Customer Reviews

The Quality of Mercy

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Kellerman has written an enjoyable mystery featuring a young detective named...Will Shakespeare? Yes, it's a surprising adventure with a young Will searching for his mentor's killer, and romancing a lovely young lady named Rebecca Lopez who has problems of her own (she's a secret Jew, in hiding from the Inquisition). You may also notice some interesting similarities to the film "Shakespeare in Love" and Kellerman's book came first!

While it's a good read, the book does go on a tad too long (a sometime failing of Kellerman's), and the revelation of the killer seems a bit tacked on, as Rebecca's story takes center stage late in the book. Still, this is a very entertaining novel, and well worth a look.

I had no idea what I was getting into when I first opened "The Quality of Mercy." I had wanted a historical mystery to satisfy my burgeoning thirst for the genera but was utterly surprised to find a book that was sublimely well written, a true love story and a novel that even made me, a half Jew with no ties to the community feel honored to be part of such an extraordinary race that struggled so much through out history.

This is the story of William Shakespeare, out to find his friend Henry Whitman's murderer and Rebecca Lopez, daughter to the Queen's physician. They spot each other across a graveyard when Henry and Rebecca's fiancé are buried on the same day and later meet when Rebecca, seeking to escape the confines of her house wanders the city dressed as a man. Soon the two fall in love.

But Will is being stalked by daggers as he comes closer to the truth behind Henry's death and Rebecca is a converso- a secret Jew that even in one of the most religiously tolerant countries of the time is not free to practice her faith. And to add to the danger her family is actively involved in paying the King of Spain to smuggle Jews out of the country and away from the arms of the inquisition.

Out of love Will aids Rebecca's family when they are in need even though she is soon engaged to another cousin (though her betrothed has and never will have a sexual or romantic interest in the union.) However all is not well for the Lopezes have a powerful enemy at court in the form of Lord Essex, who will do anything to bring down Roderigo, Rebecca's father, and colluding with Spain, an enemy state, is treason....

Will Shakespeare find the foul fiend who murdered his dear friend? Is there any hope for him and Rebecca? Will Rebecca and her father manage to maneuver through the deadly path that is court life in England? And what does the prolog, written in first person, have to do with the rest of the book?

This is a wonderfully written novel in terms of writing style. The language is fluid, the descriptions vivid and the dialog is (unusual for most historical fiction) fitting with the lingo of the times. It is very clear that this is a wonderfully researched novel that has fictionalized the true story of Roderigo Lopez, Elizabeth's physician and his late life in England-which may well have inspired "The Merchant of Venice." And as I said earlier, it is very moving on the subject of Jews in the middle ages and the true faith it took not to just convert for good and be done, but to stick with your traditions and your gods. And eventually the prolog fits in so well that I almost wish there would be another novel solely about the story behind and beyond it.

But the real mystery of the novel-who killed Henry?-is sadly unsatisfying. The conclusion in the end does make sense but there are hardly the clues in the book to put it together I also have trouble believing that a wealthy, well educated young woman like Rebecca, who would have been expected to make a good marriage from the moment of her birth, could have had so much sexual experience before her marriage (or failed to get pregnant from any of it!)

All in all though this novel is a treat to read. The subject matter is often horrific, but true and so I admit to putting the book down at times and despairing of going on. There was so much cruelty in the world. But overall "The Quality of Mercy" is an example of people banding across cultural lines to help put an end to injustice and to reach out in love in spite of preconceived notions.

Four stars.

The Quality of Mercy encompasses many genres. It is a murder mystery, thriller, romance and a partial history.

Rebecca Lopez and her family are conversos, Jews who practice their religion secretly and help others escape persecution. She meets and becomes romantically involved with Will Shakespeare, a struggling playwright who is trying to put together the pieces of his best friend's murder. While Will longs to find the clues to discover Harry's killer, Rebecca longs for the excitement of being an independent person who can love the one she truly is attached to. Rebecca's father, who is Queen Elizabeth's physician, leads a secret mission to help Jews escape out of Spain.

While Faye Kellerman's novel is quite unique, intertwining historical and fictional elements, it came across as being a bit too trashy. There are many times Kellerman goes into great detail when describing something graphic or less than appealing (honestly, do we need a one page description about Queen Elizabeth's old wrinkled skin or health problems). The sex scenes are quite frequent and overdone throughout the novel, and there is a good deal of profanity (I didn't know they used the "f" word so often during Elizabethan times). Perhaps these sections of the novel could have been less blatant and repulsive, as they seemed to diminish much of the quality of the plot.

While the novel irked me on certain levels, there were also aspects I found refreshing. Kellerman's ability to bring forth all of the Shakespearean and Elizabethan background, all the while telling a murder mystery, was remarkable and not an easy task to accomplish. She is able to take many aspects of Shakespeare's life and insert them into her character Will Shakespeare, making many of the connections accurate. As one reviewer noted, it reminded me a lot of how the movie "Shakespeare in Love" was done, adding fictional elements with historical elements based on Shakespeare's life. Much of the feel of the novel is Elizabethan, and the descriptions and background for the London area definitely give the novel its credibility.

Overall, this is an entertaining read, based mostly on the plot and historical quality. However, I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it to anyone.

3 Stars.

Who knew Faye Kellerman, best known for contemporary thrillers, could write historical fiction so well? In this book, she gives Shakespeare a Jewish mistress, plonks him down in the middle of a murder mystery, and has him smuggling Portuguese refugees off a pirated ship - and it works.

Kellerman has observed the most important rule of writing about Shakespeare: Have a sense of humor. (After all, he did.) Even when tackling serious subjects or plotting suspenseful encounters, there is an easy feel about this book that makes it enjoyable to read.

Rebecca Lopez is the daughter of an expatriate Portuguese converso - Jews who supposedly renounced their faith. Yet her family has fled to England, where they can practice their religion, albeit secretively. She meets Shakespeare - how else? By dressing as a man and attending one of his plays, then challenging him to a duel. Shakespeare, meanwhile, is trying to solve the murder of his friend and benefactor Harry, and finds himself drawn further and further into the seedy underbelly of Elizabethan London at the same time as he is falling in love with Rebecca and becoming involved in the plight of the Jewish exiles.

Lighthearted without being farcical, poignant but not sappy, Kellerman strikes a great balance here with a wonderful novel.

This novel is more adventure than mystery, and though the setting and the historical correlations are interesting and at times compelling, the plot gets out of control, and the author takes us to unlikely scenarios for the sake of thrills. Would Shakespeare have had enough time away from his playwrighting and acting to engage in these romantic adventures? Improbable, though lively.

While I enjoyed the plot -- I did not care for Faye Kellerman's delivery. Now don't get me wrong - I love a good mystery, good historical fiction, and a good romance, but this book just didn't deliver. Ms. Kellerman's dialogue between our lovers was often overkill and would go on for pages and seemed rather unrealistic. There was no warmth between the characters. I was intrigued enough to get to the end of the story - but the who-done-it answer made me feel like I had wasted a lot of energy looking for the killer in the book. Just a frustrating experience.

This book really held my attention. It was a wonderful combination of romance (William Shakespeare and the wonderful Rebecca), history (yes, many of the details of the story are true), adventure (a swashbuckling fight on the high seas), and mystery (Shakespeare is trying to avenge the unsolved murder of his best friend). Shakespeare came so alive for me that I longed to meet him while reading this book and for some time afterwards. Not many books make me cry, but I did at the end of this one. I won't tell you the ending, but it inspired true emotion in me

Imagine the detective/protagonist is none other than William
Shakespeare, the poet and playwrite! This story is set in
the the time of the first Queen Elizabeth, the late 1500's. It
combines a murder of Shakespeare's good friend and mentor with
a love story complicated by the religious intolerance of the
day. The heroine is a Jewess whose family harks from Spain and
whose father is a physician to the Queen. The novel romps all
over England, the high seas and Spain. It may sound an
unlikely combination of circumstances and people, but the story
is so well written and so much fun that it is impossible to
put down--and at the same time makes one sorry to see it come
to a close. Great reading!

An excellent read! Kellerman's detective novels are good, but I think perhaps she has found her true calling in historical fiction. The Quality of Mercy is a fast-paced, enthralling, and diverse novel, switching easily from adventure to intrigue to romance and back again. The characters are absorbing; likable yet very human. By the time the reader has finished following Shakespeare, Rebecca, and co. through their myriad adventures, which follow such timeless themes as fighting, gambling, crossdressing, and prostitution, he will wonder where the six hundred pages have gone. Nothing, though, will prepare him for the cold shock of the ending, which is excellent, but will bring all but the most stoic individuals to tears. This book is highly recommended to anyone with an interest in Faye Kellerman, Shakespeare, Judaism, or historical fiction.

Much like an opera singer with a multi-octave range, Kellerman displays her talents in yet another genre. Departing from her contemporary detective series, she gives us a tale set in Elizabethan England. Roderigo Lopez and his family, Spanish conversos, are faux Anglicans, practicing Judaism in secret, as it is forbidden in England's Elizabethan era. Lopez is the queen's personal physician. Despite that, he is ultimately accused of aiding King Philip of Spain, tried and sentenced to die.

His willful daughter, Rebecca, is set to marry her cousin when he is murdered on a mission to save Spanish and Portuguese Jews. It is in the cemetery that she has mesmerized William Shakespeare, there to bury his dear mentor, Harry Whitman. Luststruck, Shakespeare tries to find out the identity of the stunning maiden. He is unsuccessful until one day, he finds himself in a sword fight with an inadequate lad, who, to his amazement, is Rebecca dressed as a male.

It is from this fight that, Kellerman's multiple plot points pivot. The author's research of theater in those times is used to both entertain and inform the reader. Backstory foreshadows the climax. The improbable placement of Shakespeare into the story makes it all the more interesting and using bits of his famous dialogue makes it plausible and endearing to us. Her use of description--characters, settings, dress, architecture, and even food and drink--places the reader in Elizabethan times.

One of the finest compliments an actor or writer can receive is an audience asking for an encore. When I read the final line of The Quality of Mercy, I wished there were more. Bravo, Ms. Kellerman. Encore!