Saturday 24 September 2011

HISTORICAL CRIME FICTION REVIEW: Alexander Seaton 3: Crucible of Secrets - Shauna MacLean

Release Date: 04/08/11

SYNOPSIS:

It is Midsummer, 1631. While Alexander Seaton and his fellow masters enjoy the holiday with their students, Robert Sim, librarian of Marischal College, is murdered in a dark alleyway in town. While the university and town authorities investigate the murder, Seaton is asked by the college principal to look into Sim's private life. In the course of an investigation in which his personal feelings threaten to cloud his judgement and endanger his young marriage to Sarah, he discovers a side to the librarian he could never have guessed at. It is only when a second, apparently unrelated murder comes to light that Seaton begins to piece together the connections between a young weaver, a consignment of books, and events in a college in the Low Countries in order to unmask the perpetrator of the years'-old deception that led to the two deaths.


REVIEW:

As a huge reader, I always love it when a book interests me and I don’t know what to expect. Whilst the first part of this title takes its time to build when it gets going, its really a title that’s hard to let go of. The characters are interesting and people you want to hang around, the historical part draws you into a city that few can imagine and when you add some cracking prose as well as decent dialogue it’s a title that was a real joy to read.

All in, I’m more than pleased that I stuck with it and will definitely be keeping an eye out for Shona’s next book to see how things develop.


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