Montmorency On The Rocks: Doctor, Aristocrat, Murderer? - Rilegato

Updale, Eleanor

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0439606764 ISBN 13: 9780439606769

Casa editrice: Orchard Books, 2005

Riassunto

Returning to London, former criminal Montmorency, while desperately trying not to succumb to the dark temptations of his alter ego's world, must race against time, with the help of a fellow government agent, to stop a bomber who is terrorizing the city.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

VOYA 6/1/05 Following a dangerous year abroad as spies, Montmorency and his mentor, Lord George Fox-Selwyn, arrive in 1885 London to reconnect with Dr. Robert Farcett (the surgeon who earlier repaired Montmorency's broken body in Montmorency: Thief, Liar, Gentleman? [Scholastic, 2003/VOYA June 2004]), but all is not well. Montmorency is addicted to a Turkish drug, and Farcett has purposely let a patient die. Seeking escape from their individual demons, the three gentlemen journey to Lord George's brother's estate, and soon puzzling events confront the men. A London train station is blown up, and on an isolated Scottish isle, babies have been dying for the past seven years. Intrigued by the infants' deaths, the doctor and Montmorency journey to the island and interview a dedicated midwife and a minister who has buried each child. Farcett becomes consumed with discovering the cause of death, but with his drug addiction controlled, Montmorency returns to London to assist Lord George in hunting terrorists. Although his past remains secret, Montmorency realizes that he must reappear as Scarper the thief to trap the ruthless bombers. Unlike his role in the first book, Montmorency does not dominate center stage, allowing other characters and the involved plot to develop. The layered mysteries, occurring on opposite ends of Great Britain, have a common connection solved (in the British detective-novel tradition) by scientific deduction. Updale's books contain no teen characters and several red herrings. The intricacy of this novel will either attract or repel teen readers. A proper introduction to Montmorency will surely please fans of Sherlock Holmes
Booklist 5/15/505 5 Gr. 6-9. Here's a neat trick: in harking back to a genre (the Victorian crime thriller) most YA writers won't touch, the Montmorency series seems appealingly rebellious--loyal valets, monogrammed hankies, iced champagne, and all. Readers familiar with Montmorency: Thief, Liar, Gentleman? 0 (2004) will note the broadening of the limelight from Montmorency alone to an ensemble of British aristocrats prone to "dashing about solving other people's problems." These include the former thief Montmorency; his best chum and spy-partner, George Fox-Selwyn; and his surgeon, Doctor Fawcett, who has been called upon to help Montmorency overcome an opium addiction. Updale commandingly escorts readers through the layers of London society as her protagonists investigate not one but two mysteries: a London bomb plot and a remote Scottish island's perplexing epidemic of infant deaths. Some YAs still won't have patience for the prissy Masterpiece Theater-style details and the absence of prominent YA characters. Thanks to the greater emphasis on case-cracking than on its title character's psychological struggles, however, this may prove even more popular than book one. --Jennifer Mattson Copyright 2005 Booklist
SLJ 4/1/05 Gr 8 Up-The second volume picks up several years after Montmorency (Scholastic, 2004) ended. The young man has joined Lord Fox-Selwyn on missions for the English throne and has proved himself a formidable secret agent. But on their last journey, he became addicted to opium, and his addiction threatens his life and those of many others as he loses discretion and caution. Meanwhile, Dr. Farcett, who treated Montmorency when he was in prison, has lost his self-confidence after killing a healthy patient in a demonstration surgery. Fox-Selwyn engineers a reunion between the two to save them both, and the three men, along with Violet, daughter of Montmorency/Scarper's former landlady and a prostitute, end up involved in two mysteries: bombings of London train stations and the deaths of numerous children on a remote Scottish island. This adventure starts slowly, and the elaborate setup seems somewhat contrived. Still, this is another rousing and meticulously researched adventure, full of details about London and Scotland that bring the past to vivid life. Older

L'autore:

Eleanor Updale studied history at St. Anne’s College in Oxford, England, before becoming a producer of TV and radio current affairs programs for the BBC. She is studying for a Ph.D. at the new Centre for Editing Lives and Letters at Queen Mary College, University of London. She is also a trustee of the charity Listening Books. She lives in England. Montmorency is her first book.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Orchard Books
• Data di pubblicazione: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0439606764
• ISBN 13: 9780439606769
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 362
• Disegnatore: Hardcastle Nick