Customer Reviews

The Street of the Five Moons

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's been awhile since I've read a book that I've taken such delight in. Vicky Bliss is a methodical detective much like Mary Russell from the Laurie R. King series. In "Street of the Five Moons", Vicky meets her match in "John Smythe", secretary to a nobleman and art collector, who strongly resembles Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey. His playful evasiveness is a delightful foil for Vicky's determination. Peters describes Germany and Italy like she's a longtime resident and makes clever allusions to more than a few literary classics.
"Street of the Five Moons", like many series' second books, seems stronger than the first installment and has more compelling characters. Vicky's asides to the reader are also a fun device. I look forward to finishing this series and strongly recommend "Street of the Five Moons".

Our protagonist, gorgeous and brainy, Vicky Bliss is again on the move when she and her boss from the National Museum of Munich discover that someone is making excellent copies of the most famous jewels in the world. In this case it's a replica of the Charlemagne talisman. Vicky's who has a PhD in Art History and Medieval European History is also an amateur sleuth. With the only clue that she has, she goes to Rome to locate the street of the Five Moons where she hopes to find a connection to the thieves. Well, of course she gets into trouble and is rescued by a "dangerously exciting young Englishman." Sir John Smythe is truly charming and the chemistry between he and Vicky is terrific. This is a lovely romantic mystery and the second book in the Vicky Bliss mystery series.

Another great story by Elizabeth Peters who is also Barbara Michaels!

The second of five Vicky Bliss mysteries, Street of Five Moons is one of Elizabeth Peter's best. Well, in my opinion the whole Vicky Bliss series is excellent. But in this novel, not only do we revisit the beautiful and brainy Vicky, but we meet the handsome and suave Sir John Smythe. The quick wit and banter of Vicky and Sir John is extremely entertaining. I literally laugh out loud when reading these novels. As for the plot, after discovering a forgery of a piece antique jewelery on a corpse, along with a scrap of paper with five cresent moons drawn on it, Vicky decides to go to Italy to investigate. An amateur sleuth, Vicky searches numerous areas until at last she gets caught. Will Vicky survive? What will transpire between Vicky and Sir John? You have to read this excellent book to find out.

This is the second book in the Vicky Bliss series by Elizabeth Peters and a lot of fun to read. It is not so intense as the first one as it does not have so many arcane references in it. I started this series after having completed all the Amelia Peabody books written (thus far) and I am not at all disappointed in it even when comparing it to that wonderful series.
In this episode, Vicky goes to Rome to track down the maker of fraudulant antique jewelry. She thinks that the fake jewelry is being made to replace pieces in various museums so the museums will not notice that the real pieces have been stolen, but quickly determines that there is more to the story than that. She meets a smooth con artist, Sir John Smythe, along the way and they become something of an item, although both fight the temptation to act upon their attraction. Peters does a good job of keeping the romance light and it is secondary to the main mystery.
Looking forward to the third entry in the series.

With 357 pages, this read can take only one lazy summer day to devour...because you can't put it down! Who is behind what plot? What is real and what is fake? Museums, art, architecture, and antique jewelry all fit into the plot. Twists turn as suprising and numerous as the ancient Roman streets. The Vicky Bliss series has cool, cocky 1960's dialogue and writing in marked contrast to the classical verbosity of the Amelia Peabody series, but retain Peter's delightfully tantalizing "references-only" to sex. After several rousing escapades through elaborate fountain-and-waterworks embellished gardens, the satisfying ending leaves Vicky with a new travelling companion. Light, but not too light.

I adore Elizabeth Peters - she's one of my all-time favorite authors. This Vicki Bliss mystery was fun and probably because it's an early work not one of her best plot-wise. I did enjoy discovering how Vicki meets John, but the novel's structure was thin compared to Peters' other books. I knew who the villain was (after all, Vicki gives it away in the first pages which rather spoiled it for me) and the action was slow. This is one to get from the library.

It's been a long time since I've picked up a mystery book, and enjoyed it so much! I was up till 3 in the morning reading, I couldn't put it down. I loved the author's style- very brisk and believable, with humor and romance in all the right places. Plenty of adventure and danger too. Basically Vicky goes to Rome to find the creator of fraud jewelry. There she meets her match in "John Smythe". Whose side is he really on? And how is Vicky supposed to solve the mystery with such a distraction? I can't wait to read the other books in the series.

My mother introduced me to Elizabeth Peter's writing and suggested I check out a book from the library just to test her out, and I was certantly glad that I put my toes in the water...because I'm hooked! This was my first Vicky book (though out of order...thankfully it's not horribly essential to read in order) and I loved it, and read it twice in a row. I've gone on to read the entire series...but in the order: 2, 4, 3, 5, 1 and have found each book equally wonderful. Her characters are so complete, and I find myself falling for the crafty yet humorous Sir John Smythe :)

I've been a fan of the Vicky Bliss series for years now, though I read them all out of order. While the mystery is not particularly tightly plotted, and our heroes have unbelievable luck in escaping death (all the while John is being beaten to a pulp in book after book), this series is full of light-hearted, well-written stories with characters that tread the thin line where realism meets sentimentality. This is the book I read to cheer myself up after a hard week in the real world. It never fails me.

This book has been amply and well-reviewed; however, I would like to add this short comment.

Experts sometimes make things appear so simple that we think that what they are doing is simple to do. "Street of the Five Moons" is breezy and refreshing. It does all those things a mystery novel is supposed to do and to prove it Ms Mertz(Peters)through the protagonist, Vicky Bliss, comments on it with a wink. Through a blitzkrieg plot and perfect prose, she presents us with a ballsy heroine, a handsome thief, a nefarious gang, a crazy villain, and a travelogue of Rome.

For a quick, brilliant read, set in a beautiful locale, this is perfect escapist mystery. Be aware, however, that this is not a psychological mystery with a troubled protagonist. For that sort of thing look elsewhere.