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Stakerly #1
Guilty Knowledge
Clare Curzon turns aside temporarily from Inspector Mike Yeadings and crime in today's Thames Valley to bring us to Edwardian England. In this tale of bygone evil and present-day deceit, Curzon demonstrates that she is as adept as delivering a page-turner in a different time period as she is in spinning a tale of crime in present-day Wales.
This is a story about two titled women, Lady Isabelle Delmayne and Eugenie, Countess Crowthrowne, who share a dark past. Implicated in two vicious murders seven years earlier, they both have histories of naked ambition, duplicity, moral blackmail and betrayal. Inescapably locked together in their knowledge of one another's secrets, they struggle desperately for the upper hand, each aware that a betrayal of the other's past could bring them her down along with her enemy.
The tension climaxes when a summer storm breaks the terrible heatwave of 1908 and the body of a foreigner, bludgeoned to death, is found in the river near the home they unfortunately share. The discovery and the ensuing police inquiry opens the floodgates of their joint and separate pasts, with all its dangerous ghosts and new evidence of a similar death that took place when they were together on a tour of Europe.
In the face of these shocking revelations, police and family members contend over whether the women can be held accountable at this date, or whether, as the family wishes, the whole sorry picture can be conveniently swept under the carpet. It is in this infighting, as well as the crimes that come to light, that Curzon holds the reader's attention until the very last page.
This is a story about two titled women, Lady Isabelle Delmayne and Eugenie, Countess Crowthrowne, who share a dark past. Implicated in two vicious murders seven years earlier, they both have histories of naked ambition, duplicity, moral blackmail and betrayal. Inescapably locked together in their knowledge of one another's secrets, they struggle desperately for the upper hand, each aware that a betrayal of the other's past could bring them her down along with her enemy.
The tension climaxes when a summer storm breaks the terrible heatwave of 1908 and the body of a foreigner, bludgeoned to death, is found in the river near the home they unfortunately share. The discovery and the ensuing police inquiry opens the floodgates of their joint and separate pasts, with all its dangerous ghosts and new evidence of a similar death that took place when they were together on a tour of Europe.
In the face of these shocking revelations, police and family members contend over whether the women can be held accountable at this date, or whether, as the family wishes, the whole sorry picture can be conveniently swept under the carpet. It is in this infighting, as well as the crimes that come to light, that Curzon holds the reader's attention until the very last page.
- GenresMystery
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1999
About the author
Clare Curzon
47 books7 followersEileen-Marie Duell Buchanan (1922-2010) was a British author who specialized in writing literature belonging to the mystery, suspense, or detective genre. She wrote under a number of pseudonyms, including Marie Buchanan, Marie Duell, Clare Curzon and Rhona Petrie. She studied French and psychology at King's College in London.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 2, 2007
GUILTY KNOWLEDGE (Hist. Mystery-Europe-Edwardian) – G+
Curzon, Clare – Standalone
Thomas Dunne Books, 2000, US Hardcover – ISBN: 031226`691
First Sentence: We had planned a quiet evening, a small family gathering for dinner after a day of lazing in punts with lunch al fresco in the shade of old willows.
*** The relationship between Eugenie, Viscountess Crowthorne, and her sister-in-law, Lady Isabelle Delmayne began seven years ago when Isabelle employed Eugenie as her companion. Eugenie believes this a trip to help Isabelle, a widow at 20. Instead, it becomes an exercise in duplicity, emotional blackmail and murder inexorably binding the two women together.
*** It is difficult to read this book with a 21st Century sensibility. Once I let go of that, it became a fascinating story. The author really gives a sense of the social structure and limitations of woman for whom social position is everything. Curzon is so good I found myself become incredibly annoyed with Eugenie, but appreciating how the character of Isabelle is so clever and diabolical I understood why things happened as they did. This was a very interesting, psychological, period suspense.
Curzon, Clare – Standalone
Thomas Dunne Books, 2000, US Hardcover – ISBN: 031226`691
First Sentence: We had planned a quiet evening, a small family gathering for dinner after a day of lazing in punts with lunch al fresco in the shade of old willows.
*** The relationship between Eugenie, Viscountess Crowthorne, and her sister-in-law, Lady Isabelle Delmayne began seven years ago when Isabelle employed Eugenie as her companion. Eugenie believes this a trip to help Isabelle, a widow at 20. Instead, it becomes an exercise in duplicity, emotional blackmail and murder inexorably binding the two women together.
*** It is difficult to read this book with a 21st Century sensibility. Once I let go of that, it became a fascinating story. The author really gives a sense of the social structure and limitations of woman for whom social position is everything. Curzon is so good I found myself become incredibly annoyed with Eugenie, but appreciating how the character of Isabelle is so clever and diabolical I understood why things happened as they did. This was a very interesting, psychological, period suspense.
August 1, 2008
I enjoy Curzon's Thames Valley police procedurals, but I couldn't read past the first few chapters of this book. It was much too melodramatic for my tastes.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews