A Suspicion of Silver (Sir Robert Carey Series)

I've just finished "A Suspicion of Silver" and it's the Best Robert Carey novel yet! It takes up where "A Clash of Spheres" leaves off. In it you'll find:
Skullduggery
Mopery
Dopery
Germans
Illiciit Sex (No, not with whom you might think, but remember, this is Carey)
16th century High Tech
Gold
Silver
Copper
Lead
Mining
Miners
German Beer
Mayhem
Murder (times several!)

All your favorite characters are here.

Except Sergeant Dodd. Henry is dead and in Hell. No, really!

P.F. Chisholm has written her best dialogue and narrative yet. I highly recommend it! My wife does, too. Now if I can only get her to write a review too...

This book follows hard on the heels of "A Clash of Spheres" and "A Chorus of Innocents," so may be a awkward starting point for readers new to the series. I suggest you want to start at the beginning with "A Famine of Horses." There's a lot of personal history here, and Chisholm does a masterful job showing how different are the various groups' points of view.

In this novel, Sir Robert Carey has a dual mission: to find the mastermind behind the attempted assassination of King James, and to investigate the copper mining and refining works at Keswick, a royal monopoly held by a group of German miners for the past 20-odd years. He's hampered by the mysterious disappearance of his sergeant, Henry Dodd, who has been missing for days during a heavy snowstorm. His valet is gone, too--is he going to have to find and train another one?

As I've come to expect, this series weaves fact and fiction seamlessly to make a compelling narrative that gives the reader a vivid sense of place and time. To have a man raised on the ever-raiding Borders find the peaceful lands near Keswick unbelievable shows how circumscribed an ordinary man's life was in that time.

I enjoy this series very much, and I hope you will give it a try.

Wow, there is a lot going on in this book! The author prepares us right from the beginning, with entries in an extensive glossary, but you’ll learn more about mining in general, the mines of Keswick, and Anabaptists then perhaps you ever wanted to know. And the problem with that is it gets in the way of the continuation of the story of Sir Robert Carey and Lady Elizabeth Widdrington. And that’s a bad thing, which is why I don’t think this book is as compelling a story as others in the series.

The plot, in a nutshell: Sir Robert’s after a would-be assassin of King James, who, having failed, has disappeared. Has he fled to the continent, or gone to hide among his German relatives? Speaking of disappearing, so has Sergeant Henry Dodd, who always manages to cause all kinds of trouble, blood feuds being what they are in this part of the kingdom. And since Dodd is presumed dead, in this complex world of inheritance, and land, and who stays and who goes from that land, his widow has plans for Sir Robert. And then there’s Lady Elizabeth, and the trials and tribulations there. And in between – did I mention all the fighting and feuding that goes on, on the border between England and Scotland, that takes place in this book and the others in the series? This is book #9 – a reader should definitely not start here.

Entirely too much time is spent in “A Suspicion of Silver” -- that prologue, for instance -- on characters that although they are very important to the plot, did not contribute to my enjoyment of the book. Now, yes, I understand that one family member in particular plays a very important part in the books and therefore in “the Courtier’s” life, but in my opinion too many pages are taken up with the Hochstetter family and their story and backstory. Obviously, it was a way to bring them into the plot; much is explained in a very informative author’s note at the book’s ending, and there is also an extensive Cast of Characters. But still.

Luckily, we do have a couple of scenes of Sir Robert and Lady Elizabeth. And then there’s that finish. Hmmm…. I went back and forth with my "stars" for this, but as the research and scholarship is exemplary, as is the quality of the writing, it deserves a high rating.

Thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for an advance copy of the book, in exchange for this review.

I really enjoy this series, but this one had some scene changes and character names that were hard to follow and keep track of. Still, it is quite a storyline!

Excellent episode in the Carey saga. As always, the author has done her homework with the historical background and the resulting adventure is both fun and informative. And there is another adventure hinted at the end. I always await Sir Robert’s latest tale and know this author won’t disappoint.

I do love Sir Robert Carey, although this one was a bit dark for me to read.. Earlier volumes were a bit less so or so it seems to me..
The ending which I liked suggests a rescue of Elizabeth Widdrington by Carey, hoping the marriage is in the future. What about Janet Dodd? Oh My!!
I did enjoy "the Duke of York: so have something to look forward to? The author also has good historical data but, as she says uses broad author's license.