Peters never disappoints me. Absorbing, good atmosphere. ( )

Readers are introduced to Jacqueline Kirby, midwestern librarian and woman of mystery,as she assists a small group of Fellows in Rome when an outlier in their student group is killed.

Kirby is presented as a mildly eccentric, competent amateur detective in her late thirties or early forties – an unusual age for a heroine in the 1970s. The story is entertaining, but its greatest value might be as an example of vintage 70s popular fiction. The mystery itself is uninspired.

Narrator Grace Conlon, who narrates each book in the four-volume series, hasn’t quite hit her stride yet in this book; every time the British character speaks she has a different accent. She gets better in future titles, and is the perfect voice of Jacqueline Kirby. ( )

Readers are introduced to Jacqueline Kirby, midwestern librarian and woman of mystery,as she assists a small group of Fellows in Rome when an outlier in their student group is killed.

Kirby is presented as a mildly eccentric, competent amateur detective in her late thirties or early forties – an unusual age for a heroine in the 1970s. The story is entertaining, but its greatest value might be as an example of vintage 70s popular fiction. The mystery itself is uninspired.

Narrator Grace Conlon, who narrates each book in the four-volume series, hasn’t quite hit her stride yet in this book; every time the British character speaks she has a different accent. She gets better in future titles, and is the perfect voice of Jacqueline Kirby. ( )

Wanted to try another of Elizabeth Peters' series. This one introduces Jacqueline Kirby, a quirky librarian who gets mixed up with a ragtag group of students in Rome. Thought her character was pretty interesting, but the violent aspect of the mystery was too icky. Elizabeth Peters got better over time. It's easy to tell this is one of her early books. ( )

I thought this would be much lighter and enjoyable than it was in reality.

This is the first Peters I've ever read, though I've owned some of her Amelia Peabody books for ages (maybe I should have grabbed one of those instead). From other reviews, this book seems out of the norm with the rest of her stuff.

The one saving grace was this book was mercifully short and quick to read. Every character was unlikabe and disagreeable, even the narrator Jean. And the ultimate whodunit resolution was deeply unsatisfying since it was based solely on a piece of information that the reader was never given. ( )