Death of a Pilgrim

December 15, 2008
Set in France in 1906, Dickinson's eighth Lord Powerscourt investigation (after 2008's Death on the Holy Mountain
) visits Agatha Christie terrain with limited success. When Englishman John Delaney dies on a family pilgrimage organized by his unscrupulous American cousin, magnate Michael Delaney (who once bought all the copies of a book that labeled him a robber baron), Powerscourt concludes that John was murdered, but the aristocrat's deductions concerning the person responsible don't come in time to prevent further deaths. Indeed, the killer continues his mysterious vendetta against the Delaney family, racking up an impressive body count. The mechanical unmasking of the culprit and the stock ending aren't up to the author's usual high standard. Hopefully, Dickinson, who has a real gift for evoking period and creating well-rounded characters, will come up with a stronger story line next time.

January 1, 2009
A latter-day religious pilgrimage becomes a trail of death.

New York, 1905. Industrialist Michael Delaney 's prayers to St. James have miraculously cured his son of leukemia. Hearing of a long defunct pilgrimage route from France to Spain, Delaney is determined to go on a pilgrimage to expiate his many sins. He hires a young Yale Law graduate, Alex Bentley, to arrange the trip and gather as many Delaney relatives as possible to go along. The relatives, American, Irish and English, are joined by Delaney 's priest, Father Kennedy, and Bentley himself, whose knowledge of spoken French proves woefully unequal to his tasks, especially when one of the group falls or is pushed off a cliff at Le Puy-en-Velay. Determined to continue and certain that money can solve any problem, Delaney seeks a private detective to smooth their path. When Lord Francis Powerscourt and his wife Lady Lucy 's knowledge of French and their negotiating skills save the day, the group moves on, only to find that the first death was not the last. As the pilgrims enjoy the sights, the cuisine and the historical background, an opportunistic killer strikes again and again with impunity. Sure that the motive lies in Delaney 's past misdeeds, Powerscourt seeks help with background checks while the murders continue under heavy police protection.

Powerscourt 's eighth (Death on the Holy Mountain, 2008, etc.) is a Ten Little Indians on wheels that alternates descriptions of charming people and places with devices to keep readers in suspense.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

February 1, 2009
During a pilgrimage to Spain's Santiago de Compostela in 1905, one of the participants falls from a mountain. Lord Powerscourt ("Death of a Chancellor") investigates. Sure to appeal to fans of Agatha Christie and Barbara Cleverly, Dickinson's excellent puzzle mystery involves a limited number of suspects and a complex tale with a well-hidden motive.

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2009
Dickinsons eighth installment in his Lord Powerscourt series is another cosmopolitan turn-of-the-century whodunit. Overjoyed and amazed that his prayers to spare his gravely ill son have been answered, unscrupulous America businessman Michael Delaney seeks absolution by organizing an ambitious religious pilgrimage across France and Spain. After numerous members of the extensive Delaney clan rendezvous in France in 1905, their plans are temporarily thwarted by the suspicious death of one of the pilgrims. As they stubbornly continue on their journey, a series of deadly accidents plagues the group, and it is up to private investigator Lord Francis Powerscourt, a former army intelligence officer, to unmask the maniac intent on decimating the entire Delaney clan. As usual, the knowledgeable Dickinson fortifies the suspenseful narrative with culturally and historically significant detail.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2009
A latter-day religious pilgrimage becomes a trail of death.

New York, 1905. Industrialist Michael Delaney's prayers to St. James have miraculously cured his son of leukemia. Hearing of a long defunct pilgrimage route from France to Spain, Delaney is determined to go on a pilgrimage to expiate his many sins. He hires a young Yale Law graduate, Alex Bentley, to arrange the trip and gather as many Delaney relatives as possible to go along. The relatives, American, Irish and English, are joined by Delaney's priest, Father Kennedy, and Bentley himself, whose knowledge of spoken French proves woefully unequal to his tasks, especially when one of the group falls or is pushed off a cliff at Le Puy-en-Velay. Determined to continue and certain that money can solve any problem, Delaney seeks a private detective to smooth their path. When Lord Francis Powerscourt and his wife Lady Lucy's knowledge of French and their negotiating skills save the day, the group moves on, only to find that the first death was not the last. As the pilgrims enjoy the sights, the cuisine and the historical background, an opportunistic killer strikes again and again with impunity. Sure that the motive lies in Delaney's past misdeeds, Powerscourt seeks help with background checks while the murders continue under heavy police protection.

Powerscourt's eighth (Death on the Holy Mountain, 2008, etc.) is a Ten Little Indians on wheels that alternates descriptions of charming people and places with devices to keep readers in suspense.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)