Julian Kestrel Mystery
3 total works
At a mist-shrouded villa on Lake Como, an Italian nobleman is grooming a young English tenor for a career on the glittering operatic stage. But the enigmatic young singer and his fiery mentor constantly clash. Before their sojourn is over, one will die by violence, and the other will disappear.
Kestrel is irresistibly drawn into this baffling case, and soon caught between the shadowy Carbonari - secret rebels against the Austrians - and the equally ruthless Austrian-sponsored police. And at the heart of the mystery is the captivating English tenor known only as 'Orfeo'...
Alexander Falkland hasn't an enemy in the world. Young, talented, charming, he shines in every field he enters: law, architecture, the investment market. But one night his luck runs out with a vengeance. In the midst of one of his famous parties, he is found in his study with his head smashed, a blood-stained poker beside him. No wonder the inscription on his gravestone reads: whom the gods love die young. When the Bow Street runners fail to solve the crime, Alexander's distraught father turns to Julian Kestrel, elegant dandy and intrepid amateur sleuth. Soon Kestrel is up to his ears in suspects. But the greatest enigma is Alexander himself. Who was he really? Social reformer or butterfly, devoted husband or rake? In this, his third murder case, Julian must peel off one mask after another, till at last he discovers an Alexander no one knew - except, perhaps, the killer.