Brand new!!!!
The Lancelot Murders (A Merlin Investigation)
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle.
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
not enough magic for fantasy, not enough mystery,
By Gini (Waco) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Lancelot Murders (A Merlin Investigation) (Paperback)
There is not enough magic to qualify this as fantasy, huge glaring historical inaccuracies and a mystery that a child in diapers could have solved. Justinian was emperor in the fifth-sixth centuries, dying in about 565; Augustine was the first papal emissary to Britain in 597. Corfe Castle dates from about the 11th century-in this novel it is already in ruins. These are just a few of the glaring inaccuracies. If the story had been compelling, it might have made for a good read. Apparently Arthur's guards could be corrupted by a few sweets. If Arthur had been this inept, the legends would have not survived a decade, let alone centuries. There are many other books about mysteries in Arthur's court; any of Bernard Cornwell's Arthurian cycle are much more interesting. Guinevere as described would not have attracted a skunk for long, let alone two husbands. Her scheming and plotting would have had her burned many times over.
This author can't decide what he is trying to accomplish. He has no regard for historical truth and has too heavy a hand for satire.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Diplomats, treason, and murder,
By
This review is from: The Lancelot Murders (A Merlin Investigation) (Paperback)
In the second volume of the Merlin Investigations, King Arthur's most trusted advisor once again finds himself caught up in treason and intrigue, this time on an even broader scale than in the first (The Excalibur Murders: A Merlin Investigation). Queen Guenevere, who has been married to Arthur for a decade but has spent much of that time separated from him and maintaining a court of her own at the port town of Corfe (and living openly with her lover Sir Lancelot), has suddenly announced that she is dissolving her marriage and gone through a formal wedding ceremony with the French knight. This is treason, but Arthur is reluctant to imprison or execute the woman he still considers his wife--even when he comes into possession of documents suggesting that she has entered into a conspiracy with the Byzantine Empire in hopes of gaining ascendancy over him and being sponsored as Queen Regnant. As Merlin observes, she'd end up a puppet ruler of the Emperor Justinian, but she'd still be a ruler, which seems to be what she wants. Arthur is finally convinced to put the plotters under house arrest, take over their castle, and try to control the machinations certain to follow when Justinian's representative, along with a strangely assorted slew of other diplomatic guests, arrive for the observation of Guenevere's 40th birthday. Among them are the queen's parents, King Leodegrance and Queen Leonilla of the tiny French domain of Camelliard. When Leodegrance is found stabbed to death--with Lancelot standing over him--all hell breaks loose. Arthur and Merlin must deal with a flock of nervous and demanding guests trapped in Corfe Castle by a vicious storm, prevent contact between Guenevere and anyone who might help her further her ambitions--and find out if Lancelot is really the murderer: Guenevere insists he isn't, and begs Merlin to learn the truth, offering to do anything--even pledge fealty to Arthur and give up all her ambitions--if he succeeds.
Merlin isn't always a sympathetic detective: though wry and sometimes flippant, he's also inclined to melancholy and a cynical (in the modern sense) view of the world and of human nature; he's beginning to think of leaving England for Egypt, and even invites an old friend, Germanicus Genentius, a Byzantine official posted there, so he'll have someone to travel there with. On the other hand, his gloomy character is probably a necessity to balance Arthur's almost childishly innocent worldview (as he says, "He takes nearly everything and everyone at face value"). It also seems slightly unlikely that a princess (even of a poor domain like Camelliard) in that day wouldn't have been married off till she was 30. Yet, as in the legend, Merlin and Arthur are trying "to build a society based on fairness and justice for everyone, not just a handful of nobles," and treating even accused murderers as innocent till proven guilty is part of that. And, as in most historical mysteries, it's always interesting to see how a crime will be solved without recourse to modern technology. Though perhaps not the best-written example of the genre (it has at least one rather glaring omission of continuity), this remains an intriguing one and not without humor--or perception.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Inconsistent,
By Bookish-One2 (Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Lancelot Murders (A Merlin Investigation) (Paperback)
I started reading this book and was enjoying it. Part way through, a female character became a male and I tossed the book without reading on.
Consistency of the character's sex should be the order of the day.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Listmania!
|
|
