly a dynamic duo. I had more fun following them as they tried to solve a murder, and laughed my you-know-what off as they bumped into characters that were hilarious. Diana Killian has a unique talent to keep you wondering who the killer is while you have fun just watching the great cast she created.

I'm going to have to buy all her books now! And so should you!

Californian Grace Hollister knew she could do the research for her doctorate in the Romantic poets just as easily at home, but she felt it would be more fun to do it on her first trip to Britain with fellow teacher Monica.

But from the beginning, things don't work out as planned. Monica deserts Grace to go off with a professor she knew from her college days in the UK. Then Grace saves the life of a mysterious man, who doesn't seem the least bit surprised that someone tried to murder him, but doesn't know who and won't explain why.

Thus begins a madcap adventure that has so many twists and turns that readers can't skip even a paragraph.

Adding to the fun for the readers are the lighthearted banter and the budding romance between Grace and the enigmatic Peter Fox, who admits to a past that makes him "of interest" to the police but insists that he has reformed.

Anyone interested in the life and poetry of Byron will find much of interest in this book. But that's not a prerequisite for enjoyment.

At some points, it's hard to take all of the action seriously.(How many different times does Grace get kidnapped and have to escape?) But the read is so fast and so delightful that you won't realize any faults until after you've read the last page -- and by then you don't mind a bit.

The only problem is that the publisher promises the next book in the series in October 2004, a whole year away. I don't want to wait that long to continue the future adventures of Grace and Peter.

"High Rhymes and Misdemeanors" by Diana Killian is the first book in the "Poetic Death Mystery Series" and it is a great start. Killian develops her characters beautifully.

Scholastic - looking, "serious-minded" Grace Hollister, who is in her early 30's,is an American teacher at St. Anne's Academy for Girls. While on vacation in England's Lake District, to study and explore the historical sites of her favorite poets, she rescues the submerged form of Peter Fox, lying face down in a stream.

Grace soon discovers that she, herself, is unwittingly submersed in a mystery, as she seeks to recover a relic of Lord Byron's, which will shed profound literary light on his life.

Although, many parts of this novel read a little too much like a "Gothic Romance," Diana Killian's magnificent command of prose and dialogue carry it to the next level. I was so impressed with her choice of words. "The stream chattered merrily over the rocks, undeterred by the motionless form of the man lying facedown in the shallow water," and thus begins Chapter 1. One reviewer, discussing a different mystery writer, was perturbed over the constant use of the words, "muttered," etc.= and started to underline them and counted over a 100. Killian could tutor that author because I was amazed at the different words of action as she variously indicated dialogue.

Truly brilliant writing, which I believe is only going to get better with intricate, fresh plots. I will definitely await her next "Grace and Peter" book!

I actually picked up the second book first, not realizing it was a series. I liked that one very muxh, but I loved this one. I might have said the same about the other had I read it second. It's a fine read without being read in sequence, but the literary quotes were more obtrusive in the second.

In this book, however, they flow easily and are always "spot on." Grace and Peter are wonderful characters; in this one you really get inside their heads, and yet Peter remains rather mysterious. The attraction between them is much more obvious here.

The mystery is delightful with just the right twists and turns, and Killian's writing is superb. Chapter 1 opens, for example, with an idyllic scene featuring a lovely chattering brook -- and a dead body. Delicious! and vastly entertaining. Killian has a wry way of turning a phrase.

The pace is lively, and the story never flags. Add in such captivating characters, and this is a book to be REread -- and I don't often do that. Definitely a keeper!! I just wish I had about 50 more like it.

Wow! Who is Diana Killian and where has she been?

I just loved this book. I haven't read such a purely fun novel in what seems like ages. It's witty, romantic and action-packed, as frothy and refreshing as ice cold champagne, a sort of screwball update of TO CATCH A THIEF (I could almost picture Cary Grant playing the male lead). The heroine, Grace, a sassy (but classy) vacationing American schoolteacher on vacation in England, may be a thoroughly modern gal, but this is simply a good old-fashioned mystery. Words like "romp" and "skullduggerry" come to mind...

It's the kind of mystery they say nobody wants to read anymore, but "they" are wrong.

I, for one, want to read them, and I hope Ms. Killian writes plenty more. I'll certainly be waiting for her next one. Angst is out, and fun is back!

Janet in Bangor

An American school teacher stumbles over a body while on vacation in the English Lake District. Soon she is involved in a break-neck race to find what she and her partner-in-crime (an ex-jewel thief) believe to be a missing manuscript by the Romantic poet Lord Byron.

Maybe it's true that there's nothing new under the sun, but newcomer Diana Killian dusts off some very hoary mystery chestnuts and serves them up in delightful concoction of wit, romance and mystery. Secret passages, eccentric villagers, loony villains--and a house to die for! I received this one for Christmas and couldn't put it down until I finished it on Boxing Day morning.

Diana Killian's HIGH RHYMES AND MISDEMEANORS transports you to the Lake District of England, in the footsteps of the Romantic poets. Grace Hollister is there on vacation from her teaching position at St. Anne's Academy for Girls in Los Angeles, and to do research for her doctoral dissertation on the poets of the Romantic period. If you think that sounds like a tame, pastoral and rather too academic stroll, this mystery will surprise you from the first sentence, when Grace Hollister finds a man lying face down in a stream, left for dead by an unknown assailant. Within a few pages you'll be caught up in the story, standing in the woods at dusk near Grace's hotel, sensing that a sinister presence lingers nearby in the deepening English twilight.

Grace resuscitates the drowning man, who turns out to be Peter Fox, her charming, if evasive, fellow guest at the Tinker's Dam, and owner of an antiques shop called Rogue's Gallery. By coming to Peter's aid Grace unwittingly places herself dead in the path of various thugs in pursuit of the gewgaws they think Peter Fox has in his possession. What gewgaws, you ask? Even Peter Fox doesn't know precisely what the items are that all these people think he has. Meanwhile Grace learns that Peter Fox has a shady past, and that someone involved in her misadventure is willing to do murder.

Grace at times regrets ever having helped the annoyingly attractive Mr. Fox to begin with, while her journey through the Lake District carries her from the picturesque hotel where she's been staying to a deserted farmhouse, to Peter Fox's historic Craddock House with its mysterious nooks and crannies, and even to a decrepit old estate with a claustrophobic family crypt. Grace finds herself caught up in the excitement when she begins to suspect that the gewgaws in question might have something to do with her favorite subject of study, the poet Lord Byron.

Wielding action, humor, memorable characters, and just a wee taste of poetry to her advantage, Diana Killian has crafted a fast-paced tale that is full of wit and charm. The chemistry between Grace and Peter is coupled with dialog that breaks the reader into chuckles and a few outright guffaws. A few scene changes seemed a tiny bit abrupt, but I had just finished reading a much slower paced book, so it could be my brain was musty. This madcap mystery offers lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek entertainment. I recommend HIGH RHYMES AND MISDEMEANORS for anyone who likes their murder seasoned with humor, and for the reader of more serious fiction who needs to get their head out of the cobwebs and have some fun.

Diana Killian's next installment in the Poetic Death Mystery series, VERSE OF THE VAMPYRE, is due out in October 2004.