Death on the Holy Mountain

January 28, 2008
Dickinson's witty, highly literate seventh Lord Francis Powerscourt novel (after 2007's Death on the Nevskii Prospekt
) provides a lively portrait of turn-of-the-last-century Ireland, where the English investigator and his wife, Lady Lucy, track down missing ancestral paintings of Anglo-Irish overlords, rescue kidnapped noblewomen from Irish nationalists and unmask murderers defiling the sacred Croagh Patrick pilgrimage. Large dollops of Ireland's long bloody struggle for independence counterpoint snatches of the country's famed song and poetry as Powerscourt thrashes out his inner dilemma against the labor pains of modern nationhood, torn between his aristocratic English heritage and the Ireland of his youth that he still loves deeply. Meanwhile, Ireland's religious and political leaders juggle fanaticism against practicality and Celtic voodoo against political expediency. Though Lady Lucy's role here is subordinated to Dickinson's evident relish in historical settings, architecture, art and poetry, this novel provides splendid entertainment and a wealth of insights into still-smoldering resentments and conflicts.

March 1, 2008
Lord Francis Powerscourts seventh case brings him to Ireland in 1905. Someone is stealing family portraits and a few Old Masters from the estates of the Protestant gentry. The owners have received no ransom notes, and the art is not up for sale anywhere. The perpetrators up the ante when some of the wives of the gentry disappear. Lord Powerscourts family is originally from Ireland, so the landlords trust him, but they are still not forthcoming with information. The Catholic locals are not at all welcoming. As the investigation proceeds and Powerscourt begins to close in on the culprits, he finds his life in danger. Dickinson, an honors graduate in classics at Cambridge, has crafted a story that is rich in historical detail. His full-bodied characters give readers a genuine feel for the unrest in Ireland at the beginning of the twentieth century. Lovers of British historical mysteries will enjoy Powerscourts latest adventure.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)