Tom's Lawyer (Mark Twain Mystery)

Description

On a lecture tour, Mark Twain is reunited with Tom Blankenship, his boyhood pal and the model for Huck Finn. When Tom is charged with murder, it's up to Twain to be as good a lawyer as he is a friend.

"Heck's Twain proves to be...a clever detective." (Publishers Weekly)

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Customer Reviews

Huck Finn Grows Up As A Lawman Out West.
This Mark Twain mystery features Tom Blankenship, the son of the town drunk in Hannibal, Missouri,who'd been the model for Huck Finn, after he is grown up and had become a justice of the peace in Montana. I once knew a real justice of the peace, Thurston Miller, in Washington, D.C., but he was not a real judge per se.

In Blankenship's jurisdiction, there had been a 'self-defense murder' by Zachary and C.D. who were sprung from the jail by their Helena lawyer, Leon Dirksen's plea to the townfolk that these two boys were really just good but had got in with bad company. In a letter to Twain, Tom wrote that this highfaluting lawyer was just trying to gain fame so he could run for Governor, and that Judge Joe McCoy wasn't pleased with the result of his inciting the townsfolk to let them out without a trial. Tom had been charged with the crime and had no alibi.

In 1895, Mark Twain was in Missoula, Montana, and encountered Theodore Roosevelt, a Harvard man living out west for awhile before returning to New York to get involved in politics. He'd told them that "a vigorous life's the only kind worth living. Chasing down malefactors at home and abroad...that's a bully occupation for a rascal like you." Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show traveled the country and the world with Annie Oakley and Frank Butler and a plethora of freaks.

Peter Heck is writing a series of Mark Twain mysteries from a different perspective. Some are THE PRINCE AND THE PROSECUTOR, A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN CRIMINAL COURT, and DEATH ON THE MISSISSIPPI. He seems to be having fun doing these little paperbacks on a historical figure who was bigger-than-life.

2005-10-28 | Betty Burks (Knoxville, TN) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 3

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3 Cheers for the Bicycle Corps! Oh yeah, and for Twain.
"Tom's Lawyer" is the sixth in Heck's series featuring Samuel Clemens. All the books are at least mildly enjoyable and sometimes are a lot of fun. The basic premise of the series is that Clemens has hired recent Yale graduate William Wentworth Cabot as his traveling secretary. Inevitably, the pair meet with murder, and Clemens (known to everyone in the world as "Mark Twain" with the exception of Wentworth who apparently has never read any of Twain's books) emerges triumphant as the detective. In this installment, Clemens, Wentworth, Mrs. Clemens and one of the Clemens' daughters are in Montana, taking a week's rest from the first leg of their project round-the-world tour. Also in town is Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Show, featuring Annie Oakley. Another visitor to town is Tom Blankenship, the boyhood friend of Clemens' that was the inspiration for the character of Huckleberry Finn. Theodore Roosevelt shows up, too, to help investigate when Blankenship is accused of murder. Also on hand is the Buffalo Soldier Bicycle Corps, and I was immensely pleased to see them featured (and incredibly smug about having read about the Corps the previous year in Sorensen's "Iron Riders"). The mystery itself is okay, although Wentworth and Clemens never get around to questioning witnesses under their noses until Clemens' daughter gets into trouble trying to take over the investigation. Wentworth (is he ever going to read one of Twain's books?) is the brawn of the pair, although he has acquired at least some street smarts since his first outing. It's the character of Twain himself that is, as always, the strongest and most enjoyable aspect of this book and the series. By no means a great book, "Tom's Lawyer" is definitely readable and re-readable.

2002-03-01 (St. Louis, MO United States) | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 4

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The Mysterious Strangler (Mark Twain Mystery)

Description

A trip to sunny Florence provides some much needed rest and relaxation for Mark Twain's assistant, Wentworth Cabot, until a woman he fancies disappears-along with a Raphael masterpiece.

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Customer Reviews

believable but leisurely
There is more than a little controversy currently about the prevalence of historical characters as detectives. The question seems to be: if the person in question didn't exhibit any such preference during their lifetime, why have them do it now? But I say, why not?

Most of these historical detectives are writers, or other such creative folks. And if you stop and think about it, what qualities especially contribute to the success of a detective of any era, but most especially before the age of technology?

Well, I think it would be perception, acuity, intelligence and a willingness to allow the suspension of disbelief for at least a short period of time. And what are the characteristics most needed by authors? (Other than a thick skin, that is.) Why--perception, acuity, intelligence and a willingness to allow the suspension of disbelief, along with some skill at writing and using the language. I suspect a curiosity bump would come in handy, too! Makes perfect sense to me.

This book is a case in point. Samuel Clemens, whose main fame is as the famous author, Mark Twain, takes his family and his secretary/assistant/man-of-all-work, Wentworth Cabot, to Florence, Italy, for the winter. Clemens is, however, treated rather coolly by the citizens of Florence, their feathers still ruffled over what he'd written about them after his previous visit.

Wentworth uses his spare time to indulge his passion for great art, with which Florence abounds. He also stumbles over a cafe that plays host to other visiting Americans: chess-players, as well as artists of all kinds, from all countries, and a few anarchists mixed in. Not to mention a few anti-anarchists. It's a marvelous mix!

The period detail seems perfectly wonderful as Wentworth describes the leisurely lifestyles enjoyed by his employer and his new-found friends. Murder will, of course, present itself, and it takes a combined effort by Clemens and Cabot, along with several unusual policemen to get to the heart of the matter. They do, in a very satisfactory manner. This is not a fast-paced book, but one that may be easily read--and enjoyed--in shorter doses, if desired.

2001-08-10 | kellytwo (cleveland hts, ohio) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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An Americana Mystery with a twist
Wentworth Cabot is a member of the Boston Brahmins with a social standing that allows easy entrance to the social elite and the highest political powers. If he desired, he could become a lawyer in the family firm, gain some experience, and run for office. Instead, Wentworth opts to become the personal secretary to Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens as a means of seeing the world.

The Clemens family travels to Florence, Italy, along with Wentworth and he makes friends with people his own age at a café in the heart of the city. He takes a liking to Virginia Fleetwood whose brother-in-law want to hire him to run an art gallery back in Boston for him. She wants Wentworth to accept the position, but he prefers staying with the Clemens brood and rejects the offer. The next day, the police arrive to question Wentworth about the disappearance of Virginia. Also missing is a valuable Raphael masterpiece owned by her brother-in-law. The police find the murdered body of Virginia in a graveyard and next to her strangled corpse is the frame from the Raphael picture. Wentworth is now the chief suspect, leaving it to him and his employer to prove otherwise.

Anyone wanting to see a different perspective on Mark Twain will want to read THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGLER and the previous works in this series. Readers observe the man behind the literary legend because Peter Heck has the ability to provide a lucid look through the media image. The well-drawn mystery provides an interesting amateur sleuth investigation led by Twain into the who-done-it realm. As with the previous novels, this tale retains a freshness that will please historical mystery readers and Mark Twain fans.

Harriet Klausner

2000-10-10 | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 5

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The Prince and the Prosecuter (Mark Twain Mystery)

Description

Twain and his assistant Wentworth Cabot are on a boat cruise to Europe. The company of Twain's friend Rudyard Kipling seems to guarantee smooth sailing. But soon a wealthy young man has disappeared from the ship. Now a murder needs solving, and Twain is on the case...

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Customer Reviews

An Excellent Mystery Novel
This book was very good. It had a good level of suspense, and made it hard to tell who did it, because everyone seemed to hate the victim(except his parents)! Mark Twain wishes in vain that this trip will not leave him with a murder to solve. Told from the view of his traveling secretary, Wentworth Cabot, Twain's trip to England to see his family seems far from monotonous even before the murder. With a good amount of humor, an interesting plot, and boatloads of details, this mystery will keep you guessing to the last page.

2000-07-25 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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Fun to read historical mystery
Working as the travel secretary to the great Mark Twain has been a wonderful, but strange experience for Wentworth Cabot. As he prepares for his third journey, Wentworth is more than just excited. Who would not be when one is being paid to travel first class aboard a London bound steamship. Wentworth does pray that this trip, unlike its two predecessors (see A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN CRIMINAL COURT and DEATH ON THE MISSISSIPPI), has no accompanying murder to investigate.

Also on the sea journey is Rudyard Kipling and his spouse and the wealthy Babson family. When Robert Babson disappears, his father screams murder and has proof to defend his charges. Wentworth and the two great writers begin to investigate the disappearance because they strongly feel that an injustice is about to occur.

THE PRINCE AND THE PROSECUTOR is a great mystery tale that brings to life Mark Twain and Rudyard Kipling in one dazzling tale (what more can one ask?). The story line is intriguing and fun and the historical characters and the allusions to the original tale that this story is based on make for a great reading experience. Fans of historical fiction need to read all three "Twain mysteries" because they are intelligent and enjoyable books.

Harriet Klausner

1997-11-04 | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 4

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Connecticut Yankee in Criminal Court (Mark Twain Mystery)

Description

A beautiful city with ugly traditions of corruption and racism. A black man set to hang for a murder he didn't commit. A world-famous author--and detective--who isn't about to let it happen. This is the sequel to Heck's acclaimed debut, Death on the Mississippi. A selection of the Mystery Guild.

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Customer Reviews

An interesting spin on the murder mystery concept.
A fun little mystery, this novel is narrated by Mark Twain's secretary, Wentworth. While in New Orleans, Twain & Wentworth end up being asked to help solve a mystery, which is basically the meat of the book. The ending felt a tad rushed; the final "aha!" moment seemed to come out of nowhere to me, but all in all, this was an amusing mystery, and the use of Mark Twain as protagonist was rather clever.

2004-08-18 | lyssrose (Austin, TX United States) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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A Connecticut Yankee in Criminal Court: A Mark Twain Mystery
Mr. Heck has a very good grip on the world of Mark Twain and New Orleans in this book. His discriptions of the wonderful foods on this City made me hungry the entire book. Mr. Heck weaves a very good mystery. He also understands the culture of the time and explains it very well. The author captures Mark Twain's humor in his characters, many times I laughed out loud. Mr. Heck's books are worth the read.

2000-02-24 (Martinsburg, WV USA) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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Mildly Diverting Twain Mystery
"A Connecticut Yankee in Criminal Court", as probably everyone knows by now, is the sophomore effort by writer Peter Heck. It follows his earlier successful Mark Twain mystery "Death on the Mississippi". This book showed a lot of promise from page one, with the introduction of George Washington Cable as a featured character. Heck did not spend a lot of time explaining who Cable was, a decision which pleased me. I knew immediately that Heck had done some homework on New Orleans history and I sat back, eagerly anticipating an interesting and sly mystery full of bold, well-written characters and inside jokes on New Orleans historical figures. What I got was something less than that. The story, a vague and meandering tail involving the poisoning death of a prominent white Orleanian and the black cook falsely accused of his murder, was indeed an entertaining one, but offered nothing new to the now-bursting ranks of the New Orleans mystery subgenre. Writers plotting mysteries set in the Crescent City now offer us one of three choices; murder against a Mardi Gras backdrop, old family intrigue or corrupt politicians. Sometimes, if they are especially clever, they will mix and match these story elements, but for the most part, they are simply not that clever. For me, the mysteries that work best are the ones that use New Orleans as a setting, but accept the fact that Orleanians have to make groceries, pick up the laundry, clean out their rain gutters and fight traffic like the rest of us. Some writers present a New Orleans whose residents do nothing but fling beads from Mardi Gras floats, run for office and go to fais do dos with their old Cajun families who have so many secrets they are fairly flowing from the closets. But I digress. As a favor to Cable, crotchety old Sam Clemens and his secretary, Wentworth Cabot, fresh off a murder investigation on a Mississippi riverboat, decides to find evidence to free the black cook. Along the way he meets Buddy Bolden, considered the father of modern jazz (although no recordings of his work exist), Marcus Keyes, Tom Anderson and "the widow Paris", whom you will recognize if you know anything about New Orleans history. If not, I'll keep the secret. It obviously vexed author Heck to no end that voodooienne Marie Laveau the second died in 1887 and was not available historically for this 1890's romp through the old quarter, because he felt the need to recreate her in the guise of Eulalie Echo, whom the characters spend the rest of the book self-consciously calling "`Lalie". Get it? `Lalie Echo = Marie Laveau. Jeez. The mystery seems to be going along nicely until... The mystery is solved Perry Mason-style, when `Lalie Echo calls all of the principle characters together at a voodoo ceremony and tells them that Damballah, the snake-spirit, knows one of them is guilty and will haunt their dreams unless the guilty party confesses. Then the guilty party confesses. Sheesh. Overall this book was fun, but not very challenging. A good read for a rainy day or a long bus trip, but don't make a point of rushing out to get it. Patrick Burnett King of the Soapbox Derby

1998-02-22 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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Death on the Mississippi (Mark Twain Mystery)

Description

The irrepressible Mark Twain and his baffled new secretary, Wentworth Cabot, embark on a riverboat lecture series in the company of a New York cop and the killer the officer seeks. Reprint. K.

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Customer Reviews

Mystery Meets History
Anyone who is a fan of Mark Twain will enjoy this book. This delightful debut of Detective Clemens includes an exciting riverboat trip on the Mississippi, a tale of buried treasure, a gang of tricky gamblers, and tons of period detail. Peter J. Heck's portrayal of Twain is every bit believable from his quick wit to his southern drawl. He and his traveling secretary, Wentworth Cabot, make an unusual team. I found this book to be suspenseful, entertaining, and informative. It left me wanting to read more.

2001-12-08 | mystery006 (CA) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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An Enjoyable Trip
William Wentworth Cabot has just graduated from Yale, and for his first job, he becomes Mark Twain's traveling secretary. Interested in travel, Wentworth is over his head when a body is found in New York with Mark Twain's name in his pocket. Does it have anything to do with Twain's plans to dig up a fortune in gold mid-trip? And is the killer on board their ship all the way on the Mississippi?

This book is an enjoyable jaunt down the Mississippi with Mark Twain on a riverboat. The main characters were enjoyable, and I especially enjoyed the portrayal of Twain. The plot was a little weak, however. The information on riverboats and the river was interesting, but too much attention was paid to it, with little advancing the story. Still, once a second body is found, the plot kicks into high gear. I was caught off guard by the revelation of the killer, but everything fit together logically.

I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the books in this historic mystery series.

2001-07-11 (Santa Clarita, CA United States) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 4

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Only Twain makes it readable.
While Heck creates a decent Twain for his book, the rest is a sorry excuse for a mystery. An obvious villain and an insipid narrator make for a painful read. If not for a decent grasp of Twain's general demeanor and commentary this book would have been unreadable. A good idea but the execution does not make me want to see if the author grows into a better mystery writer.

2000-05-29 | Jack (Island Heights,NJ) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 2

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Amusing, informative but not much of a mystery
I enjoyed this for the information about Twain, riverboats, late 19th century America. The mystery is fairly obvious (or maybe I'm just congratulating myself). A laid back, humorous tone throughout. Young Cabot is modeled on the quintessential mystery straight man, Dr. Watson; eager, interested, a little dense.

2000-01-25 (Middlebury VT, USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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Worth reading precisely for the historical accuracy
Peter J. Heck's lifelong interest in Samuel Clemens (and his nom de plume, Mark Twain) has here fostered a new series of historical mysteries featuring the esteemed American writer, accompanied by the fictional Wentworth Cabot, who narrates the books.

Murder dogs Clemens and Wentworth Cabot prior to and during the Mississippi riverboat lecture tour that is the centerpiece of the story. The description of the towns Clemens and Cabot encounter and the vignettes of riverboat sailing are done succinctly but with an eye for period detail. Heck also manages to avoid the horrors of dialect writing and still makes his characters believable. And it is a cast of real characters, including the Throckmorton Brothers, hot on the trail of a treasure in gold; "Slippery Ed" McPhee, a riverboat gambler looking for an easy mark; and Major Demayne, whose poetry writing serves as a humorous counterpoint to the mystery investigation. A nice touch: a map of the Mississippi in the front of the book enables the reader to follow the course of the "Horace Greeley" with a little more geographical certainty.

Heck's obvious love for his subject material makes up for having everyone gather in the "drawing room" (in this case, the riverboat's salon) to hear Clemen's denouement, and a host of secondary characters who serve as a legion of red herrings. The mystery is engaging, the characters crisply drawn, and last but certainly not least, Mark Twain is an entertaining, interesting detective.

1998-04-29 (Pasadena, California) | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 4

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Die Chaos- Kompanie 3. Viel Rummel um nichts.

Description

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