Jack, Knave and Fool (Sir John Fielding) - Softcover

Alexander, Bruce

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0425171205 ISBN 13: 9780425171202

Publisher: Berkley, 1999

Synopsis

In this fifth Sir John Fielding mystery, the legendary eighteenth-century London judge takes on his most difficult case to date. John Fielding was famous not only as cofounder of London's first police force, the Bow Street Runners, but also as a magistrate of keen intellect, fairness and uncommon detective ability. What made this all the more remarkable was that he was blind. Now the blind magistrate and his young assistant and ward, Jeremy Proctor, face a baffling pair of deaths. A lord dies suddenly while attending a concert. A disembodied head washes up on the banks of the Thames. While investigating both, Sir John and Jeremy learn more than they ever cared to about family, greed, deception, and the peculiar nature of homicide, high and low.

"This is a wonderful series . . . In addition to giving us a marvelous parade of Georgian-era high and low characters in the London of Johnson and Boswell, it is packed with history and lore, and it's altogether much fun."—Washington Post Book World

About this title

Review

Bruce Alexander's books have the same addictive attention to detail as Patrick O'Brian's stories about the British navy. In fact, there really was a Sir John Fielding (1721-1780; would the Library of Congress lie?), the blind London magistrate so energetically restored to life by Alexander. And as he did in Person or Persons Unknown, Murder in Grub Street, Blind Justice, and Watery Grave, the author lets us observe Fielding from the distance of time, with middle-aged narrator Jeremy Proctor recalling his adventures as a 16-year-old alongside him. Here Jeremy plays a larger part in the investigations than he did in previous books. The two cases-- the poisoning of Lord and Lady Langinham, and the unknown identity of a severed head found in the Thames--are separated by money and class. Among the hundreds of little moments that make the book glow is Jeremy ordering coffee in a seedy dive, and being told by the waitress, "You only get that with a flash of lightning here, dearie"--meaning a shot of gin. --Dick Adler

About the Author

Bruce Alexander is the pseudonym for a well-known author of fiction and nonfiction. The books in his series include Blind Justice; Murder in Grub Street (named by the New York Times Book Review as a notable book in 1995); Watery Grave; Person or Persons Unknown (named by the Chicago Tribune as one of the best novels of 1997); Jack, Knave and Fool; and Death of a Colonial.

Edition details

• Publisher: Berkley
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0425171205
• ISBN 13: 9780425171202
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 416