Customer Reviews

Through a Gold Eagle

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

 

 

this is the first glynnis tryon mystery book i read and i liked it so much that i went out and bought the 3 books prior to it in the series. glynnis is a wonderful character, and i like how she has all of these male admireres. i have a crush on both cullen and jacques! and the parts about john brown, his family and his zeal to do away with slavery, were fascinating. it made me want to go visit harper's ferry again. i have to disagree with previous reviewers on the coin details, it was informative and crucial to the plot. i could go on, and on, but i would give away too much of the plot. kudos to miriam grace monfredo for a well developed historical mystery series. she obviously does her research well.

The poignant drama related by John Brown's daughter in this, the fourth book in the series, adds a heartwrenching touch to this period of national turmoil. It's another example of the interesting touches that Monfredo continues to her stories. Highly recommended.

I greatly enjoy Monfredo's books. Beside being historically accurate, the characters are very human. They are much like friends because they are so well drawn. I made myself slow down reading all her books so I could savor them and have something to anticipate. I've read all up to "Stalking Horse."

Usually I'd be the first to gush about how wonderful this series is, but I must admit I'm unimpressed by this entry. The first half of it is very, very slow going. There are too many new characters--most of them suspects--being introduced to keep them all straight, and it leaves the established characters rather neglected. Also, the story gets bogged down in the minutiae of numismatics. I collected coins as a kid, and even I was bored stiff. Finally, the attention given to John Brown and his family detracts from, rather than adds to, the central story going on in Seneca Falls. While I think Monfredo's speculations about Annie Brown's adolescent love-life are novel, I fail to see how they're germane. On the bright side, some strong new women have been introduced to Seneca Falls, namely Margaret Taylor (who I'm hoping will stick around town for a while) and Glynis's seamstress niece, Emma. And the injection of yet another love interest for Glynis is, I think, inspired. I! love the fact that this never-married librarian, who at 41 would be considered an old maid even by contemporary standards, is portrayed as being as sexually appealing as her teenage niece. As a whole, though, Through a Gold Eagle is not for the faint at heart. There's a lot of mire to be slogged through at the outset, and if you're not a tried-and-true fan of Glynis Tryon, you may not find the payoff in the second half of the novel to have been worth the effort.

This is an absolutely excellent book, and this is a truly wonderful series! The action around this page-turner is all around the secret plans that John Brown has been working on, to attack Harper's Ferry in order to free the Negroes there. History has shown that John Brown was a fanatic, but his plot it was that actually moved the country into the great war between the States. Glynis is involved peripherally with the plot when lots of counterfeit money starts appearing in Seneca Falls. And with the arrival of the money, murder follows. Glynis is drawn in and has to find the answers with the help of her Constable Stuart. These books are tremendously exciting, and real historical figures are sprinkled generously throughout. But the fictional characters are the real triumph. They are so utterly real! This book introduces us to Glynis's young neice Emma, as well as another suitor for Glynis. She does lead a pretty exciting life for a small town librarian. I absolutely love this character and these books.!

It appears that Ms. Monfredo's books are no longer in print, which is a true shame. I generally have no use for historical fiction, but she takes great pains to try to have the facts in a row. One of the things I like best is the encyclopedia-type entries in the back of the books detailing where history stops and where fiction begins. As somebody with a bit of a mental block where history's concerned, I appreciate not learning "fiction in the guise of facts" to get myself in trouble. LOL

In addition to this, the stories are just plain good. The publishing order is the chronological order, and I recommend reading them that way. They don't go immediately head-to-tail, but they do interconnect in ways that will make more sense if you read them in order.

This installment isn't my favorite. There are essentially 3 stories going on; they intersect eventually, but I found it a bit confusing at times. Personally, I wasn't very interested in the cutaways to John Brown's life nor in the mysterious meetings between Brockway and the unknown man, but it was easy enough to skip over them since they were in separate chapters.

This is an EXCELLENT series, and I strongly urge people to check it out.

It reads like a very good mystery-adventure story because it IS one, but the historical background is accurate, and you can hardly keep from learning something about what living in midstate New York in the mid-nineteenth century was like. For example, I didn't realize what a problem counterfeiting was then. The specific instance of counterfeiting in the book is fictional, and of course the fictional persons "harmed" by it did not suffer in fact; but many real individuals of the time endured real suffering from the effects of real counterfeiting very much like that described in the book.

Miriam Grace Monfredo's novels are, above all, fun to read, and the knowledge of history that you gain as a by-product of the reading is, at least for me, a most welcome bonus. HISTORY TEACHERS TAKE NOTE!

watziznaym@gmail.com

Unfortunately this author is clearly setting herself up to churn out a lengthy series on this heroine. She is also having trouble blending historical fact and fictional characters. I felt I'd just completed a fact stuffed history lesson. The book had potential but in the end, I was just bored.