ParaNormalRomance.org

"Great Edwardian murder investigation"

Six years ago back in '99, Brunswick, Georgia Sheriff John Le Brun and importer Geoffrey Moore met when the law enforcement official solved the triple murder case of THE JEKYLL ISLAND CLUB. The now retired John visits his friend in England. Geoffrey escorts John to the elite SCEPTRED ISLE CLUB where the broker brags to all the members present about his guest's exploits including saving the life of then President McKinley and even more prestigious that of J.P. Morgan.

However, John's vacation turns nasty when someone using a gun murders four card players inside a locked room with no weapon, which seems to indicate murder-suicide. Based on Geoffrey's boasting of John's sleuthing skills, the club Manager William Roundsville hires Le Brun to assist Scotland Yard's Chief Inspector Tibbles during the investigation not so much to solve the homicides, but to keep any scandal from going public. Though the inspector does not want another cop working the case, club member Sir Arthur Conan Doyle appreciates the chance to play Watson alongside Le Brun's Holmes.

Using the locked-door mystery as the background for this Edwardian murder investigation, Brent Monahan provides readers with a strong who-done-it in which the story line pays homage to Holmes though John is clearly his own man. The investigation is fun to watch, as the lead triangle is reminiscent of Mr. Doyle's Holmes' novels. Clearly the Baker Street crowd will cherish THE SCEPTRED ISLE CLUB, but so will early twentieth century historical mystery fans.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted May 12, 2002

In 1905, John Le Brun makes his first excursion to England to visit import broker Geoffrey Moore. Le Brun and Moore became friends six years earlier while Le Brun was Sheriff of Brunswick, Georgia and enmeshed in a perplexing murder case at the very exclusive Jekyl Island Club. Now retired, the self-taught Le Brun is fulfilling a long-standing dream of measuring himself against the greatest minds in the greatest city of the greatest empire of that era.

Upon his arrival, Moore introduces Le Brun to the social world of the 'men's club' - hundreds of which exist in and about London, where men of similar backgrounds and often great power meet. Chief among Le Brun's new acquaintances is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author and inventor of the great fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes. While visiting the Sceptred Isle Club, where the ex-sheriff is scheduled to give a lecture, Le Brun and Doyle hear a series of muffled gunshots. A tandem investigation reveals that several prominent men have been murdered inside the gambling room, where the inner door was locked and the heavily-bolted outer door was inexplicably unlocked. There are no survivors, no suspects, and no signs of either the weapon used in the crime or the thousands of pounds being gambled.

Le Brun is retained by the club to solve the murders and preserve its reputation. Moving as a stranger in this Edwardian world of elegance and privilege, John Le Brun must unravel a Byzantine crime whose purpose has wide- reaching implications for the entire British Empire.