Kieran Shields
Author of The Truth of All Things
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The truth of all things by Kieran Shields
The blatant Holme's rip offs bugged me a bit-though I think they were meant as an homage. Nice little plot with some historical interest and tolerable characters. If he writes a sequel, I'll give it a try
Two hundred years after the Salem witch trials, in the summer of 1892, a grisly new witch hunt is beginning....
When newly appointed Deputy Marshal Archie Lean is called in to investigate a prostitute's murder in Portland, Maine, he's surprised to find the body laid out like a pentagram and pinned to the earth with a pitchfork. He's even more surprised to learn that this death by "sticking" is a traditional method of killing a witch.
Baffled by the ritualized murder scene, Lean secretly enlists the help of historian Helen Prescott and brilliant criminalist Perceval Grey. Distrusted by officials because of his mixed Abenaki Indian ancestry, Grey is even more notorious for combining modern investigative techniques with an almost eerie perceptiveness. Although skeptical of each other's methods, together the detectives pursue the killer's trail through postmortems and opium dens, into the spiritualist societies and lunatic asylums of gothic New England.
Before the killer closes in on his final victim, Lean and Grey must decipher the secret pattern to these murders--a pattern hidden within the dark history of the Salem witch trials.
Set in a vividly imagined Victorian Portland,Maine this intelligently written tale takes a while to get going. It is filled with incredible historic detail that slows it down and sometimes at the cost of characterisation. For example I found widowed lonely town librarian Helen Prescott a walking cliché and Lean's wife was not developed at all as were many other secondary characters.
However the period detail, sharp dialogue and a wonderful spooky atmosphere make this a fine début novel.… (more)
When newly appointed Deputy Marshal Archie Lean is called in to investigate a prostitute's murder in Portland, Maine, he's surprised to find the body laid out like a pentagram and pinned to the earth with a pitchfork. He's even more surprised to learn that this death by "sticking" is a traditional method of killing a witch.
Baffled by the ritualized murder scene, Lean secretly enlists the help of historian Helen Prescott and brilliant criminalist Perceval Grey. Distrusted by officials because of his mixed Abenaki Indian ancestry, Grey is even more notorious for combining modern investigative techniques with an almost eerie perceptiveness. Although skeptical of each other's methods, together the detectives pursue the killer's trail through postmortems and opium dens, into the spiritualist societies and lunatic asylums of gothic New England.
Before the killer closes in on his final victim, Lean and Grey must decipher the secret pattern to these murders--a pattern hidden within the dark history of the Salem witch trials.
Set in a vividly imagined Victorian Portland,Maine this intelligently written tale takes a while to get going. It is filled with incredible historic detail that slows it down and sometimes at the cost of characterisation. For example I found widowed lonely town librarian Helen Prescott a walking cliché and Lean's wife was not developed at all as were many other secondary characters.
However the period detail, sharp dialogue and a wonderful spooky atmosphere make this a fine début novel.… (more)
The Stone Ship tells the story of fourteen-year-old Will Worden. It starts when Will is vacationing on Cape Cod with his father and there is an explosion. His father disappears and Will is sent to an orphanage in Maine. But his father has left him mysterious objects and messages, clues that Will and his two new friends, Oscar and Hildy, must decipher.
This first book in The Asgard Society will appeal to readers of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series, only instead of the Olympian gods we have the Norse gods and goddesses brought to life in reinvented ways to help Will on his quest to find his missing father.
It was a great read, the action moves right along, and the characters are well-developed and interesting.… (more)
This first book in The Asgard Society will appeal to readers of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series, only instead of the Olympian gods we have the Norse gods and goddesses brought to life in reinvented ways to help Will on his quest to find his missing father.
It was a great read, the action moves right along, and the characters are well-developed and interesting.… (more)
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