Black Gold

June 3, 2002
If not quite up to the high standard set by O'Brien's first historical, Mute Witness
(2001),
this sequel offers fully realized characters, a complex plot and a surprise ending sure to satisfy. In the winter of 1787, Col. Paul de Saint-Martin, who played a leading role in Mute Witness, travels to England to track down an Irish rogue, Captain Maurice Fitzroy, who's been accused of raping a young woman of aristocratic birth while visiting Paris. A side benefit of the trip is the opportunity to see Anne Cartier, a teacher of the deaf, whom Paul befriended in the earlier book. Anne is employed as a tutor to the young son of Sir Harry Rogers, a self-made merchant and slave-trader who resides near Bath. Paul and Sir Harry strike up a friendship during a training session of Sir Harry's prize-fighter slave, and Paul soon becomes the slaver's houseguest at Combe Park. Among the ill-assorted group are Sir Harry and his wife, Lady Margaret, Captain Fitzroy, and Anne and her charge, who bears a striking resemblance to the captain. Also at Bath is the infamous Jack Roach, who is blackmailing several of the city's inhabitants, perhaps even Lady Margaret herself. O'Brien has a knack for portraying strong male characters, such as Paul, Sir Harry and Burton, the Bow Street Runner investigating charges against Roach. Anne, alas, has a lot less to do than she did in Mute Witness. The narrative flows smoothly, and O'Brien has neatly caught the tenor of the time, when being fashionable was of more importance than acting morally. (June 17)FYI:
Mute Witness was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Novel.

May 1, 2002
The cast of " Mute Witness "(2000), who made such an auspicious debut in O'Brien's first novel, returns in a story equally as strong. The action moves this time from eighteenth-century Paris to Bath, England, where Anne Cartier, teacher of the deaf, is ensconced at a stately home, Combe Park, as a tutor to young Charles Rogers. Coincidentally, her dear friend, Colonel Paul de Saint-Martin, is on his way to Combe Park. He's on a mission to find the dastardly Captain Fitzroy, who raped a young relative. Once at Combe Park, Cartier and Saint-Martin find things are not as they seem. There is the death of Anne's predecessor to be resolved, and the mystery surrounding Charlie's parentage. Is Sir Harry, owner of Combe Park, really Charlie's father? Or is it Fitzroy, whom Charlie resembles mightily. O'Brien provides a whole package for mystery lovers: a brave heroine and hero; several mysteries to solve; a socially conscious subplot (involving an African whom Sir Harry is training to be a boxer); and an evocation of a place and time that adds depth and precision to the rest of the tale. This is a historical mystery to get lost in, satisfying at every level.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)