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A Rendezvous with Death (Victorian Murder Mystery Series) Misc. Supplies – October 1, 2003

by Sally Spencer (Author), Alan Rustage (Author)

4.3 2,054 ratings

Book 1 of 10: The Blackstone Detective series

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Description Rivalling Anne Perry, a new Victorian series by the author of the much-loved Chief Inspector Woodend books, Sally Spencer As the fog clears, a brutally murdered corpse turns up, caught in the ropes of a barge in the Thames. Ordinarily, this would be a run-of-the-mill incident, but in this particular case, Inspector Blackstone quickly realizes he is well and truly out of his depth. The clothes may belong to a poor man, but the face does not; and to Blackstone, the aristocracy are in themselves a mystery whose authority far outweighs his own. Blackstone's horizons are to be widened still further as the investigation leads him to Little Russia, an emigre area where he finds still more people who aren't used to taking the British bobby remotely seriously.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Spencer was born and brought up in Cheshier. She has been a teacher in England and Iran.

Fans of Alan Rustage's Woodend books will find in this brand new series the same ingenious plotting and entertaining turn of phrase. But this time the sharp eye for period detail turns to Victorian London - and a hero who is undeniably a little more of a daredevil.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Severn House (October 1, 2003)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Misc. Supplies ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0727859323
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0727859327
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.08 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.52 x 0.95 x 8.94 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #9,869,140 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #35,532 in Traditional Detective Mysteries (Books)
- #45,400 in War Fiction (Books)
- #113,617 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction

Customer Reviews:
4.3 2,054 ratings

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Sally Spencer
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Sally Spencer is a pen name, first adopted when the author (actually called Alan Rustage) was writing sagas and it was almost obligatory that a woman's name appeared on the cover (other authors like Emma Blair and Mary Jane Staples are also men). However, Alan uses James Garcia Woods as his pen name for the mysteries set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War.
Before becoming a full-time writer, he was a teacher. In 1978-79 he was working in Iran and witnessed the fall of the Shah. He got used to having rifles - and, one occasion, a rocket launcher - pointed at him by both soldiers and revolutionaries, but he was never entirely comfortable with it.
He lived in Madrid for over twenty years, and still considers it the most interesting and exciting city he has ever visited, but for the last few years he has opted for a quieter life in the seaside town of Calpe, on the Costa Blanca.
His first series of books were historical sagas set in Cheshire (where he grew up) and London. They were very popular with his English readers, but his American readers find the dialect something of a strain.
He has written twenty books featuring DCI Woodend (a character based partly on a furniture dealer he used to play dominoes with) and thirteen (so far!) about Woodend's protegé Monika Paniatowski. His DI Blackstone books are set in Victorian/Edwardian London, New York and Russia, and the DI Ruiz books have as their backdrop the Spanish Civil War.
Alan is a competitive games player who likes bridge and pub quizzes. It is only by enforcing iron discipline that he doesn't play video games all the time.
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Alan Rustage
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4.3 out of 5

2,054 global ratings

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Tony Parsons

Scotland Yard thriller

Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2021

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London, England (Thames River). Aldermans Stairs. The small older woman lifted her skirt & turned her bum around to show him that she was wearing no drawers.
A pair of hands pinned his (24, costermonger) arms behind his back, & his throat had been slit.
Battle Bridge Stairs. Inspector Sam Blackstone (48) had arrived from Scotland Yard & was greeted by Sergeant Roberts (Thames PD) & Constable Watts (Thames PD).

Emily Montcliffe (daughter, fiancé) was being interviewed by Inspector Blackstone.
Southwark Coroner’s Court. Lord William Dalton spoke with Inspector Blackstone.
Lord William Dalton ID the body as Charles Montcliffe (brother, journalist).
Inspector Blackstone listened as Sir Edward Bradford (Commissioner of Police) & the Home Secretary discussed the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebration & the Montcliffe murder case.
Montcliffe House. Park Lane. Inspector Blackstone & DS Patterson met with Lady Margaret Montcliffe (wife/mother).
Mary Atkins (37, prostitute) had been found buried under a pile of rubbish on Burr St. Her throat had been cut also.
Inspector Todd (Scotland Yard) was assigned this murder case.

Pennington St./Old Gravel Lane. Inspector Blackstone interviewed Hannah (Russian).
Whitechapel. Inspector Blackstone & Hannah sat by the ring & watched as the Basingstoke Bull landed a powerful punch, & Iron-fist Baker went down. The boxing match was over.
Count Turgenev (46, Russian aristocrat, alcoholic, compulsive gambler) was there also.
Trafalgar pub. The 2 of them went to have a couple of pints.
What did Thomas Grey do?
Slater’s Restaurant (Piccadilly). Inspector Blackstone was dining/wineing Hannah.

The Queen’s procession was making its way down Southwark St.

I do not receive any type of compensation for reading & reviewing free books from publishers & authors. Therefore, I am under no obligation to write a positive review, only an honest one.

An awesome book cover, great font & writing style. A very professionally written Scotland Yard thriller book. It was quite easy for me to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a huge description list of unique characters, settings, facts etc. to keep track of. This could also make another great Scotland Yard thriller movie, or better yet a mini-TV series. There is no doubt in my mind this is an extremely easy rating of 5 stars.

Thank you for the free author; Lume Books; BookZio; Amazon Digital Services LLC. Kindle Mobi book
Tony Parsons MSW (Washburn)

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Brandi Pearl

This Book Did Keep Us Guessing/Clever Story

Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2022

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Blackstone and the Rendezvous with Death (The Blackstone Detective series Book 1) is a well-written, interesting read that did keep us guessing. The characters were well developed, as was the setting. Blackstone and Hannah were intriguing characters, as well as original, unpredictable, and sympathetic. The writer did an excellent job setting up the story and the character's motivations and personalities. I also enjoyed reading a book set in the late Victorian, it's a harder timeframe to find stories set in. I will probably read more Blackstone books in the future.

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dhbailey

Detective Inspector Blackstone is a force to be reckoned with!

Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2017

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I was delighted to discover this mystery series by Sally Spencer. I'm 2/3 of the way through the 2nd book in the series, having thoroughly enjoyed this first book. I find the characters to be very believable and the time period of the books, at the change from the 19th into the 20th centuries to be a marvelous mixture of the old and the new which Ms. Spencer works into the books very nicely. So there are telephones but still a lot of horse-drawn transportation. When I reached the end of this book I immediately wanted to start the 2nd book in the series to see how things develop. The plot twists are very inventive, and the writing style captivated me right from the start. A great series for people who love Anne Perry's two series or Victoria Thompson's series.

8 people found this helpful

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JLDLF

Just OK

Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2016

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I was hoping to find a new historical mystery series to get into so I tried the first book in this particular series. While my attention was engaged enough to want to finish the book, I wasn't thrilled with it. First off, there are a number of typos throughout and the poor editing makes it difficult to read. For example, what should be "be" in several places is shown as "he". It is easy to figure out what is meant but it's a distraction. The story is a little different and engaging but I also found it to be a bit far fetched. This next complaint is very much a personal preference issue but I found that exclamation marks were used quite a bit more than I felt they should have been, especially for a lead male character (I am a woman if that makes a difference) but again, that is very much a personal preference.

It is not likely that I will read another book in this series.

26 people found this helpful

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Ron Wall

Enjoyable read

Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2023

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This was a engrossing story and had well developed characters. I will enjoy reading the rest of the series sometime.

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Lynn Rogers

Exciting Historical Novel

Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2021

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The pace was rapid & pulled together many seemingly unrelated threads. It was also surprising because I wasn't able to figure out all of the villains until right at the end.
The historical events were folded into the story line very cleverly. The book held my interest throughout.
I highly recommend it.

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RB Rooson

An excellent find.....!!

Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2016

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As I am a devout reader of Victorian History and Mysteries, this promises to be an excellent series. Just when I thought I had exhausted my search for something that would be readable - up pops Sally Spencer and the Scotland Yard Detective, Sam Blackstone. About two chapters into the story, I started having some suspicions about the author ("Wait a minute, this woman writes like a man!") and doing some research it turns out Ms. Spencer is really Alan Rustage!! The story is well-paced, the characters and period well researched. Will be buying more of this author and was pleased to see that he has many more novels with other Detectives. Very enjoyable. .

13 people found this helpful

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K D Erwin

Well written, decent story, good characterizations.

Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2021

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I liked the writing, intelligent prose, I liked the story, the major characters, and the period treatment. Maybe not the very best book I've ever read, but readable, enjoyable, and not offensive or frightening. I like period novels, if written intelligently - this one is.

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Top reviews from other countries

EJ Ford

Unexpected Twists

Reviewed in Canada on August 26, 2021

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A great story with engaging characters. The plot twists and turns, leading, at least to me, totally unexpected drama, tragedy and denouement. I will look for more by this author.

Mr C

I don't do book reviews

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 15, 2021

Verified Purchase

I don't do book reviews like you keep seeing, as I find that some give too much of the plot away and I personally hate that, as it makes the book not worth reading. I much prefer to take the authors back cover write up as a review as it can either intrigue you enough to read the book of provide you enough information to make you decide that the book is not for you.
My review rules are: The more stars, the more I liked it.
If there are too many typos or errors the less stars I give
If the storyline or plot is poor or contains too many errors, the characters are too weak, the ending lacking something, then the less stars I give.
Simple, uncomplicated and to the point without giving anything away.
Some of the books I read have been given to me by the author as a pre-release copy and this does not bias my reviews in any way.

reader

Well written

Reviewed in Australia on December 4, 2021

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The storyline keeps you intrigued throughout, it wasn’t until towards the end you discovered who was involved, although the plot was a bit obvious, just the reasons why were not

Belle

Teresa

Reviewed in France on April 25, 2016

Verified Purchase

I would have given this book a better rating except for the fact that I became tired of reading "he" instead of "be" and duplicated text which was extremely annoying. This is the second book (not by the same author) where this has happened. Does anyone actually check these things?

Glassman91

An intelligent mystery

Reviewed in Canada on October 1, 2021

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Inspector Blackstone is a thoughtful, honest man who believes in justice. He was very interesting to follow through this murder mystery with many false leads and dangerous opponents, not least the British class system!

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