The Musketeer's Seamstress

The "locked-room" mystery has been a staple of the genre for many years, and the motif of a detective (usually amateur) trying to prove a friend or relative innocent of a crime, against all evidence, is probably even hoarier. In this second installment of the Musketeers Mysteries, D'Almeida combines the two. Aramis, the dandified would-be-priest, is with his long-time mistress Violette (introduced in Death of a Musketeer (A Musketeer's Mystery)), behind the locked door of her room in the royal palace--or, at least, he has just stepped out to use the necessity--when she's murdered in her bed. Understandably bewildered, Aramis flees through a third-storey window and finds his friends, who refuse to believe he could murder a woman and resolve to prove it. Harried by the Cardinal's guards (and helped by one of them, a Gascon named Fasset who finds his fellows' behavior dishonorable), threatened not only by Richelieu but by the Queen, who demands payment for her friend's murder, they work their way through the tangle of 17th-Century French court intrigue and elementary evidentiary discovery. In this volume, which takes place about a month after the events of the previous one, D'Almeida concentrates particularly on Aramis (logically) and Porthos: we learn something of Aramis's childhood and youth, visit his ancestral home and meet his formidable (and formidably religious) mother, and get a lot of insight into Porthos's character. Indeed, it's Porthos (often thought slow of wit by those who don't know him well) who comes up with the brainstorm that ultimately leads the Musketeers to the killer. When Aramis learns that his father, whom he never really knew, was killed in a duel by Armand Richelieu (not then Cardinal), he and his friends become convinced that Richelieu is somehow connected to the murder. (Who else would have unquestioned access to every corner of the palace? Who else hates them so much as to be forever setting his guards on them? Who else has such a grudge against the Queen that he might want to hurt her by depriving her of a lifelong friend? But, on the other hand, if Richelieu wanted Violette, or the Musketeers, removed, why not simply hale them off to the Bastille or force them into exile?) As in her first novel, D'Almeida offers a good sense of place and a lively, well-drawn cast. The main flaws in the book are a couple of really glaring 20th-century colloquialisms and an ongoing grammatical slip-up that the proofreaders at Berkley certainly know enough to catch. There's also the fact that in the previous volume she flatly gave Aramis's age as 22, but here she implies that he's 24--only a month later. As a mystery and a historical, however, the story works very well, and the identity and motive of the killer is both subtly telegraphed ahead of time (like many modern witnesses, the Musketeers--except Porthos--"have eyes and see not") and something of a surprise in the end. Lovers of intrigue, romance, and swashbuckling

D'Almeida is not Dumas, and she takes some liberties with the material so we have a mystery trying to live within another's world. It is quite successful however. We have a body from the very beginning, though some of the liberties that are taken, this body is Aramis' lover, and Aramis is immediately implicated in her death. The Cardinal seemingly wanting to arrest him, but later, with Cardinal's Guard as per usual, it seem wanting to eradicate him and our three other heroes. We get a glimpse more of who our four musketeers are as D'Almeida adds to the canon by telling us details as to Athos and his best friend, the backgrounds of the servants, the inner workings of Monsieur Treville's Hotel. All these would be welcome but these background additions seem to serve this one story, rather than the entire canon. Where will we be as the series further developes? As to the body, we have very lite red herrings, but the ending, with part of the puzzle decipherable as we have some small clues given our way, is satisfactory. The last twist seems a stretch, but in all it is well worth a read for the period and for the flavor

Once again Sarah D'Almeida successfully transports her readers to the Dumas' inspired France with this second volume of her Musketeers Mysteries. For those who are fans of the original Musketeers books by Dumas, D'Almeida doesn't disappoint. For those who are familiar with the Three Musketeers only from the movies, she opens a vast new world to them: a world filled with believable characters, lushly described scenery and great fight scenes. "Musketeers Seamstress" instantly thrusts the reader into action and intrigue. Is the Cardinal resorting to newer, more despicable means to rid himself of the Musketeers? Or is there something else going on, someone else pulling the strings? These are the questions you'll be asking yourself as you read and the solution to the mystery isn't disappointing. This is a book well worth getting, reading and then reading again.