Jack, Knave and Fool - Hardcover

Bruce Alexander Cook

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786217987 ISBN 13: 9780786217984

Publisher: Thorndike Pr, 1999

Synopsis

Sir John Fielding and his assistant, Jeremy Proctor, investigate the unexpected death of a lord at a concert and the discovery of a disembodied head on the banks of the Thames

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.

About this edition

• Publisher: Thorndike Pr
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0786217987
• ISBN 13: 9780786217984
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 629