A Famine of Horses: A Sir Robert Carey Mystery

I wrote this introduction for the Poisoned Pen Press edition of the third Carey novel. *** P.F. Chisholm writes You-Are-THERE! books. A You-Are-THERE! book is a book that can make you feel the nap of Sir Robert Carey's black velvet doublet beneath your fingertips. A You-Are-THERE! book can make you smell the sewer in the streets of Elizabethan Carlisle. A You-Are-THERE! book can make you taste the ale at Bessie Storey's alehouse outside the Captain's Gate at Berwick garrison, and a You-Are-THERE! book can make you hear the arquebuses firing at Netherby tower. A You-Are-THERE! book can make you feel like you're ready to pack up and move THERE, if only you had a time machine. THERE, in the case of P.F. Chisholm, is the nebulous and ever-changing border between Scotland and England in 1592, the thirty-fourth year of the reign of Good Queen Bess, five years after the Spanish Armada, fifty-one years after Henry VIII beheaded his last queen. Reivers with a high disregard for the allegiance or for that matter, the nationality of their victims roved freely back and forth across this border during this time, pillaging, plundering, assaulting and killing as they went. Into this scene of mayhem and murder gallops Sir Robert Carey, the central figure of the mystery novels by P.F. Chisholm, including A Famine of Horses, A Season of Knives, A Surfeit of Guns and A Plague of Angels, brought to America (at last!) in paperback by Barbara Peters and the Poisoned Pen Press. Sir Robert is the Deputy Warden of the West March, and his duty is to enforce the peace on the Border. Since everyone on the English side is first cousin once removed to everyone on the Scottish side, it is frequently difficult to tell his men which way to shoot. The first in the series, A Plague of Angels, begins with Sir Robert's first day on the job and the murder of Sweetmilk Geordie Graham. In A Season of Knives Sir Robert is framed and tried for the murder of paymaster Jemmy Atkinson. On night patrol in A Surfeit of Guns, he uncovers a plot to smuggle arms across the Border. In the fourth book (and why hasn't there been a fifth since, pray tell?), A Plague of Angels, Chisholm removes Sir Robert to London, where he encounters a bit player named Will Shakespeare involved in a plot that gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "bad actor." Sir Robert is as delightful a character as any who ever thrust and parried his way into the pages of a work of fiction, in this century or out of it. He is handsome, intelligent, charming, capable, as quick with a laugh as he is with a sword. He puts the buckle into swash. He puts the court into courtier; in fact, his men's nickname for him is the Courtier. The ensemble surrounding him is equally engaging. There is Sergeant Henry Dodd, Sir Robert's second-in-command, who does "his best to look honest but thick." There is Lord Scrope, Sir Robert's brother-in law and feckless superior, who sits "hunched like a heron in his carved chair."

The setting is the Northern border of England. Our hero is Robert Carey, the son of Lord Hundson, Queen Elizabeth's Lord Chamberlain and her first cousin through their mothers', Mary and Ann Boleyn. Hundson is also, however, in this novel, historically he may not have been, the bastard son of Henry VIII. So Robert Carey, new deputy warden, more like sheriff really, of one the two main border keeps, is the grandson of the late great Tudor king himself. Unfortunately, Carey's noble bloodlines and his courtier experience is not going to matter a jot to the rough hewn Scottish and English clans around the border. Their main interests are feuding, cattle and horse "reiving," an old word for rustling, and occasionally killing each other. Carey's brother-in-law, Lord Scrope has just become Warden of the March after the death of his father. Unfortunately for everyone Lord Scrope is not exactly brilliant, even if his wife, Carey's sister, Lady Philadelphia, is plenty smart. Meanwhile, the dead body of Sweetmilk Graham, favorite son of one of the leading clan chiefs, Jock of Peartree, has just been discovered on an old battlefield. Jock thinks he knows who did it and wants to pursue a vendetta against Carey's new local man, Seargent Dodd, while Carey isn't so sure, and would like to introduce the concept of Justice to the lawless frontier. Not that anyone on the lawless frontier cares. Carey is willing to go to great lengths and place himself in the middle of a mysterious anti-royal plot to prove his mettle, solve the mystery of Sweetmilk's murder, bring the murderer to Justice, and incidentally find out why all the horses south of the border have suddenly disappeared. But his love, Lady Elizabeth Widdrington, is the real reason he's turned up in these parts. And she's very concerned about his predilection for adventure, a little bit less concerned about her husband. It's an entertaining story, with fun yet believable characters, and even the hero makes human sometimes stupid and serious mistakes. The dialect reads beautifully, though I was occasionally confused as to where exactly the different "Marches" or border forts were.

This is entertainment at its best. This book features authentic history and period detail cloaked in a rollicking story about wonderful characters. It is funny, touching and full of adventure. You'll love the hero (based on a real person), and the rest of the cast of characters are equally entertaining.The writing throughout is excellent, with sparkling dialogue and just enough period descritpion that you'll swear you are actually there in Carlisle in 1592.It is billed as a mystery, which is a little of a misnomer. There is a dead body and a search for the killer, but that is just one element among many. This book is hard to characterize; maybe "period adventure" fits it best. But even at its most exciting, it remains light-hearted.Highly recommended.

"Famine of Horses" is the first title in the Sir Robert Carey Mystery series, and what a promising series it is! I was pleased to hear Poisoned Pen Press will be reprinting the other three titles in the series. The year is 1592, the Elizabethan period. Sir Robert Carey, a courtier, along with his servant, Barnabus Cooke has left the Queens court. Sir Robert is now the Deputy Warden of an English Garrison run by his brother-in-law, Warden Lord Scrope. As the new Deputy Warden, Robert has his hands full trying to clean up a dishonest league of men, getting the garrison in order, solving the murder a young lad, putting together his brother-in-law's father's funeral, and finding out why there is such a shortage of horses - hence the title Famine of Horses. Our hero is a strong honest man; it was hard watching him take such a beating both physically from others and emotionally from the woman he loves. I found his servant to be funny, although a little uppity. Philly is a typical sister and I admire Robert for his loyalty to her. I'm still out on Philly's husband. The story lines pulled together quite well. I found the historical aspects of the mystery to be factual and fascinating. The speech and atmosphere seemed so clear; I could easily visualize the surroundings and the characters. It's a wonderful historical mystery.Brenda @ MyShelf.Com

Although a little thin in the mystery department, A Famine of Horses presents us with an interesting, entertaining character, authentic-seeming details of Elizabethan life, and lots of action. Sir Robert Carey arrives in the borderlands of England/Scotland to take on the job of Assistant Warden and has to cope with a jealous rival, a funeral procession lacking horses, a dead body with dangerous, revengeful relatives, and the arrival of his lady love--married, of course. How Sir Robert solves both mysteries, of the disappearing horses and the body, makes a fun read that you want to gallop through to the end! I have never read any of this series before and am looking forward to more.