Christie Books

Interestingly, Hart provides a cast of characters -- names and descriptions -- at the beginning. From the very first the victim, Neil Bledsoe, proceeds to make himself thoroughly obnoxious. Leading characters are introduced, one at a time -- Victoria Shaw, Henny Brawley, Kathryn Honeycutt, John Border Stone... until we get to Annie Darling, who is the sleuth/protagonist. By this time the setting has been set, the battle lines drawn and the story is well underway. Hart has structured the story along the lines of Christie's work and she has provided well-rounded, distinctive characters to make the reader's experience an amusing and informative romp.

I love the references to Christie's books, her mentions of mysteries by other writers, Annie's ever-present watercolor competition in which her bookstore customers compete in recognizing paintings of famous mysteries, the last scene where all is revealed in classic Christie fashion . . .all these details combine to weave a contemporary tale into the traditional form and fascinate the reader.

If you're not a mystery fan you can learn a lot about the Dame of traditional mysteries from THE CHRISTIE CAPER and have great fun doing it.

I can't really add much to the positive reviews that already appear here, so permit me to take away a star from what would otherwise be a 5-star review and gripe on one point: the authors of this well-written and thought-provoking work give very little credit to the ground-breaking scholarship previously done by the late Dr. Ernest L. Martin in his book "Secrets of Golgotha."

"Rod of an Almond Tree" is much more accessible to general readers than Martin's weighty tome and makes some new revelations, but the authors' failure to give Martin full acknowledgement within the body of their text for his discovery years ago of the true site of the crucifixion (hidden in plain site within the scriptures themselves) is a grave oversight. Don't pass this book up, but if you want to explore this subject in greater depth then "Secrets of Golgotha" is a must.

I believe some have extremely over rated this book. Sure, it was good over all. Finally the plot lines come together and Jerki finds Telek and everyone else comes together. Yet, there were certain things that really bothered me about this novel that others have failed to mention. First of all, it took me a while at least to really get into it. I had to literally put the book down, read about eight other novels ( including the DS9 post-finale books, pick them up ) and then come back to it. After a few months away from the book, it appeared better. Just as Golden did in ' Seven of Nine' and the previous books of this series alone, the majority of the plot is given to Paris and Chakotay's alien friends. Total bore. FINALLY around mid way through, Golden realizes its a Voyager novel and Janeway and crew are given their moment to shine before the plot snaps back to the rather wasteful Kim and alien relationship and the Paris/Chakotay issue.

Another problem I had was that it appeared Golden simply started throwing things together near the end. She even slips up at one point when Voyager is faced with danger, Janeway tells Paris to take the ship back. Well duh, PARIS is not even on Voyager and clearly it was meant to be Tom Paris. The whole emotional part added to all the characters, including Seven of Nine, R'Mor, Jerki and every other character in the novel was just out of character. I'm sorry, I can't see Seven near tears over not saying good bye to a Romulan she worked with for around a week. Janeway goes wimp at the end, Kim has an emotional break down, its simply something that ruined the novel near the end. Another BORE factor was the near ten page summary of Dark Matter. I'm no Data or Spock or Janeway in that I know little about Dark Matter itself and a full report within a ruined ending was not that pleasing. In all, as Seven would say, its an ' efficient' book. The best part about it is the Entity HERSELF, how troubled she is following ' Fury.' I thought this novel took place during 5th season Voyager... yet Kes' involvement would sorta say it took place following Fury which would put it in season 6 I believe. Ack, buy Dark Passions, DS9's The Avatar, the New Earth series or Double Helix if you haven't hit them up yet. Gateways appears to be promising, yet I think Golden is set to write the Voyager novel so :: rolls eyes :: We'll pray for it.

Where "Cloak and Dagger" and "Ghost Dance" established the trilogy and furthered it along, "Shadow of Heaven" quickly takes shape in the beautiful "Trek" fashion of wrapping up the many strands that make up a great story! Christie Golden's skills as a writer, in setting up a very plausible premise, carrying an exceptional pace and imbedding a highly intriguing twist or two all shine through brilliantly in this trilogy, making this third novel one that is hard to put down until you've reached the last page.

One extremely minor note of caution in this third novel is that there are some fairly glaring mistakes in where people are but I would highly recommend dismissing those editorial misses as I did, all in favor of the overall excellence of this exemplary tale!

The cover art for this third and final novel in the Dark Matters trilogy is in keeping with the other two in that they're a cut above the rest of the novels published in the same time frame.

The Premise:

Where the first novels established the premise and furthered the story, Christie Golden does an exceptional job of wrapping up the many threads of this wonderful Trek tale where we finally become privy to the rogue Shepherds plot and the good Shepherds role; the exceptional character of the Romulan chairman of the Tal Shiar, Jekri Kaleh and the conclusion of her intriguing tale; the troubles that Chakotay and Paris go through in the Shadow universe and ultimately, the trials that Captain Janeway and her remaining crew aboard Voyager must go through to conclude this extraordinary chapter in their journey home...

Overall, I highly recommend this entire trilogy to any and all who are fans of great Star Trek fiction that more than capably makes up for the lack of these series airing on a weekly basis for our viewing enjoyment. Additionally, I'd highly recommend any other novels written by Christie Golden as she is an exceptional author whose work "must" be acknowledged as among the best in the world of Trek fiction! {ssintrepid}

What a wrap-up! All along you were hopeful that things would turn for the better... with the Voyager characters and the universe... the Romulans, the Shepards... even the deceitful rogue... as if I should doubt.

Christie Golden pulled it off in her unique way... I was riveted to the whole series, not only were they fast reading, but captivating till the end. And, yes, I too had a chuckle when Paris was not on the bridge... ahh just a little brain flatulence nothing more... something a good proof reader should have caught.

Nonetheless, a good story told well. To get the whole story reading all three volumes is a must. The Romulans were excellently portrayed, true to the essence of their character... even some redemption.

I've heard several comments from various Star Trek fans who feel there were flaws with technobabble. And I also noticed the slip up where someone speaks to Paris on the bridge, when he had been missing since early on in the story. But to be completely honest, I don't see the big deal. When I saw Tom being addressed in that scene, I simply smiled to myself and went on. It didn't distract me from the story. Why? Because the story isn't really ABOUT the technobabble. It's about the hearts of these characters that I have come to love and adore so much.

Christie Golden has a way of capturing the essence of the Voyager characters that seems to elude most authors. She gives them depth and a realism that many Voyager novels lack. I recommend this book to anyone who loves Voyager not only for the space battles and futuristic technology, but for the heart and the character interaction.

Shadow of Heaven is a wonderful conclusion to a brilliant story. If you love Janeway's wry humor mixed with her deep devotion to her crew, or B'Elanna's Klingon temper toned down by her newly found sense of belonging and acceptance, and all the things that make each character unique ... if you love action, humor, and emotion all rolled up neatly into one story - this trilogy is for you.

Kudos to Christie Golden! Once again, she wrote a book that touched my heart, and took my mind off of reality for a short while. What a gift. Thank you, Christie!

I liked Christie Golden's take on Souragne and Anton Misroi so much that when it came time for to rework the Ravenloft game setting for 'Domains of Dread' that I made sure the land was reshaped to be closer to the novel than it had been in previous presentation.

If you have an interest in dark fantasy or the gothic horror genre, track down a copy of this book. You won't regret it.

Most of the stories were written very early in her career and have a girlishly romantic flavor with almost no mystery. The one Hercule Poirot tale "The Mystery of the Spanish Chest" is a fair puzzle, but she enlarged on the theme more successfully in the full-length "Baghdad Chest." The will-o'-the wisp, Mr. Harley Quin, one of my least favorite Christie characters, appears in the title piece with a very elderly Mr. Satterhwaite.

To savor Dame Agatha's really fine abilities as a short story writer, may I suggest the excellent "The Thirteen Problems." Give this one a pass.
-sweetmolly-Amazon Reviewer

The centerpiece of the collection, of course, is "Three Blind Mice." This rather long story--more of a novella than a short--caused quite a stir among mystery readers when it debuted, and it would go on to considerably greater fame when Christie adapted it to the stage as THE MOUSETRAP, which has the distinction of being the single longest running play in theatrical history. But whatever its merits on the stage, and in spite of one of Christie's more startling plot turns, the style of the piece is decidedly melodramatic, artificial, and now and then down right clunky. This is a collection more likely to appeal to determined Christie fans, particularly those who are interested in tracing out Christie's unique ability to reconstruct the plots of her minor short stories into considerably more successful full-length works. While the stories here are certainly readable (and considerably more interesting than the short fiction of such Christie contemporaries as Dorothy Sayers, whose style was less at home in short story format), this is not a collection I would greatly recommend to new fans. Such readers would do better to select THE TUESDAY CLUB MURDERS.

--GFT (Amazon Reviewer)--