Watery Grave (Sir John Fielding) - Softcover

Alexander, Bruce

Softcover

ISBN 10: 042516036X ISBN 13: 9780425160367

Publisher: Berkley, 1997

Synopsis

In this third adventure, Sir John Fielding returns in his most baffling case yet. His stepson returns from high seas with tales of storms and a captain overboard. Was it an accident, or was it murder? Fielding is asked to investigate, but discovers considerably more than he'd bargained for. Filled with the authentic sights and sounds of eighteenth-century London, and with a supremely colorful and varied cast of characters, Watery Grave is in every way a delight to read.

"Fielding's detection . . . is first-rate. And the period ambiance is both original and persuasive." (The Boston Globe)

About this title

About the Author:

Bruce Alexander is the pseudonym for a well-known author of fiction and nonfiction. The books in his series include Blind Justice; Murder in Grub Street (named by the New York Times Book Review as a notable book in 1995); Watery Grave; Person or Persons Unknown (named by the Chicago Tribune as one of the best novels of 1997); Jack, Knave and Fool; and Death of a Colonial.

From Kirkus Reviews:

Months after the storm at sea in which Captain Josiah Markham perished, H.M.S. Adventure returns to England. Aboard her--among 150 rowdy seamen--are Tom Durham, stepson of Bow Street Court Magistrate Sir John Fielding, and acting captain Lt. James Hartsell, bursting with an accusation quite recently lodged: That he saw Lt. William Landon push Capt. Markham overboard. Drawn into the case by his interest in Tom, a former criminal remitted two years ago to the Adventure, and by the entreaties of his old friend Vice-Admiral Sir Robert Redmond, Landon's uncle, for his expertise in examining witnesses, blind Sir John (Murder in Grub Street, 1995, etc.) finds himself outside his jurisdiction and his authority. The harder he works to vindicate dispirited Landon, the more Sir Robert seems to set his face against the accused. The search for witnesses who can refute Hartsell's story takes Jeremy Proctor, Sir John's boy Friday, from ship to shore, through eye-opening conversations with lascars and bawds and Black Jack Bilbo's surprisingly delicate lecture on the facts of life. But the story runs out of steam and surprises long before the end, leaving only those two old lions Sir Robert and Sir John to settle their differences. Period buffs may savor Alexander's 1769 take on A Few Good Men. Even fans of Sir John, however, will probably judge his third outing his weakest. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Berkley
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 042516036X
• ISBN 13: 9780425160367
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 320