An Unpardonable Crime

It is Regency England in 1819. Our narrator, Thomas Shield, is a schoolmaster who becomes tutor to a pampered English banker's son and an American named Edgar Allan Poe. Soon a stranger accosts the boys, the banker appears to have been killed, a mysterious American appears, and Shield must save himself while protecting those he cares for. Although the references to Edgar Allan Poe are gratuitous, the atmospheric mystery is lots of fun. Simon Vance does a lovely job of making the complex sentences and bygone words of the period writing style easy to listen to. Both his English and his American characters sound right, which is an impressive feat. And the large cast, from English boys to East End women to a middle-aged black Canadian servant, are believable. Entirely involving. A.C.S. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

November 10, 2003
A starred or boxed review indicates a book of outstanding quality. A review with a blue-tinted title indicates a book of unusual commercial interest that hasn't received a starred or boxed review.

AN UNPARDONABLE CRIME
Andrew Taylor
. Theia
, $24.95 (496p) ISBN 1-4013-0102-9

The prolific Taylor (the Roth trilogy, etc.) successfully channels Wilkie Collins in his latest effort, crafting a fluid, atmospheric period thriller. Thomas Shield is a young schoolmaster in Stoke Newington, just outside of London, whose charges include 10-year-old Edgar Allan Poe (as a child, the poet spent five years in England) and a pampered banker's son. The school's routine is disrupted when Shield runs across an eccentric character who displays an unhealthy interest in the two boys. His intervention brings Shield into closer contact with the banker's family and two desirable women. Uncomfortably occupying an uncertain position between master and servant, Shield juggles his instincts for self-preservation with his passions, a task made much harder when the severely mutilated corpse of the banker is discovered shortly after his business collapses. While the murder appears to give Shield a clear path to court the attractive widow, he is unable to ignore clues suggesting that the body is actually someone else's. The enigmatic nature of the protagonist—a principled but often passive figure—distances him from the reader. Although Taylor does an excellent job in portraying early 19th-century London and writes in a clear, consistent period style, the numerous foreboding references suggest a dramatic psychological twist or a surprising revelation concerning the killer's identity that does not materialize. The use of Poe as a character borders on gratuitous, despite the author's incorporation of biographical details; the youth is peripheral to the plot, and a fictional character could have been substituted with little discernible effect. While this effort is not as successful as Charles Palliser's superb, intricately plotted 19th-century thriller The
Quincunx
, it is a pleasurable read that will engross many.

The author was awarded the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger an unprecedented two times. His second was for this historical murder mystery set in rural England. A poor tutor, Thomas Shield, tells of his unwelcome involvement in a set of murders in 1819, in which a young American boy named Edgar Allan Poe figures prominently. The adroitly abridged whodunit retains the flavor of its Dickensian characters, convincing yet accessible Georgian diction, and intriguing entangled narrative. All these virtues are beautifully orchestrated by the incomparable Sir Derek Jacobi, who contributes his masterful technique, facility with characterizations, and gently mellifluous cadences. He wraps the whole in an atmosphere that conjures images of period etchings with their deep chiaroscuro. Well-chosen musical accents nicely punctuate the reading and help move the action forward. Altogether a tasteful, even artistic, rendering of popular fiction. Y.R. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award 2005 Audie Award Finalist (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine