About the Author

Robin Paige is the pseudonym of husband-and-wife team Susan Wittig Albert and Bill Albert. Susan Wittig Albert is the author of the China Bayles mysteries Thyme of Death, Witch's Bane, Hangman's Root, Rosemary Remembered, Rueful Death, Love Lies Bleeding, Chile Death, Lavender Lies, Mistletoe Man, and Bloodroot. Bill Albert is the coauthor, with his wife, of more than sixty novels for young adults. They live in the Texas hill country.

Reviews

In the 10th entry in this historical husband-and-wife amateur sleuth series (after 2003's Death at Glamis Castle), the pseudonymous Paige makes a less than successful attempt to comment on post-9/11 America. Once again, the powers-that-be ask liberal aristocrat Lord Charles Sheridan to investigate a crime, here the detonation of a bomb in Hyde Park that kills a suspected anarchist seemingly en route to Buckingham Palace shortly after the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902. The explosion raises fear of further outrages, and the king's equerry delivers a royal request that Sheridan determine the extent of the terrorist threat. The lord's independent wife, Kate, slips into her usual role as unofficial helper, conducting a parallel inquiry. Atypically, there's no actual mystery to unravel, while the legitimate parallels between Edwardian England's fears of terror attacks and today's U.S. get lost amid heavy-handed touches such as naming the lead Scotland Yarder charged with protecting the British homeland "Ashcraft." Sheridan's speculation about the future invention of something very much like a cellphone is jarringly improbable. Finally, Jack London fans may be dismayed to see London commit a brutal crime that's totally out of character for the real-life adventure writer and socialist. (Mar. 2) FYI: Paige is the nom de plume of the husband-and-wife writing team Susan Wittig Albert and Bill Albert. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.