Death on the Lizard (Robin Paige Victorian Mysteries, No. 12)

Of all the books in the series I liked this one the least, but it was still good.

I have been enjoying the turn-of-the-century series written by the husband and wife team of Bill and Susan Albert. I am actually sorry to see the end of this series. It was always a nice blend of fictional and historical characters, and the mysteries were always fun to figure out. Also, the time that the series is set in is when there were so many technological changes (the motor car, wireless transmitting, photography, etc) It's always informative to see how these things started and the author team always did their research. In this book we meet Marconi and are in at the ground floor of wireless transmissions. We are also in the very beginnings that set up for World War I. English people were just beginning to question what was actually going on in Germany with the Kaiser at the helm. This book also gives us a wonderful picture of the beautiful Cornwall scenery. I highly recommend this series for those who love historical mysteries. Start at Book 1 and read and enjoy right up to Book 12.

i really injoyed robin paige victorian mystery death on the lizard.i have really gotten into her characters because i have read alot of her books.i think i really know the characters in her books.charles and lady sheridan.after a while you try to put yourself in their place back in the victorian age. phyllis childres

Kate & Charles Sheridan are back in their 12th novel, set in Cornwall in 1903. The well-known person featured in this story is Edward Marconi, who is working on his new technology, the telegraph. Charles is asked to investigate some strange happenings with Marconi's company, while Kate (separately) was asked to help a friend in the same area who is grieving for her daughter's recent death. While Kate is ferreting out the mysterious goings-on with the child's death, Charles is knee-deep in bodies and clues. The two are kept busy, but manage to solve the cases but not without some danger to themselves. Not my favorite of their (Bill & Susan Wittig Albert) stories, but another good read.

Two years earlier, though the competition is fierce, the Marconi Wireless Telegraphy Company successfully sent the first wireless message across the Atlantic from their Bass Point Station in Lizard Village, Cornwall. However, by 1903 much of the initial euphoria has worn off as sabotage slows down progress. More frightening, a fisherman finds the battered body of Jack Gordon who the officials declared fell off the nearby cliff to his accidental death. When a second accident leaves another employee dead, the company and the locals conjecture whether a rival is warning off the workforce; no one believes an accident occurred as two tragedies so close together seem too coincidental especially since more damaging disruption including the stealing of a key valuable piece of equipment has occurred at the wireless station. While Lady Kate Sheridan visits her grieving friend Lady Jenna Loveday, whose daughter Harriet recently drowned, local authorities ask her husband Charles, a successful amateur sleuth, to investigate the two "accidental" deaths that they now believe are homicides. He soon connects Harriet's drowning, the deaths of the employees of the wireless company to the industrial espionage and sabotage, but that knowledge places Charles and Kate in danger from a person willing to kill to take control of the growing international communications business. DEATH ON THE LIZARD is a fantastic historical mystery, which in spite of a wonderful who-done-it investigation, the early twentieth century communication technology takes front and center as readers cannot help but to compare it with cell phones and internet instant chat lines, etc. The story line is action-packed, but also provides a deep historical look at Cornwall and at the beginnings of the technology revolution. The key cast members, not just the sleuthing marital team, are fully developed as Team Paige is at their best with this insightful look at the late Victorian Age. Harriet Klausner