a well written mystery, whom the gods love takes the reader down many unexpected and intriguing twists and turns, plumbing the depths of human tragedy. while i enjoyed the previous book in this series (a broken vessel) a little more for some of the new characters introduced in it, this next installment offered a plot and mystery that was more masterfully structured and even more skillfully unraveled. a bit slow paced, but that's part of its charm. a great book. ( )

Fiction, Historical fiction, Detective and mystery stories, Julian Kestrel series, Regency-era, London society, Beautiful prose, First US edition, New York, Viking USA, Jul 14 1995, 400 pp., hardcover; First Uk edition, London, Hodder & Stoughton, Oct 5 1995; First Italian edition: "L'invidia degli dei", Milano, A. Mondadori, 1999, translated by Grazia Maria Griffini ( )

An interesting book, with the characters standing out in particular. One thread of the mystery is almost ridiculously easy to work out, so easy that you may feel the lead character, Julian Kesrel, is a little dense because he doesn't until three quarters of the way through.

Kestrel himself is an awkward character, not helped by a certain unevenness in the writing between him being the POV character and there being an omniscient narrator. Given that I don't normally pick up on that kind of thing, I think that shows that that is one of the book's weaknesses.

Nevertheless, the characters are interesting enough that I want to read the other books that feature this character. ( )