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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Intriguing premise, but needs work, September 23, 2004
Probably the main reason I would recommend this book is for David Bowers' beautiful cover illustration. However, the story isn't that bad either, although it was really not as involving as it could be. I did like Lucrezia Borgia as the sleuth. To me, her characterization was the strongest aspect of the novel, and her participation in the mystery of the death of one of her ladies-in-waiting is quite believable. Lucrezia is a convincing Renaissance Italian princess; unlike another reviewer, I did not find her to be a typical romance heroine. A typical romance heroine would be some fiesty Mary Sue type, running around the countryside barefoot and helping urchins and oldsters, whereas Lucrezia is a canny, hard-eyed courtier who possesses an excellent idea of the nuanced behavior required at the Ferrarese ducal palace. This is a relief, after having recently plodded through one of Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen mysteries where Jane behaves like a Regency Trixie Belden and the mysteries are so contrived that I found myself rolling my eyes on every other page. Gellis is too much of a class act for that, and she understands her period too well to have her characters behaving anachronistically.
However, my major problem is that there is too much telling, and not enough showing. Several of the main figures surrounding the murder are only described; we never meet them. For example, this one fellow, Pelagio, is described as an insufferably bad poet, but we never get to see first hand what he is like. The same holds true for the murder victim herself, Bianca, who is constantly referred to as silly and flighty. Although the announcement of her murder makes for a gripping opening, it really would have been nice to meet her as well, even if it had just been in a flashback. By the time the denoument arrives, the reader is not sufficiently invested in the outcome to really care what happens. But, at least Lucrezia is an intriguing and well-drawn protagonist, and I for one will be interested in seeing where Gellis takes this series. Hopefully the next installment of the series will feature less exposition, and Lucrezia Borgia will be able to figure out more quickly why people have the disturbing habit of dropping dead around her.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Small Canvas Seems to Suit Ms. Gellis, November 2, 2003
This review is from: Lucrezia Borgia and the Mother of Poisons (Hardcover)
I had some real doubts when I first read on a historical mystery list that Ms. Gellis was going to be doing a series of mysteries with Lucrezia Borgia as the detective. Even though in past decades writers have sent a great many famous historical figures off sleuthing after murderers, Lucrezia Borgia has a couple of strikes against her. One is that the popular image of her as a serial poisoner still lives. Another is that even if this image was the work of her enemies (as it was) she still lived a very circumscribed life as the daughter of a Pope and the wife of a Duke's heir. However Roberta Gellis has very neatly got around both of these problems. High born women were watched closely if there was no legitimate heir yet and Gellis does a great job of showing how she could have coped with a life I would describe as claustrophobic. She places the murder in the Duke's court but also within Lucrezia's sphere. She further keeps the cast to a manageable size by concentrating on a few trusted companions and servants and keeps the time period where the story occurs into a few days. Meanwhile there is a sense of urgency because there is always the fear that if she does not act fast her father or her brother might step in to solve her problem (and incidentally make it worse.) This is a very pleasant read, although I do have to say that Lucrezia's relationship with her husband is a little-- well, peculiar, although it's not outside the bounds of possiblity. While it has a satisfying ending there are some loose ends that hopefully will be tied in later books in this seris.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Engrossing, December 24, 2003
This review is from: Lucrezia Borgia and the Mother of Poisons (Hardcover)
Roberta Gellis is always a good author, whether she is writing mysteries, romances or fantasy. She is also not an author to be lightly taken up at will, for a pleasant few minutes. Her writing requires concentration and time. Here she is starting on a new series featuring Lucrezia Borgia and it is an engrossing opener. We are launched directly into both the poisoning murder of one of her ladies in waiting and her confusing, tentative relationship with her husband Alfonso. She realizes immediately that she must solve this murder,to clear her name and be able to continue this new life that she has found so much more pleasant than her former fraught life in Rome. There is a good deal of period detail that convincingly establishes the background, without becoming a history lecture. The tortuous life of the Ferrara court is revealed through the relationships between the characters. They all obviously have a life of their own, independant of the main plot. Occasionally the dialogue is too wordy, the conversations sag to a too-distant point, but this does not distract permanently
from the story.
The relationship between the politically married couple, however, is far more fascinating and often I wanted the mystery to disappear, so that more would be revealed about Alfonso.
He is far more of an engrossing mystery to both the reader
and Lucrezia. The final paragraph scene between husband and wife is a dreadful teaser.
I shall definitely be reading the next installment - for just this reason.
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