From Publishers Weekly
Julian Kestrel, introduced in Cut to the Quick, returns again to probe beneath the surface opulence of Regency London society. Until he was bludgeoned to death with a fireplace poker in his own study, charming Alexander Falkland fairly glittered in that society. At the request of the victim's barrister father, Kestrel investigates and finds that the dead man was "far more complicated than most people knew." An erudite correspondence with his father shows that Falkland was a man of depth and intellect; he had also cultivated the socially risky acquaintance of a Jewish investment advisor. Falkland had doted on his beautiful wife, and both humored and neglected his adolescent brother-in-law, who benefits financially from the death. Kestrel works efficiently with Bow Street Runner Peter Vance, who supplies added information about an unidentified woman found murdered only a week before Falkland's death. In a tale as sparkling as champagne (with a dash of arsenic), Ross motivates her characters with human desires ranging from the loftiest intellectual yearnings to the basest physical appetites. Offering this level of entertainment, her dandyish sleuth will never go out of fashion. Author tour. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
YA?Julian Kestrel, a debonair man-about-town in early Victorian London, is asked to investigate the murder of Alexander Falkland. The charming aristocratic victim's distraught father turns to Kestrel when it seems that the Bow Street Runners have failed to turn up any clues. Nothing has been taken from the elaborate house, no one could have entered unnoticed in the middle of one of Falkland's famous parties, and everyone professes to have been on the best of terms with the deceased. As Kestrel delves into the case, he begins to find many people without adequate alibis, including Alexander's lovely widow. He is baffled by the solid wall of silence that he encounters; intrigued by the protective behavior of the servants; and, finally, starts to piece together Falkland's true character. With flair and quick-moving drama, the amateur detective is able to make the necessary connection between this murder and that of a servant in an abandoned brickfield. Kestrel, a true man of his times, treads carefully to maintain the correct conventions even as he digs deeply into the London lowlife. In this third novel about Kestrel, Ross builds on and develops her character so that readers recognize his strong personality, thus adding depth and dimension to the story.?Mary T. Gerrity, Queen Anne School Library, Upper Marlboro, MDCopyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
"Whom the gods love die young," goes the ancient quotation, and it seems apt for the devastatingly handsome and charming Alexander Falkland, murdered with a poker in his own home while a party goes on above him. Ross's third mystery (her second appears in Word of Mouth, p. 00), set in early 19th-century England and featuring London nonpareil and sleuth Julian Kestrel, again confirms Ross's prowess in the genre. She re-creates a society and its suspect mores, strews the field with red herrings that lead everywhere, then peels away layers of deceit to expose the murderer. Much more has been exposed, however, in her brilliantly concocted plot. For all collections.Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From The Boston Review
In London in 1825, Alexander Falkland, one of society's leading young hosts, is murdered in his study during a thronged party. The Bow Street Runners, the understaffed precursor of Scotland Yard, make little headway, so Alexander's father seeks the aid of Julian Kestrel, a trend-setting dandy who has a flair for solving murders. Kate Ross doesn't waste a syllable on padding or red herrings as Julian pursues the culprit through an ever more sordid and confusing labyrinth. Her story makes crucial use of the classism, sexism, and anti-Semitism of the age, but her style is so limpid and her comic touch so deft that these elements rarely obtrude. Ross is of the full-disclosure school, and is well-versed in the classics of the genre -- to say which ones, however, would spoil the game. The book's only disappointment is the minor role it assigns to Julian's valet, the reformed pickpocket Dipper, whose pluck, ingenuity, and slangy speech are among the chief delights of the first two Kestrel outings. Copyright © 1996, Boston Review. All rights reserved.


From Booklist
Ross' third novel firmly establishes her reputation as a first-rate writer of historical mysteries. The tale offers an intriguing plot full of baffling twists, keen insights into the thoughts and feelings behind the characters' mostly prim facades, and fascinating descriptions of the morals, manners, and customs of early-nineteenth-century London. Julian Kestrel, gentleman, amateur detective, sartorially splendid society trendsetter, and member of London's uppermost crust, is asked to investigate the murder of an old acquaintance, Alexander Falkland, who was brutally bludgeoned to death in his library while his friends partied in the parlor. Alexander was one of London's most successful young men, with a beautiful wife, a lovely home, plenty of money, and a promising career. Motives and opportunities for the murder are nearly as plentiful as the suspects, who include Alexander's servants, friends, business colleagues, family, and even his grieving widow. Watch out, Anne Perry and Ellis Peters! Kate Ross is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to historical mysteries. Emily Melton

FROM OUR EDITORS

Although Alexander Falkland excels at everything he turns his hand to, all of his God-given talent cannot save him from a bloody, brutal end. Hired to find the killer, Julian Kestrel soon discovers that the fair-haired Alexander had more than his fair share of enemies.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Alexander Falkland hasn't an enemy in the world. Young, talented, charming, he shines in every field he enters: law, architecture, the investment market. But one night his luck runs out with a vengeance. In the midst of one of his famous parties, he is found in his study with his head smashed, a blood-stained poker beside him. No wonder the inscription on his gravestone reads: whom the gods love die young. When the Bow Street runners fail to solve the crime, Alexander's distraught father turns to Julian Kestrel, elegant dandy and intrepid amateur sleuth. Soon Kestrel is up to his ears in suspects. But the greatest enigma is Alexander himself. Who was he really? Social reformer or butterfly, devoted husband or rake? In this, his third murder case, Julian must peel off one mask after another, till at last he discovers an Alexander no one knew - except, perhaps, the killer.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Julian Kestrel, introduced in Cut to the Quick, returns again to probe beneath the surface opulence of Regency London society. Until he was bludgeoned to death with a fireplace poker in his own study, charming Alexander Falkland fairly glittered in that society. At the request of the victim's barrister father, Kestrel investigates and finds that the dead man was ``far more complicated than most people knew.'' An erudite correspondence with his father shows that Falkland was a man of depth and intellect; he had also cultivated the socially risky acquaintance of a Jewish investment advisor. Falkland had doted on his beautiful wife, and both humored and neglected his adolescent brother-in-law, who benefits financially from the death. Kestrel works efficiently with Bow Street Runner Peter Vance, who supplies added information about an unidentified woman found murdered only a week before Falkland's death. In a tale as sparkling as champagne (with a dash of arsenic), Ross motivates her characters with human desires ranging from the loftiest intellectual yearnings to the basest physical appetites. Offering this level of entertainment, her dandyish sleuth will never go out of fashion. Author tour. (June)

Library Journal

``Whom the gods love die young,'' goes the ancient quotation, and it seems apt for the devastatingly handsome and charming Alexander Falkland, murdered with a poker in his own home while a party goes on above him. Ross's third mystery (her second appears in Word of Mouth, p. 00), set in early 19th-century England and featuring London nonpareil and sleuth Julian Kestrel, again confirms Ross's prowess in the genre. She re-creates a society and its suspect mores, strews the field with red herrings that lead everywhere, then peels away layers of deceit to expose the murderer. Much more has been exposed, however, in her brilliantly concocted plot. For all collections.

School Library Journal