The Guilty Abroad (A Mark Twain Mystery)

Description

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Customer Reviews

A lovely little book
This latest in the "Mark Twain Mysteries" series may well be the best. Like the others, the mystery itself is secondary to the charm of the characters and the travelogue, but those are positive things and a recommendation.

This book is a must-read for fans of the real Mark Twain and for historical-mystery fans. Heck has done his homework.

1999-11-10 (Eastern US) | Helpful Votes: 8 | Rating: 5

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The Mysterious Strangler (Mark Twain Mystery)

Description

A trip to sunny Florence provides some much needed rest and relaxation for Mark Twain's assistant, Wentworth Cabot, until a woman he fancies disappears-along with a Raphael masterpiece.

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Customer Reviews

believable but leisurely
There is more than a little controversy currently about the prevalence of historical characters as detectives. The question seems to be: if the person in question didn't exhibit any such preference during their lifetime, why have them do it now? But I say, why not?

Most of these historical detectives are writers, or other such creative folks. And if you stop and think about it, what qualities especially contribute to the success of a detective of any era, but most especially before the age of technology?

Well, I think it would be perception, acuity, intelligence and a willingness to allow the suspension of disbelief for at least a short period of time. And what are the characteristics most needed by authors? (Other than a thick skin, that is.) Why--perception, acuity, intelligence and a willingness to allow the suspension of disbelief, along with some skill at writing and using the language. I suspect a curiosity bump would come in handy, too! Makes perfect sense to me.

This book is a case in point. Samuel Clemens, whose main fame is as the famous author, Mark Twain, takes his family and his secretary/assistant/man-of-all-work, Wentworth Cabot, to Florence, Italy, for the winter. Clemens is, however, treated rather coolly by the citizens of Florence, their feathers still ruffled over what he'd written about them after his previous visit.

Wentworth uses his spare time to indulge his passion for great art, with which Florence abounds. He also stumbles over a cafe that plays host to other visiting Americans: chess-players, as well as artists of all kinds, from all countries, and a few anarchists mixed in. Not to mention a few anti-anarchists. It's a marvelous mix!

The period detail seems perfectly wonderful as Wentworth describes the leisurely lifestyles enjoyed by his employer and his new-found friends. Murder will, of course, present itself, and it takes a combined effort by Clemens and Cabot, along with several unusual policemen to get to the heart of the matter. They do, in a very satisfactory manner. This is not a fast-paced book, but one that may be easily read--and enjoyed--in shorter doses, if desired.

2001-08-10 | kellytwo (cleveland hts, ohio) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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An Americana Mystery with a twist
Wentworth Cabot is a member of the Boston Brahmins with a social standing that allows easy entrance to the social elite and the highest political powers. If he desired, he could become a lawyer in the family firm, gain some experience, and run for office. Instead, Wentworth opts to become the personal secretary to Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens as a means of seeing the world.

The Clemens family travels to Florence, Italy, along with Wentworth and he makes friends with people his own age at a café in the heart of the city. He takes a liking to Virginia Fleetwood whose brother-in-law want to hire him to run an art gallery back in Boston for him. She wants Wentworth to accept the position, but he prefers staying with the Clemens brood and rejects the offer. The next day, the police arrive to question Wentworth about the disappearance of Virginia. Also missing is a valuable Raphael masterpiece owned by her brother-in-law. The police find the murdered body of Virginia in a graveyard and next to her strangled corpse is the frame from the Raphael picture. Wentworth is now the chief suspect, leaving it to him and his employer to prove otherwise.

Anyone wanting to see a different perspective on Mark Twain will want to read THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGLER and the previous works in this series. Readers observe the man behind the literary legend because Peter Heck has the ability to provide a lucid look through the media image. The well-drawn mystery provides an interesting amateur sleuth investigation led by Twain into the who-done-it realm. As with the previous novels, this tale retains a freshness that will please historical mystery readers and Mark Twain fans.

Harriet Klausner

2000-10-10 | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 5

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Tom's Lawyer (Mark Twain Mystery)

Description

On a lecture tour, Mark Twain is reunited with Tom Blankenship, his boyhood pal and the model for Huck Finn. When Tom is charged with murder, it's up to Twain to be as good a lawyer as he is a friend.

"Heck's Twain proves to be...a clever detective." (Publishers Weekly)

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Customer Reviews

Huck Finn Grows Up As A Lawman Out West.
This Mark Twain mystery features Tom Blankenship, the son of the town drunk in Hannibal, Missouri,who'd been the model for Huck Finn, after he is grown up and had become a justice of the peace in Montana. I once knew a real justice of the peace, Thurston Miller, in Washington, D.C., but he was not a real judge per se.

In Blankenship's jurisdiction, there had been a 'self-defense murder' by Zachary and C.D. who were sprung from the jail by their Helena lawyer, Leon Dirksen's plea to the townfolk that these two boys were really just good but had got in with bad company. In a letter to Twain, Tom wrote that this highfaluting lawyer was just trying to gain fame so he could run for Governor, and that Judge Joe McCoy wasn't pleased with the result of his inciting the townsfolk to let them out without a trial. Tom had been charged with the crime and had no alibi.

In 1895, Mark Twain was in Missoula, Montana, and encountered Theodore Roosevelt, a Harvard man living out west for awhile before returning to New York to get involved in politics. He'd told them that "a vigorous life's the only kind worth living. Chasing down malefactors at home and abroad...that's a bully occupation for a rascal like you." Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show traveled the country and the world with Annie Oakley and Frank Butler and a plethora of freaks.

Peter Heck is writing a series of Mark Twain mysteries from a different perspective. Some are THE PRINCE AND THE PROSECUTOR, A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN CRIMINAL COURT, and DEATH ON THE MISSISSIPPI. He seems to be having fun doing these little paperbacks on a historical figure who was bigger-than-life.

2005-10-28 | Betty Burks (Knoxville, TN) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 3

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3 Cheers for the Bicycle Corps! Oh yeah, and for Twain.
"Tom's Lawyer" is the sixth in Heck's series featuring Samuel Clemens. All the books are at least mildly enjoyable and sometimes are a lot of fun. The basic premise of the series is that Clemens has hired recent Yale graduate William Wentworth Cabot as his traveling secretary. Inevitably, the pair meet with murder, and Clemens (known to everyone in the world as "Mark Twain" with the exception of Wentworth who apparently has never read any of Twain's books) emerges triumphant as the detective. In this installment, Clemens, Wentworth, Mrs. Clemens and one of the Clemens' daughters are in Montana, taking a week's rest from the first leg of their project round-the-world tour. Also in town is Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Show, featuring Annie Oakley. Another visitor to town is Tom Blankenship, the boyhood friend of Clemens' that was the inspiration for the character of Huckleberry Finn. Theodore Roosevelt shows up, too, to help investigate when Blankenship is accused of murder. Also on hand is the Buffalo Soldier Bicycle Corps, and I was immensely pleased to see them featured (and incredibly smug about having read about the Corps the previous year in Sorensen's "Iron Riders"). The mystery itself is okay, although Wentworth and Clemens never get around to questioning witnesses under their noses until Clemens' daughter gets into trouble trying to take over the investigation. Wentworth (is he ever going to read one of Twain's books?) is the brawn of the pair, although he has acquired at least some street smarts since his first outing. It's the character of Twain himself that is, as always, the strongest and most enjoyable aspect of this book and the series. By no means a great book, "Tom's Lawyer" is definitely readable and re-readable.

2002-03-01 (St. Louis, MO United States) | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 4

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Connecticut Yankee in Criminal Court (Mark Twain Mystery)

Description

A beautiful city with ugly traditions of corruption and racism. A black man set to hang for a murder he didn't commit. A world-famous author--and detective--who isn't about to let it happen. This is the sequel to Heck's acclaimed debut, Death on the Mississippi. A selection of the Mystery Guild.

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Customer Reviews

An interesting spin on the murder mystery concept.
A fun little mystery, this novel is narrated by Mark Twain's secretary, Wentworth. While in New Orleans, Twain & Wentworth end up being asked to help solve a mystery, which is basically the meat of the book. The ending felt a tad rushed; the final "aha!" moment seemed to come out of nowhere to me, but all in all, this was an amusing mystery, and the use of Mark Twain as protagonist was rather clever.

2004-08-18 | lyssrose (Austin, TX United States) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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A Connecticut Yankee in Criminal Court: A Mark Twain Mystery
Mr. Heck has a very good grip on the world of Mark Twain and New Orleans in this book. His discriptions of the wonderful foods on this City made me hungry the entire book. Mr. Heck weaves a very good mystery. He also understands the culture of the time and explains it very well. The author captures Mark Twain's humor in his characters, many times I laughed out loud. Mr. Heck's books are worth the read.

2000-02-24 (Martinsburg, WV USA) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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Mildly Diverting Twain Mystery
"A Connecticut Yankee in Criminal Court", as probably everyone knows by now, is the sophomore effort by writer Peter Heck. It follows his earlier successful Mark Twain mystery "Death on the Mississippi". This book showed a lot of promise from page one, with the introduction of George Washington Cable as a featured character. Heck did not spend a lot of time explaining who Cable was, a decision which pleased me. I knew immediately that Heck had done some homework on New Orleans history and I sat back, eagerly anticipating an interesting and sly mystery full of bold, well-written characters and inside jokes on New Orleans historical figures. What I got was something less than that. The story, a vague and meandering tail involving the poisoning death of a prominent white Orleanian and the black cook falsely accused of his murder, was indeed an entertaining one, but offered nothing new to the now-bursting ranks of the New Orleans mystery subgenre. Writers plotting mysteries set in the Crescent City now offer us one of three choices; murder against a Mardi Gras backdrop, old family intrigue or corrupt politicians. Sometimes, if they are especially clever, they will mix and match these story elements, but for the most part, they are simply not that clever. For me, the mysteries that work best are the ones that use New Orleans as a setting, but accept the fact that Orleanians have to make groceries, pick up the laundry, clean out their rain gutters and fight traffic like the rest of us. Some writers present a New Orleans whose residents do nothing but fling beads from Mardi Gras floats, run for office and go to fais do dos with their old Cajun families who have so many secrets they are fairly flowing from the closets. But I digress. As a favor to Cable, crotchety old Sam Clemens and his secretary, Wentworth Cabot, fresh off a murder investigation on a Mississippi riverboat, decides to find evidence to free the black cook. Along the way he meets Buddy Bolden, considered the father of modern jazz (although no recordings of his work exist), Marcus Keyes, Tom Anderson and "the widow Paris", whom you will recognize if you know anything about New Orleans history. If not, I'll keep the secret. It obviously vexed author Heck to no end that voodooienne Marie Laveau the second died in 1887 and was not available historically for this 1890's romp through the old quarter, because he felt the need to recreate her in the guise of Eulalie Echo, whom the characters spend the rest of the book self-consciously calling "`Lalie". Get it? `Lalie Echo = Marie Laveau. Jeez. The mystery seems to be going along nicely until... The mystery is solved Perry Mason-style, when `Lalie Echo calls all of the principle characters together at a voodoo ceremony and tells them that Damballah, the snake-spirit, knows one of them is guilty and will haunt their dreams unless the guilty party confesses. Then the guilty party confesses. Sheesh. Overall this book was fun, but not very challenging. A good read for a rainy day or a long bus trip, but don't make a point of rushing out to get it. Patrick Burnett King of the Soapbox Derby

1998-02-22 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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The Prince and the Prosecuter (Mark Twain Mystery)

Description

Twain and his assistant Wentworth Cabot are on a boat cruise to Europe. The company of Twain's friend Rudyard Kipling seems to guarantee smooth sailing. But soon a wealthy young man has disappeared from the ship. Now a murder needs solving, and Twain is on the case...

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Customer Reviews

An Excellent Mystery Novel
This book was very good. It had a good level of suspense, and made it hard to tell who did it, because everyone seemed to hate the victim(except his parents)! Mark Twain wishes in vain that this trip will not leave him with a murder to solve. Told from the view of his traveling secretary, Wentworth Cabot, Twain's trip to England to see his family seems far from monotonous even before the murder. With a good amount of humor, an interesting plot, and boatloads of details, this mystery will keep you guessing to the last page.

2000-07-25 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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Fun to read historical mystery
Working as the travel secretary to the great Mark Twain has been a wonderful, but strange experience for Wentworth Cabot. As he prepares for his third journey, Wentworth is more than just excited. Who would not be when one is being paid to travel first class aboard a London bound steamship. Wentworth does pray that this trip, unlike its two predecessors (see A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN CRIMINAL COURT and DEATH ON THE MISSISSIPPI), has no accompanying murder to investigate.

Also on the sea journey is Rudyard Kipling and his spouse and the wealthy Babson family. When Robert Babson disappears, his father screams murder and has proof to defend his charges. Wentworth and the two great writers begin to investigate the disappearance because they strongly feel that an injustice is about to occur.

THE PRINCE AND THE PROSECUTOR is a great mystery tale that brings to life Mark Twain and Rudyard Kipling in one dazzling tale (what more can one ask?). The story line is intriguing and fun and the historical characters and the allusions to the original tale that this story is based on make for a great reading experience. Fans of historical fiction need to read all three "Twain mysteries" because they are intelligent and enjoyable books.

Harriet Klausner

1997-11-04 | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 4

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No Phule Like an Old Phule (Phule's Company)

Product Details

• Mould: New
• Notes: BUY WITH Faith, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and benefit to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
• ISBN13: 9780441011520

Description

Phule gets on the wrong side of celebrity canine Barky the Environmental Dog by hosting a group of big game hunters who think they can bag a dinosaur on Zenobia. Needless to say, dinosaurs are not a native species. But cold, hard facts never stopped a Phule. And neither will Barky's cold, wet nose.

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Customer Reviews

Well I liked it
While this book has nothing spectarular to offer it is true to the serise. All the old charecters are still here and they have not suffered or been changed into something different.

The new member of the company Thumper was a welcome additon. The only part I didn't like was Barky the enviromental dog, that part was a totally useless plotline.

2006-08-23 (SC) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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In Name Only
I have to agree with many of the previous reviewers as the characters of this book had only the names from the characters of the previous books. The plots are disjointed, I found myself skipping and skimming this book instead of reading after time and time of how there was no relation to the characters I fell in love with in book 1 and 2, and had been dying ever since. I confess buying this book to show support for the series and the hope that one day Mr. Aspin comes back to writing it himself instead of just having his name on the book.

New readers may enjoy this, though it does jump around a bit.

2006-07-03 | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 1

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Fun SF Humor
Sometimes it seems like there's more humorous fantasy stories out there (Discworld, etc.) than humorous SF stories (Hitchhiker's Guide, etc.). And that may still be true. However, from Robert Asprin we do have some good stuff for the SF side, namely the "Phule's Company" series. "No Phule" is the fifth book in this series, and the first one I've read.

Willard Phule is known as Captain Jester in the Space Legion. He's the captain of Omega company, and by being wonderful and competent has arrayed the brass against him. So the SF equivalent of the Environmental Protection Agency (here known by the acronym AEIOU) has just dropped by for an inspection. He is also a billionaire, with extensive holdings in various enterprises, including casinos. His father has just dropped by one of his casinos and decided to show the management team just how much better they should be running things, if they were as smart as he.

Overall this is a fun, easy read with some incredible groaner puns. It mocks some of the finer points of the military SF tradition as well as governmental and bureaucratic targets. A few times it had me laugh out loud. I will certainly find some of the earlier books in the series, and save them up for when I'm in a bad mood. They should certainly help.

2006-03-20 (Long Beach, CA USA) | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 4

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waste of money
Three word reveiw: Waste of Money

Longer review:
This book is so poorly written, poorly edited, and poorly thought out, I am suprised Asprin is not suing to get his name removed from the cover.

There are six concurrent plotlines: The environmental agency is coming after Omega Company, a group of big game hunters need to be dealt with, there is a new recruit from a new non-human race, the Rev wants to convert the zenobians to the Church of the King but runs into an existing mythos about L'Viz, Phule sr is trying to discredit the business model of his son's casino, and the mob is trying to kidnap Phule again.

Exactly zero of these six plotlines are well developed.

The book gave up on plot and story for puns and rapid shifts between shallow story threads. The hunters have names like Euston O'Better, his wife Dallas and Austen Tay'Shun. The new recruit is a humanoid rabbit named Thumper. The environmental agency is the AEIOU, and their senior being is a genetically engineered dog named Barky.

Also, none of the characters you knew in the other books are here. The names are the same, but their personalities are almost unrecognizable. Phule is a bumbling fool who is more concerned about a hoped for promotion to major than anything else. Beeker is arrogant, pedantic and sarcastic. He looks down on Phule as an uneducated lout who would never accomplish much if Beeker wasn't there to take care of him. Phule's father is an arrogant, egocentric fool who can't understand the simple arithmatic that explains why casino's are profitable. He beleives the casino is giving away money despite all evidence that it is amazingly profitable (even after looking at all the sets of books). He insists he can prove it and will 'beat the system', and will beat it on slot machines. (The authors feel it vital to point out that slot machines are the game with the lowest payout rates and least player control. While this is true in real life, they feel the need to point it out every single time anyone mentions slot machines.) The list goes on and on.

There are also simple spelling and grammar errors throughout the book, as well as skipped words. For example, at one point Phule's first name is spelled Wilfred (his name is Willard, and is spelled correctly through the rest of the book). The editor over at Ace needs to be soundly chewed out, if not outright fired. This is simple lazyness and incompetance.

IF you have every other Asprin book, AND you can't abide the idea of a gap in your collection, try to find it in a library book sale or garage sale. Paying more than 50 cents for this travesty is a waste of money. I own a copy, but I wish I had read the reveiws before buying it.

2005-05-02 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 1

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Only because the rating won't let you choose no stars!
If you enjoyed the 1st 2 books you will *not* enjoy this one. I can't believe that Asprin (assuming it was not actually written by Asprin) would allow his name to be put on this piece of rot. The writer does not seem to have read the original books, destroyed the flavour, mangled the characters and cannot even keep the facts correct. I could not even read a third of it, especially after Willard's (not Wilfred) father's character was completely destroyed. From a man who trusted his son's business sense enough to shell out capital for something completely on spec to an egotistic moron of a businessman who could not grasp the rational of odds and casinos trying to beat the slot machines instead of trying a game that at least required some skill/knowledge from the player. This is the last Phule book I will read unless another writer or Asprin takes over the writing.

2004-12-08 (AB, Canada) | Helpful Votes: 15 | Rating: 1

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