Death of a Musketeer

I only know the Musketeers from the movies - no good reason why I never read the book, since I love books set in other times. I found this book thoroughly enjoyable and particularly enjoyed the "back story" aspects of it. I will be buying the second novel. Now the quibble. Throughout the book, Ms D'Almeida uses English is such a manner that it fits with the time period, but occasionally, she uses a colloquial and/or modern English word or phrase that jars. This happened several times, the one I remember best is describing Planchett as having "zits." She could have used the word pimples. As I said, a small quibble, but for me it was like zooming down a nice, smooth highway and hitting a pothole.

I was impressed with how authentic the seventeenth century mindset of the characters seemed. And four very different personalities, at that. From the brooding Athos, the womanizing Aramis, tongue tied Porthos, and the young but clever D'Artagnan we see four views of the world. And what a world! The descriptions of Paris and the people of Paris are delightful. The writer pulls the reader so far into the world that one feels that one could easily get lost if one made a wrong turn down a street. This is not the real seventeenth century, but rather Dumas' Seventeenth, full of the coincidences, resemblances, class prejudice, chivalry, and casual bloodshed in the name of honor that decorated his literary world. A fun read, with a good mixture of characters and action.

Sarah D'Almeida has written a mystery for Dumas fans everywhere. But if you aren't a Dumas fan, take heart - the mystery itself is so absorbing that you will also enjoy it a lot. Dumas is very hard to pastiche - not only does the author have to deal with what people remember of the books, but the author must also work with what people remember from the movies. Sarah D'Almeida succeeds admirably. Athos is complex, D'Artagnan is intelligent and ambitious, Aramis truly is a ladies' man intended for the church, and Porthos is not stupid, but more inclined towards deeds than words. The interaction between the characters is very much from Dumas, but takes on a new dimension as they struggle to solve a mystery that could leave Richelieu ascendent over both the Queen and King of France. This mystery does have some romantic scenes in it, but there isn't anything that I would object to high-school students reading. Some of the history in this book is clearly Dumas-influenced, but some genuine seventeenth-century history shines through. The daily life and empty purses of the historical musketeers is clearly evident, and D'Almeida has done an outstanding job of integrating historical fact with Dumas without letting the story suffer. And the story! Although anyone who has read Dumas is familiar with some elements of the story, they've been reinterpreted in a breathtaking fashion. The mystery was not obvious, and galloped to its conclusion. I tested this with a family member who is not a Dumas fan. She, too, was gasping in the last few chapter. Musketeers, a mystery, and an exciting ride. Wow! I'm eagerly awaiting the next books in this series.

LOVED it! A fun, swashbuckling adventure for modern readers. Ms D'Almeida does a fantastic job in this (the first of a series of adventures) tale. The fights are pure classics! With the twist of INTELLIGENT musketeers (something Dumas failed to do!), musketeers out to solve a murder! Great story! I can see why it was selected to be offered as a Mystery Book Club edition. Many kudos to the authoress for an excellent book. I look forward to the sequels!

In 1625 in a Paris tavern, Athos duels with a child D'Artagnan while the other two Musketeers, Portos and Aramis watch when their rivals, five of the Cardinal's Guards arrive. Their leader Jussac wants to arrest the Three Musketeers for breaking the Cardinal's ban on public dueling, but having faced humiliation earlier, the trio agrees to die here. They tell D'Artagnan to leave, but he refuses claiming in his heart he is the fourth musketeer. They defeat their opponents and go off to celebrate only to see another musketeer who runs from them. They give chase, but when they catch up to him in an alley, they find him dead. However, when they look closer at the corpse, they realize the murdered victim is a she who looks extremely like Anne, the Queen of France. They debate what to do because if the deceased was killed because she is the Queen's double, then they need to uncover who committed treason; if she died because she was in a bad place, then the gendarme should handle the case. Deciding one for all and all for one and agreeing D'Artagnan earned his musketeer status, they begin to investigate who killed the queen's double? This is a fun swashbuckling historical mystery starring the four musketeers of Dumas fame. The story line is filled with action as the heroes investigate the homicide while adhering to their original personalities. Though the number of suspects remains a bit low, musketeers and seventeenth century whodunit fans will enjoy this changing of the guard from thriller to mystery while retaining the heroic got your back essence of one for all and all for one brotherhood. Harriet Klausner