Ross, Kate Books

Cut to the Quick (Crime, Penguin)

Kate Ross

List Price: $6.99 By: Penguin (Non-Classics) Amazon Marketplace: 27 new & used starting at $1.60

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 21 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Simply brilliant 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This is the first of four books in the Julian Kestrel series. The other three are: A Broken Vessel, Whom the Gods Love, and The Devil in Music.

Kate Ross's prose is masterful, elegant, and flows naturally. The mystery is tight, suspenseful, and all encompassing. The characters are colorful and fascinating. The protaganist, Julian Kestrel, has got to rank amongst the best characters in fiction, ever. I found myself rereading the book just for the dialogue between Julian and the other characters. It's wonderfully entertaining.

If my review sounds too enthusiastic, it's simply because the book deserves it.

The plot:

The book takes place in 1800's England. Julian Kestrel is a "dandy", a man who wears fashionable clothes, is charismatic, and is quite popular with the ladies. But, he also has intelligence, compassion, impeccable manners, a strong sense of justice, and a witty, dry sense of humor. One night, he comes to the aid of a shy, rather naive young man at a gambling hall who was clearly out of his element and had had too much to drink. Sensing the young man was about to ruin himself, Kestrel put him in a carriage and sent him home. The grateful young man, who is Hugh Fontclair of the wealthy and infamous Fontclair family, later asks Kestrel to serve as best man at his wedding. Kestrel is stunned, as he doesn't even know the young man; he'd only spoken to him briefly that night. But, Kestrel is curious and intrigued, especially when he noticed that Hugh looked rather glum about getting married. What's wrong with this picture, Kestrel wonders? He accepts Hugh's invitation to visit him and his family at their estate in Bellegarde. After his second evening there, Kestrel finds the dead body of a young woman in his bed. He has no idea who she is, how she came to be in his bed, or why she was murdered. Kestrel takes an interest in the murder investigation, but becomes absolutely determined to SOLVE it after his faithful manservant, Dipper, is accused of the murder. Kestrel strongly believes Dipper is innocent. While investigating, Kestrel finds himself embroiled in Fontclair family secrets: deceit, dishonor, and blackmail. The mystery is intriguing and the suspects plentiful. But Kestrel discovers the truth - he not only figures out the culprit, but unearths the secrets and the reasons behind them. And he does so in a gentlemanly, humanely, and skillful manner.

I am profoundly sorry that Kate Ross passed away. She was a brilliant storyteller and her books - including Cut to the Quick - are gems.

Editorial Review:

Impeccably evoking Regency England, this period thriller stars historically authentic detective Julian Kestrel. During an elegant country weekend, Kestrel finds the corpse of an attractive young woman in his bed, and sets out to find the killer among the glittering denizens of a titled house harboring too many secrets. Reading tour.

The Devil in Music (Julian Kestrel Mystery)

Kate Ross

List Price: $6.99 By: Penguin (Non-Classics) Amazon Marketplace: 18 new & used starting at $2.84

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 33 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

With flawless period detail and a dapper English detective reminiscent of Lord Peter Wimsey, Kate Ross is charming fans of Anne Perry and Elizabeth George--and earning a loyal following of mystery readers eager to accompany Julian Kestrel from adventure to satisfying adventure. Traveling on the Continent with his ex-pickpocket valet, Kestrel finds himself caught up in the mysterious and murderous world of the opera. Four years ago, the Italian marquis Ludovico Malvezzi was murdered, and Orfeo, the young English tenor he had been training for a career on the glittering operatic stage, disappeared. As Kestral is irresistibly drawn into the baffling case, he encounters suspects at every turn: a runaway wife and her male soprano lover; a liberal nobleman at odds with Italy's Austrian overlords; a mocking Frenchman with perfect pitch; a beautiful, clever widow who haunts Kestrel's dreams; and the missing Orfeo, the penniless protg who just might be a political agent. And when the killer strikes again, Kestrel's quest for answers spirals into a crescendo of passion, danger, and music as he risks becoming a ruthless murderer's next victim.

Whom the Gods Love (Julian Kestrel Mystery)

Kate Ross

List Price: $6.99 By: Penguin (Non-Classics) Amazon Marketplace: 37 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Kate Ross' death put an end to beautifully written books 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 7 people found this review helpful.

I have read all of Kate Ross' books and was enthralled by each one! Go right now and order her four books. I can't put into words how much I enjoyed them. You will too. Julian Kestral, the protagonist, is one that you will not easily forget. I loved all of them.

Brilliant 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This is one of the best historical mysteries I've ever read. And that's saying something, because I am very picky about historical mysteries.

This book combines everything I love about a mystery: a tight, intriguing, well-written plot, suspense, fascinating characters, red herrings, and beautiful prose. Kate Ross's writing is stellar. Her characters speak in the formal, upper class manner you'd expect from this time period, but her writing doesn't get bogged down with too much flowery, false, hard to read prose. The dialogue is simply wonderful - it's stylish yet simple to read.

Julian Kestrel is one of the best protaganists I've ever come across. He's a "dandy" and a darling of high society, but he's also compassionate, just, intelligent, hard working, and has a wonderful wry sense of humor. He is the kind of character you cheer for.

I understand that Ms. Ross has passed away and we only get to enjoy four books from her. I will now eagerly purchase the remaining three and treasure them.

Editorial Review:

In 1825, while having a party, a successful young man with an uncertain reputation is murdered, and after the police fail to find the killer, the young man's father calls upon private detective Julian Kestrel to solve the mystery. Reprint. K. LJ.

A Broken Vessel (Julian Kestrel Mystery)

Kate Ross

List Price: $18.95 By: Viking Adult Amazon Marketplace: 21 new & used starting at $1.37

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Top-notch! 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

When Dr. MacGregor, a carry-over from Julian Kestrel's first adventure, CUT TO THE QUICK, asks the young London dandy, "Look here: are you going to fret yourself into a fever about this business, burn your fingers meddling in what's not your concern, and get yourself and everybody around you into a parcel of trouble?" what could the appropriate answer be, but 'Those were more or less my plans." The dryly-spoken words make one want to laugh out loud, regardless of one's surroundings or company.

These lines are found on page 79 of A BROKEN VESSEL, by which time Julian is well and truly caught, and not just by the mystery into which he has been thrust; the Cockney 'game gal' who opened the puzzle is the sister of Julian's valet, Dipper. Even though he hasn't seen his sister Sally in over two years, the relationship picks up with no hindrance. Not so that of Sally and Kestrel. Drawn to her in spite of himself, he withdraws, not wishing to upset Dipper. As he withdraws, Sally becomes ever more determined to discover whether her "Lightning', as she calls Kestrel, has any flesh and blood beneath his elegant exterior.

Sally always indulges herself in two seemingly harmless habits with any cove who engages her; she attaches a name, and she steals some small item, while the cove is otherwise occupied. During one memorable night, she consorts with "Bristles', "Blue-Eyes' and "Blinkers"; a handkerchief is the 'prize' she draws from each of them. Only later does she discover a letter that had been wrapped in one of the cloths. The problem is, which one? It is while she is recovering from the beating administered by Blinkers that she discovers both her brother and the letter. Dipper senses a need to involve his master, because the letter was obviously written by a rather distraught lady of rank, who is being kept against her will in an unnamed place. Who and where and why engage the attentions of this unlikely trio of detectives.

In an entirely logical progression of clues and identifications, Ms. Ross spins well her web, entangling us as certainly as Kestrel is entangled by Sally. Without modern criminology techniques available, Kestrel identifies the various players, including the anonymous lady, and the involved practices of the underworld which put her in a Reclamation Home for Fallen Women.

The pathway includes trips to the stews of London as well as a short jaunt to Wiltshire to return an eleven-year-old girl to her parents. The girl under the guise of being trained as a dressmaker's assistant, has instead been allowed to go to London as a potential child prostitute. Her path crosses that of Kestrel, who utilizes her coherent story to bring down one such purveyor of these goods.

During his absence from London, Sally becomes impatient, and decides to take things into her own hands, involving all three of the men from who she stole the handkerchiefs in a purported blackmail scheme. Kestrel and Dipper return, but not in time to save the life of a woman who has been haunting one of the three men, and who turns out to be the Scottish wife of Blue-Eyes. Bristles and 'Blinkers share another secret, one which neatly ties up all the loose ends in a satisfying trial before the magistrate, Sir Richard Birnie.

As before, the sights and sounds of 1824 London are brought to vivid life by the perfect usage of the language of the time. Kestrel, MacGregor, Dipper and Sally will surely be back. The next great mystery is "When, please?"

Editorial Review:

An anguished letter wrapped in a handkerchief puts dandyish detective Julian Kestrel and his valet's impish sister on a case of murder and rape that leads them through the highest and lowest places of 1820s London. 15,000 first printing. $10,000 ad/promo.