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Title: Honor's Kingdom by Owen Parry ISBN: 0-06-051079-X Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: 29 July, 2003 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.29 (21 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: That ... Parry!
Comment: I have never eaten an eel pie, but I've heard of 'em and thought perhaps some day I might enjoy the experience. Not now! Not after reading the first chapter of Abel Jones's latest adventure. That ... Parry has such a command of English prose he used it to make me ill! I haven't read anythng quite as graphic as Chapter 1 of "Honor's Kingdom" since Swift's "The Lady's Dressing Room." But once into this book, as all of Parry's novels, I couldn't put it aside.
So what's Abel Jones doing in England? I thought this mystery was pretty straight forward: the redoubtable Major is there to thwart the Confederates' English confederates from building warships for Richmond's fledgling navy. The CSS ALABAMA springs immediately to mind. But the ALABAMA was launched and she wreaked havoc with Yankee shipping. So Jones' mission we know from the beginning of this book is a failure. OK, so he'll solve some grisly murders? Well, read the book. Owen Parry's plots aren't THAT transparent.
Now that the "Washington Post" has blown Parry's cover it's obvious this talented literary gentleman has been leaving clues to his real identity buried in the pages of his books. Turn to p. 75 in this edition. There it is and it's hilarious. The real Owen Parry evidently has a self-deprecating sense of humor that combined with his devastating talent as a writer must make him in real life a very endearing person. He also knows English lit. In "Honor's Kingdom" you'll meet Thackery, learn something about Dickens (to whom Parry's writing has been favorably compared), get to know young Henry Adams, and get a liberal dose of William Shakespeare. Parry has something in common with the Bard too: His bad guys get some of the best lines. Oh, and if Karl Marx has any living descendants they may well sue Mr. Parry. But if that happens, don't worry, old bean, all your fans will happily contribute thousands to your defense!
And kudos to Ms. Barbara Levine, the cover artist. I wish I could get her to work for me.
...
Rating: 4
Summary: Where's Molloy?
Comment: If for nothing else, read HONOR'S KINGDOM to observe a master of dialect in action. In this fourth book in the series, the wonderful supporting cast is missing. Abel Jones travels to London alone to deal with the murders of Union agents who have been trying to prevent the building of a Confederate warship. In the process we are introduced to a cockney dance-hall girl, and when Abel travels to Glascow, a Scottish police inspector, whose accents are dead on. And noticeably different. These accents don't distract from the story at all. They make the characters come alive.
Another good point is Parry's deft use of historical figures, in this instance, Charles Francis Adams, ambassador to England, and Benjamin Disraeli.
Once again Parry's humor is wonderful. Jones says at one point, "The price of beefstake would have bought a cow back in America. And wanton expenditure is sinful . . . ." Parry perfectly captures Jones's penurious nature.
One new aspect is the introduction of Abel Jones's Moriarity, the Earl of Thretford, who is helping the Confederates christen their ship.
The problem I had with the book was the long involved plot.
Jones is constantly wandering down blind alleys and always seems to end up in the worst part of town. One would suspect this is a social commentary rather than a historical novel. There are so many characters and so many diplomatic imbroglios it's hard to tell who did what even at the end of the book.
Jimmy Molloy would have been a great confidant if Parry had been able to think of a reason to have Jones bring him along.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Series gets better and better
Comment: Owen Parry is on the verge of national treasure status, and he's only written four books. He writes detective novels, but of a new genre: historical novels that meld the traditional characteristics of a private eye narrative with the background of the American Civil War. There are several of these series, but this one is pretty unique: the main character/narrator is a Welsh transplant who's a veteran of Queen Victoria's army and its wars in India. Abel Jones was a sergeant in the British army, but finally quit and swore never to kill again. He married his childhood sweetheart, and immigrated to America, where he stepped right into the start of the Civil War. A deeply religious man, he's an ardent abolitionist (as many religious people were) and so he joined the U.S. Volunteers, recieving the rank of Major in recognition of his ability to discipline and train recruits. He was, however, wounded at the First Battle of Bull Run, and though he can walk he'll never run again, so he can't return to service in the field. Instead, he's an investigator for the army, looking into various things that defy definition, and trying to learn the skill of investigation on the fly.
In this, the fourth entry in the series, Jones is sent to England to assist the U.S. Ambassador. The ambassador has a difficult assignment for him: the Confederates have a warship under construction in Liverpool, and if it's allowed to reach the sea it could ravage the American merchant marine and cause untold damage. The British are claiming not to know the purpose of the ship, and when Jones arrives in Britain, the first thing that greets him is the death of another American agent who was working on the same project, trying to keep the Confederate ship out of the water. He's been murdered and stuffed in a basket of eels, and two of his colleagues have been killed also. Jones didn't even bring his revolver: his prospects of survival don't look good.
But Abel Jones is a dangerous man when his blood is up. He's not much of a detective (though he's getting better, and seems to be able to follow a simple clue doggedly) but he's stubborn and hard to kill, and an interesting guide to the nineteenth century world, in this case England and Scotland. Since he's a Methodist from a century and a half ago, he has strange (by modern standards, anyway) morals, such as an aversion to stage plays (though he's read Shakespeare) and novels...for a while anyway. Parry puts various historical cameos into the story, from Trollope to Whistler to Disraeli, and knits the whole thing together really well.
I enjoyed this book a great deal, and I would recommend it a great deal. As I've said before, this is the best series of historical novels, bar none, since George MacDonald Fraser started the Flashman series.
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Title: Call Each River Jordan by Owen Parry ISBN: 0060009225 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: 02 July, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: Shadows of Glory by Owen Parry ISBN: 0380820870 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: 04 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Faded Coat of Blue by Owen Parry ISBN: 0380797399 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 August, 2000 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Bold Sons of Erin : A Novel of Suspense by Owen Parry ISBN: 006051390X Publisher: William Morrow Pub. Date: 14 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Our Simple Gifts : Civil War Christmas Tales by Owen Parry ISBN: 0060013788 Publisher: William Morrow Pub. Date: 22 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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