Holiday with Violence
by Ellis Peters
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Description
A quartet of traveling students stumbles into a deadly conspiracy When the door opens, Signor Galassi flinches, fearing that someone has come to relieve him of the precious cargo he's transporting back from France. But it's only four harmless students on their way to an Italian vacation. Phyllida, Mab, Peter, and Punch have come from England in search of adventure-but they'll find far more than they bargained for. After crossing into Italy, the young travelers bid Galassi goodbye. But just show more as Phyllida is stepping off the train, she realizes she left her raincoat behind. Returning to the cabin, she finds Galassi limp on his seat, his skull fractured. Discovering who attacked the old man will draw these four friends into a deadly plot that could mean the end of their vacation, their friendships-even their lives. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Wow. The descriptions throughout the story are incredible - all the light and color of Italy, all the richness of the landscape and the people and buildings and... The mystery (or more accurately, adventure - there's not a lot unknown by the middle of the story) is interesting if a trifle unlikely - a lot of coincidences making it possible, though they acknowledge the coincidences and thus make them more reasonable. And some major mental and emotional consequences for at least two of the characters. All very Ellis Peters, but this one - possibly because it's a standalone as far as I know, we don't see these people again - the descriptions and the realizations struck me hard. And the villain is so elegantly nasty - an expert at twisting show more things the way he wants, undone by their (and particularly her) sheer stubbornness. Good story. Of course now I want to read more Peters… show less
This is a light afternoon read, from a time long gone. A grown-up version of the famous five, set in the 1950s, four English teenagers set off on a holiday to Italy. Along the way, they get caught up in an international diamond heist. The teenagers solve the puzzle and bring the crooks to justice.
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Stories set in Western Europe
36 works; 1 member
Author Information
149+ Works 58,690 Members
Ellis Peters is the pseudonym for Edith Pargeter, who was born in Horsehay, Shropshire. She was a chemist's assistant from 1933 to 1940 and participated during World War II in the Women's Royal Navy Service. The name "Ellis Peters" was adopted by Edith Pargeter to clearly mark a division between her mystery stories and her other work. Her brother show more was Ellis and Petra was a friend from Czechoslovakia, thus the name. She came to writing mysteries, she says, "after half a lifetime of novel-writing." Her detective fiction features well-rounded, knowledgeable characters with whom the reader can empathize. Her most famous literary creation is the medieval monk Brother Cadfael. The blend of history and the formula of the detective story gives Peters's works their popular appeal. As detective hero, Brother Cadfael remains faithful to the requirements of the formula, yet the historical milieu in which he operates is both fully realized and well textured. Peters received the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award in 1963 and the Crime Writers Association's Silver Dagger Award in 1981. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1952
- First words
- The train came round the curve of the line just as the long, wavering fingers of the morning reached out from behind the eastern rocks
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 136
- Popularity
- 241,034
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.41)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 8
- ASINs
- 4
