A Study in Revenge
A Novel
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
In 1893, a trail of ashen footprints leads Deputy Archie Lean to the body of a murdered thief. The man’s exposed flesh has been horribly burned and occult symbols mark the nearby walls. Most troubling of all is what Lean witnessed two days earlier: this same man being lowered into his grave without a burn mark on him. Once again, the Portland, Maine, police deputy must turn to the brilliant criminalist Perceval Grey for help.
Grey, a half-Abenaki Indian detective, faces problems of his own after agreeing to an elderly tycoon’s death-bed plea to find his long-lost granddaughter. The dying man’s family is less interested in the missing heiress than with the recent theft of an obscure heirloom carved with curious symbols. As the family’s shadowy history is revealed, the three mysteries intersect to draw Lean and Grey into a maze of murder, deceit, and revenge. Each deadly new clue points toward an even greater puzzle—one that will pit Grey against a devious murderer in a race to unlock an ancient and mysterious power.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Conan Doyle fans will appreciate the Holmes/Watson-like relationship of Perceval Grey, who's half Abenaki Indian, and deputy Archie Lean of the Portland, Maine, police in Shields's excellent sequel to 2012's The Truth of All Things. Early one morning in the summer of 1893, burglar Frankie "the Foot" Cosgrove meets a man near the city reservoir to deliver an unusually marked stone he has stolen at the behest of an unknown client. Cosgrove expects to be paid $500, but instead the man shoots him dead. In a macabre twist, Cosgrove's burned corpse turns up after its burial in an abandoned house adorned with drawings of Satan and the message "Hell Awaits." Grey, who turns his impressive intellect to the bizarre case, makes a nifty deduction based on Lean's comments about Cosgrove's living quarters. Meanwhile, a wealthy dying man hires Grey to look for his long-lost granddaughter, though the dying man's family is more interested in a recently stolen heirloom. The humanity of the well-developed leads enhances the smooth-flowing plot.