Synopsis
In the spring of 1523, Cardinal Wolsey's "beloved" nephew, Benjamin Daunbey, and the latter's rapscallion servant, Roger Shallot, are summoned to London. A Florentine envoy, Lord Francesco Abrizzi, has been foully murdered in Cheapside. He has been shot in the head by a new-fangled hand cannon and King Henry VIII, the "Great Beast" of Shallot's memoirs, is determined to unmask the perpetrators of this outrage.
In London, Shallot experiences King Henry VIII's rage and spite, the insults of the Abrizzis, and a murderous attack on his own life. Shallot, a born coward with the fastest legs in Christendom, just wants to crawl away and hide, but Henry VIII and Wolsey are most insistent: Shallot and Benjamin are to journey to Florence, discover the identity of Lord Francesco's assassin, deliver a secret message to Cardinal Guilo de Medici, Prince of the Church and ruler of Florence, as well as inveigle back to England a Florentine painter. It sounds simple enough - but the reality is murderously different: they experience murder onboard ship, pursuit by Turkish corsairs, the Satanic rites of a black magician, and bloodshed on every side.
Reviews
YA?The reign of Henry VIII bristles with adventure and intrigue in this fourth journal of Sir Roger Shallot. The narrator, servant to Cardinal Wolsey's nephew, travels with his master first to London and then to Florence on their quest to solve the mystery of the murder of Francesco Abrizzi, Florentine envoy to the king. This is but one of the many mysteries Roger and his master encounter and solve while obeying Wolsey's summons. The appeal of this story to YAs is manifold: it is a fast-paced, somewhat bawdily told tale set in a time of great political upheaval and peopled with characters (real and fictional) whose scheming and plotting bring color and life to an era far removed from our own. A list of the historical personae mentioned in the text is included.?Pamela B. Rearden, Centreville Regional Library, Fairfax County, VA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Sir Roger Shallot's "fourth journal" (the third was The Grail Murders) reveals a veritable Titus Andronicus of savagery: duels; beatings; suicide; plots within plots; and murders?lots of them. But it's hardly tragedy, as Shallot, Knight of the Garter, four-time widower, cheater at dice and earthy-tongued libertine (who claims to have sired a son by the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I), tells it all with garrulous, sometimes scatological, gusto. He recalls the spring of 1523, when he, then a mere servant, traveled with his beloved master, Benjamin Daunbey (nephew of Cardinal Wolsey and agent of Henry VIII), to Italy to investigate the London murder of a Florentine envoy. Staying at the villa of the powerful Abrizzi family, they see plenty of action while drinking in the lively but treacherous Florentine milieu of Machiavelli and the Medicis. The mystery, which has to do with the scheming that led to Henry's break from Rome, is merely workmanlike. It doesn't really matter a bit. The pleasures of this series are not to be found in plotting but in Shallot's Falstaffian narrative flair.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Clynes' riotous series of Roger Shallot mysteries continues in typically ribald fashion. Wily Roger and his friend and master, Benjamin Daunbey, investigate another heinous crime committed during the often cruel reign of Henry VIII. Summoned to London by Henry's crafty and devious chief minister, Cardinal Wolsey, Roger and Benjamin are dispatched to Italy in order to solve the perplexing murder of Lord Francesco Albrizzi, a Florentine diplomat with fiscal ties to the English crown. Inextricably drawn into an international political conspiracy, the two Englishmen become pawns in a deadly game of intrigue and revenge. An exhilarating and entertaining historical romp. Margaret Flanagan
This series title, the perfect choice for Renaissance lovers, reintroduces Cardinal Wolsey's nephew, Benjamin Daunbey, and Daunbey's cohort in intrigue, Roger Shallot. The pair investigate the murder of a Florentine envoy to the court of Henry VIII. Boisterous times, told with exaggeration and wit.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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