Customer Reviews

The White Crow: A Beacon Hill Mystery

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

 

 

I'm always torn whenever I read one of Cynthia Peale's Beacon Hill mysteries -- on the one hand I love the manner in which Ms Peale brings the Boston of the Victorian period to life with all it's prissiness and it's snobbish double standards. And I also like the manner in which she depicts all her characters, both secondary and primary -- you really get to see all the different facets of the different characters. But I also find myself ready to spit nails at the attitude of the men in these book towards the women. And here, much as the feminist in me wants for Caroline Ames (the charming and amiable heroine-detective of this series) to really administer a swift kick in the seat of the pants to her supercilious older brother, Addington (preferably so that he takes a fall down the stairs), I have to admire Ms Peale's accurate portrayal of the social mores of the period, and admire her courageous stance. It would be only all too easy to write about a sister and brother team that we modern readers would find more sympathetic and accessible. However Ms Peale has given us a detecting hero (Addington Ames) who is snobbish and priggish and a little narrow minded, as well as a detecting heroine (Caroline Ames) who even as she sometimes chafes at her brother's attitude towards her and all things modern, is still a product of her upbringing, and who is NOT one of the crusading Amazonian feminist that the Victorians feared so much.

Hoping to make 'contact' with their dead mother, Caroline Ames decides to secretly visit the medium, Mrs. Sidgwick (Caroline has to keep this visit a secret because she knows that her brother would disapprove and probably forbid her from attending the seance). The seance however turns out to be a disaster: not only does Caroline fail to make contact with her mother, but she also becomes a suspect when philanthropist Theophilus Clay is murdered while the seance is in session. As much to protect his sister from the police, as well as because an old friend of the family requests him to investigate the matter, skeptical Addington Ames finds himself delving into matters paranormal. And no one is more surprised than he when things take a distinctly dangerous turn when this current murder investigation suddenly leads him to back to another painful episode from his past, and an old enemy who feels that he has a score to settle with the Ameses...

While I did enjoy reading "The White Crow," I must own that mystery-wise it was an incredibly straightforward read, and that the mystery plot did unfold at a rather sedate pace. Ms Peale seemed to pay more attention to the subplot dealing with the blossoming relationship between Caroline and the Ames's lodger, Dr. Mackenzie, which was something I didn't mind at all as I'm rather partial to Caroline, and welcomed any plot deviations that dealt with her. So, here's my opinion: read this book on a drizzling evening (this novel was meant for exactly that kind of weather) and enjoy it for it's rich and vivid imagery, and for it's charming heroine.

This is the third of a series called "Beacon Hill Mysteries." They have all been good, but this is the best of the lot. The late Victorian age was a time when science was stretching into the technology of daily life, and the very air was alive with possibility. Boston, on the other hand, had a stultifying rigid caste system. Despite a great admiration for science, those who experimented too much stood the chance of becoming "ruined" and no longer being accepted into polite society.

Our characters in this mix are Addington Ames, the middle aged and stuffy older brother of Caroline Ames, thirty six year old spinster, and their boarder, Dr. MacKenzie, invalided from the Army by a Sioux bullet. The characters are beautifully drawn and set solidly in their period with no anachronistic issues.

The first book in the series is "The Death of Colonel Mann." The second is "Murder at Bertram's Bower." Each book is better than the last. I am looking for more.

As usual Cynthia Peale did not disappoint me! And I am so glad. I enjoyed The White Crow as much if not more than the first and second books in the series. Her characterizations are excellent (and not just the main characters!), the plot is entertaining and well-planned, and the way she captures old Boston at the turn of the century is nothing short of brilliant. I feel that I am there learning about what Boston was really like. To find this atmosphere of a Boston past in a modern-day book is amazing. I am eagerly awaiting a fourth in the Beacon Hill series. Please!

Part of the charm of the three novels in the Beacon Hill series is that the environment is spot on. One should never attempt to write characters into an historical environment without first doing some basic research, and Ms. Peale has this angle very well covered. The mystery the author has contructed is also very interesting, involving the major fads of the day (both spiritualism and the telephone). Once more, Ms. Peale brings Victorian Boston to life in a vivid and appealing fashion.

There are some weaker moments, however, which are rather distracting. The late-night confrontation between Ames and the villain is pure melodrama, and for all of the action, it is actually rather disappointingly pedestrian. The same could also be said for the climax.

Just to nitpick, there is also at least one somewhat minor error regarding how to survive when immersed in cold water. A character thinks the only way to survive it would be to swim furiously, but doing so will bleed off far more body heat than you could possibly generate, leading to hypothermia (pretty much what happened to many of the Titanic's passengers). But, the character's thinking was in keeping with the times in which the story is set, so we may easily overlook this goof.

Since so much more of the novel works then does not work, I think it would be fair to say that this is a very good purchase, especially for those of us already hooked on the characters. The characters make natural progress in their world, evolving and becoming even more and more natural (Addington pursues the elusive Serena Vincent, while Dr. MacKensie is even so bold as to finally ask Miss Ames to go walking in the park!). The entire question of spiritualism is deftly handled, neither overly favorable of the practice, or overly critical. The characters are delightfully "in character," as it were.

One can only hope that the series will move beyond a mere trilogy. It would be quite unfair of Ms. Peale to offer us such interesting characters and not allow us to continue to share in their domestic worries, social dramas, and criminal investigations.

When the lights go on during a seance held by the society medium Mrs. Sidgwick, philanthropist Theophilus Clay is found to have been murdered. In attendance, and indeed sitting right next to him, is Caroline Ames who with her brother, Addington, is drawn into solving this murder, and the subsequent deaths and threats to their lives.

Caroline is given little to do in this story given the social limitations on a well bred Boston Brahim woman. The plot's action falls instead on her brother and their border, Dr. MacKenzie. Readers also may lament the fate of those of Caroline's class who have fallen beyond the bounds of propriety set by Boston's chilly social class.

The book's historical background is better served. Numerous Boston personalities appear, in particular William James and Isabella Stewart Gardner. The growing threat to Yankee power by the Irish community is touched on, as is the onset of a new age initiated by inventions and technologies, including plans for an underground railroad. One new household devise, the telephone, plays a key role in the story.

Peale also takes us on wonderful treks through the Boston streets, gardens, waterways, cemeteries, restaurants, clubs, and Beacon Hill homes. A tour today of the Victorian era Nicoll house (home of Rose Nicoll, suffragist, international peace supporter, and first female U.S. landscape designer) can give you a feel for Caroline's residence.

This is one in the Caroline and Addington Ames Beacon Hill series.

I enjoyed this book, and immediately sought out Peale's other titles. Rich in historical detail, and color. The mystery plot, however, seems a little bit of an afterthought.

This was an enjoyable book in some respects, but I found that it wasn't nearly as gripping as the two previous books in this Boston gaslight series. For one thing, there wasn't much mystery here. We knew almost right away who the killer was, and it was just a matter of Addington running around trying to find him. Also, we never saw a resolution to the sexual tension between Caroline and Dr. MacKenzie. Knowing this was the last book in the series, that surprised me a bit. In fact the book finished with lots of unresolved issues. The book is about the Victorians fascination with seances and contacting people "from the otherside". Caroline attends a seance to try to contact her dead mother, and while the lights were down, the man sitting beside her (in fact holding her hand) is killed. Addington did not want Caroline to attend any seances, so he was perturbed when he found out that she had and that the unthinkable happened while she was there. Then he finds a link from that death to the man who was in prison for fraud, and who Addington believed was responsible for the death of his father. The man is a confidence artist, and he bilked many people of a lot money, including his and Caroline's father. The book becomes a chase to get this man after that, and I didn't find that it was that suspenseful.

I read all three in this series and this was enjoyable, but pales in comparison to Bertrum's Bower

i discovered this book while browsing at my favourite book store. i was desperate to find something, anything to read. being
a huge fan of anne perry's and having read all her books when i
saw this one i grabbed it. after reading it i am not sure i enjoyed it or if i would buy another one. i found the characters
unlikable. each of the main three were so bound up in their
own prejudices and snobbery that it was all i could not do
not to throw the book across the room. the 'charming caroline'
who most reviewers found a delight.i found silly and vapid especially for a 36 year old woman,spinister of not. her brother was just
a charmless snob who seemed to think his birthright gave him the
right to judge everyone else wanting. dr. mackenzie was the only one who came close to be interesting. the characters were
three dimensional. i guess i am spoiled because anne perry does
such a superb job of creating likeable although flawed people
who have depth of character and personality. also i must say
that not knowing the city of boston(i am very familiar with london)a lot of the historical detail was wasted on me. the
mystery was run of the mill. i think i will buy another one
of series and if it is similar i shall go back to rereading anne perry's early works.