The Rose in the Wheel [Hardcover]

S K Rizzolo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2002

This well imagined, carefully detailed, and cleverly plotted debut draws on actual historical events of 1811 London.

Regency London knows Constance Tyrone as the conspicuously celibate founder of the St. Catherine Society, dedicated to helping poor women. One wet November evening a carriage mows down Constance outside her office. Curiously, while her corpse's one foot is bare, the other is shod in a clean satin slipper despite the muddy road. Why was a gentlewoman abroad in the night? And if she died under the wheel, whose hands bruised her neck and stole her monogrammed crucifix?

Dismissing the idea of an accident, Bow Street Runner John Chase forms an unlikely alliance with Penelope Wolfe, wife of the chief suspect. A young mother paying the price for an imprudent marriage, Penelope is eager to clear her husband Jeremy, a feckless portrait painter whose salacious drawings of the victim suggest an erotic interest. Chase's first task is to learn the identity of the mysterious benefactor who goes bail for Wolfe while Penelope traces the victim's last movements. Barrister Edward Buckler, intrigued, shakes off his habitual lethargy and joins their investigation.

As horrifying murders on the Ratcliffe Highway claim all London's attention, the trio discovers that it won't be easy to unravel the enigma of Constance Tyrone, a woman who revives the legend of martyred St. Catherine.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in Regency London, this thoughtful and thought-provoking debut offers a large cast of characters and a wealth of historical detail in a tale of murder, intrigue and the 19th-century English justice system. When a young lady well known for her work among the destitute women of Soho is found dead, presumably run over by a hansom cab, John Chase of the Bow Street Runners investigates. Chase discovers strangulation marks on Miss Tyrone, and at first, evidence points to Jeremy Wolfe, an artist whose drawings of Miss Tyrone in the guise of St. Catherine cause a sensation in the courtroom. Wolfe's wife, Penelope, joins forces with Chase and the attorneys Thorogood and Buckler to clear Wolfe and uncover the real culprit. But readers likely won't simply ask whodunit; they'll also seek answers to a number of questions the book leaves unanswered. Why, for example, does Penelope want to pursue Miss Tyrone's charitable work when such work exposes her to disease and she has a child of her own to support? What is the nature of Buckler's strange malaise? Solid research particularly into the forensic technology of the day centers the book, but the faintly sketched background characters and the dream sequences that herald the denouement fail to advance the plot and seem ill-considered in comparison. At a time when the fear of infectious disease has reentered the collective conscious with a new intensity, Rizzolo provides oddly relevant mystery fare in this talented but uneven first novel.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Regency London has become a popular setting for historical mysteries. This debut featuring Bow Street Runner John Chase has lots of historical detail and period color to complement an engaging plot. In December 1811, while the Ratcliffe Highway murderer is terrorizing London, heiress and philanthropist Constance Tyrone, founder of the St. Catherine Society, is run over by a hackney coach. One of her jeweled satin slippers and a gold crucifix are missing. The apparent accident becomes suspicious when the coroner notes bruises on the victim's neck. When artist Jeremy Wolfe is arrested for the murder, his wife, Penelope, sets out to prove his innocence. Working with Chase, she sorts through a tangled web of relationships involving the victim's family, well-placed politicians, clergy, and a surgeon. Readers will enter the courtrooms of Old Bailey, St. Thomas Hospital, and various seamy London pubs as the sleuths attempt to discover what really happened. This is a well-crafted tale that will please fans of T. F. Banks' similar Thief Taker: Memoirs of a Bow Street Runner [BKL S 1 01]. Barbara Bibel
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 226 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press; 1 edition (January 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 189020885X
• ISBN-13: 978-1890208851
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,268,761 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Much better than four stars, really!, June 8, 2002

By 

kellytwo "kellytwo" (cleveland hts, ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rose in the Wheel (Hardcover)

I do wish I could give this book 4½ stars, which is what it really deserves. 4 just isn't enough, but 5 is a tad too much. I'd settle for 4¾, even, but since I can't do that, then it'll have to be just plain 4 with a star attached or something.

The first 260 pages of this 322 page story were enthralling. Ms. Rizzolo has really done her homework, and captured the Regency era wonderfully well. The characters are believable and match the general excellence of the plot. So, what's my quibble, you ask?

The two incidents delineated in pages 260 to 268 are a gimmick, I think. Or at least a let-down compared to the general high quality of the rest of the book. Perhaps the author needed help in getting the resolution of the mystery to her main characters, but to me, having them dream the results nearly simultaneously just didn't quite get it. I felt somewhat cheated. But then, after that lapse, she picks up again, and continues forward in a hair-raising sort of chase scene and damsel-in-distress conclusion that make wonderful sense, and demonstrate very well her considerable writing skills.

It does seem rather strange to have one heroine and two heroes, but at least they're consistent to their era and themselves. Mrs. Penelope Wolfe is estranged from her painter husband, and cares for their three-year-old daughter on her own. Intelligent, educated, curious--she's a wonderful foil for the quiet, somewhat enigmatic young Barrister, Edward Buckler. Behind the both of them is the Bow Street Runner, John Chase, who sees beyond the normal range of human failings to get to the bottom of the various crimes he encounters in London.

The crime in this first book of a welcome new series is the murder of Constance Tyrone, a young woman of good family, somewhat wealthy in her own right, fiercely independent and the founder of the St. Catherine Society, dedicated to helping women who would otherwise fall afoul of the law and/or society. Why was this young woman killed outside her office? When was she killed? These questions are almost more important to Chase than the identity of the one who did it. Eventually, however, he gets it all right, even if the solution did come to him in a dream.

Atmospheric in setting, meticulous in detail, I would happily recommend this book to any reader who enjoys history or mystery or historical mysteries. Excellent reading on all counts!