A Season of Knives (Missing Mysteries) [Paperback]

P F Chisholm (Author), Dana Stabenow (Introduction)

Book Description

Series: Missing Mysteries | Publication Date: June 13, 2006

In 1592, Sir Robert Carey, a handsome courtier fleeing his creditors, his father's wrath, and the close scrutiny of his Queen, came north to Carlisle to take up his new post as Deputy Warden of the West March. The presence of his true love, the married Elizabeth Widdrington, was no mere coincidence. Before long, Sir Robert was up to his ruff in horse rustling and treason (A Famine of Horses), but he sorted that out with dispatch.
Now he's in trouble again. The rowdy Grahams plan to kidnap Elizabeth as she journeys home to her husband. While Sir Robert storms out to stop them, someone murders the man he has just sacked from his post of paymaster to the Carlisle garrison. When Sir Robert returns, he finds his servant Barnabus slung into the castle dungeon, accused of the crime, and his arch enemy Sir Richard Lowther scheming to have Carey arrested for masterminding the murder....
When even faithful Sergeant Dodd is prepared to believe he did it, the courtier finds his hands full--while ruin stares him in the face--as he juggles the murder inquiry and untangles a skein of love and greed that reminds him most uncomfortably of how carefully he must conceal his love for Elizabeth.
A Season of Knives, based on the real Sir Robert Carey's tumultuous life, is not only a keenly plotted detective story, it's an innovative police procedural and historical writing at its rousing best.
The other works in this series are A Plague of Angels (Introduction by Diana Gabaldon), A Famine of Horses (Introduction by Sharon Kay Penman), and A Surfeit of Guns (Introduction by Barbara Peters). The author is at work on a fifth Sir Robert Carey.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A SEASON OF KNIVES (by P.F. Chisholm; $14.95) This is the second in one of THE outstanding historical mysteries series, following the superb A FAMINE OF HORSES ($14.95), being reprinted by Poisoned Pen Press. The setting is the borderlands between England and Scotland in the late sixteenth century. Chisholm combines fast-paced action, a beautifully rendered setting, and fascinating historical details in a series that is one of Dean's favorite of all historical mysteries.
MURDER BY THE BOOK E-MAIL NEWSLETTER (06/29/00)

Product Details

• Paperback: 231 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press (June 13, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1890208329
• ISBN-13: 978-1890208325
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,152,804 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A splendidly written novel with a great protagonist!, September 8, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Season of Knives (Missing Mysteries) (Paperback)

Patricia Finney is P.F. Chisholm. Residing in Cornwall, England, P.F. Chisholm is no stranger to writing, having begun when she was seven and first getting published at 18. A Season Of Knives is her second adventure based on the life of Sir Robert Carey, a Deputy Warden who really lived during the reign of Queen Bess in 1592. Sir Robert has just become Deputy Warden of the West March, and has just come off of an adventure with horse rustling and treason (which is the subject of A Famine of Horses. P.F. Chisholm continues his adventures with A Surfeit of Guns and A Plague of Angels, and is presently working on her fifth Sir Robert Carey adventure.

Sir Robert Carey is supposed to enforce peace along the border of Scotland and England. He is handsome, chivalrous, intelligent, and is trying to avoid his creditors. He is also deeply in love with a married woman, Elizabeth Widdrington, who returns his love but is duty bound to her nasty husband. When Sir Robert rushes off to stop an attempted kidnaping of his beloved, he returns to find himself accused of the murder of the paymaster who has just been fired. Sir Robert's servant Barnabus has been imprisoned, and it is up to Sir Robert to investigate the crime to clear his good name and free his servant. His enemy, Sir Richard Lowther, is obviously in the middle of a scheme to undo Sir Robert:

"`On what evidence, Sir Richard, do you base your accusations?' he demanded, hearing his voice brittle with the effort not to shout. `On the evidence of a knife owned by your servant and a glove owned by yerself that I found by the body.' `How frightfully convenient for you,' Carey drawled. `Did you have much trouble stealing one of my gloves?'"

Sir Robert Carey is a double-edged hero suitable for the best period novels: he is languishing in love with a married woman while every single woman within reach sighs with longing for him; is a poor aristocrat who has to take grief from both sides of the fence because of not really fitting in; and has to perform a job that would undo many a man. P.F. Chisholm has found a historical figure who will provide grist for the mill for many adventures to come.

Shelley Glodowski, Reviewer

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Season of Knives, January 4, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: A Season of Knives (Missing Mysteries) (Paperback)

This is another wonderful installment in the Robert Carey series of (loosely defined) mysteries set on the 16th-century Scottish Border.

Anyone tired of twee, cutesy historical mysteries should read these immediately. Chisholm writes in a spare style which successfully infuses both humor and drama into the story. The characters, particularly the secondary characters, are endlessly appealing and the pacing of the plot is high-tension and breakneck. The hard-luck Border setting adds interest.

Season of Knives starts only days after the end of A Famine of Horses, the first book. Carey is trying to seduce the married Lady Elisabeth. Everyone in the area is struggling to get their hay harvest in -- except for Carey's enemies, who plan a raid to kidnap the Lady. Meanwhile, a local man is killed, and the list of possible culprits grows. There are some especially wonderful scenes here -- one in which corrupt rations dealers are offered their own wares is almost worth the price of the book by itself. There's plenty of fast-moving action and a bittersweet end. Here and there plausibility falters (would a woman theoretically outraged enough to cut her husband's throat really hesitate because it would mean washing all the sheets?) but overall this book sets a very high standard.

5.0 out of 5 stars season of knives, July 4, 2010

By 

claire pfaff - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Season of Knives (Hardcover)

Gripping tale of the Scotch-england territory wars with Sir Robert Carey Keeping order-more or less.