Customer Rating: 
Summary: Very evocative of the period.
Comment: One of Mr. Alexander's talents is bringing his historical period to life, and he does this extremely well in this book. The book is set in England in 1771, so we get a good glimpse of life in London at this time, but in this book we also get a glimpse of the vacation town of Bath and the university town of Oxford. The book is rich in detail of this period. It is also chock-full of English justice as it was in this time. There wasn't much mystery here because we know all along who the murderer is, but Sir John and his ward Jeremy must prove it. They are trying to solve an [...]case that seems eerily familiar with what is happening right now, and with the arrival of the villain from eight years ago into England. He is a rough individual from the American colonies. These books are totally entertaining, and I enjoy the look back at a much earlier time, especially since Mr. Alexander's prose is so evocative.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Another Fun Fielding Mystery
Comment: Bruce Alexander's series of mysteries are set in 18th century England and have as protagonists blind magistrate John Fielding and his teenage assistant. "Death of a Colonial", like the five volumes before it, is a quick, fun read and no more. If you're heading to the beach, this is the right choice. If you want a complex mystery, subtly-shaded characters, or true historical detail, you'll have to look elsewhere.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great historical who-done-it!
Comment: I get a huge kick out of Bruce Alexander's mysteries involving a blind judge and his young sidekick. I've read a lot of history from that time period, and though Alexander doesn't overload the books with a lot of rather...well putrid facts concerning life at that time, he gives enough information to make a picture in the mind of a world very different from ours. If readers have ever spent time in England, as I have, most know that the trip to Bath is a quick one for us. Yet Alexander brings up how grueling those trips were via stagecoach (or any type of coach). I think we forget how much we take for granted in being able to hop in a car and go somewhere in relative comfort and safety.
Alexander's best work are the characters he draws. I would be hesitant to accept a blind man as getting to a level in legal circles to wind up as a judge, except that I have an author-friend who wrote Silence of the Spheres about deaf people who managed to become scientists. Knowing that deafness was less acceptable then blindness, makes it more likely that the possibility exists for someone with visual impairments would make it.
Alexander's Sir Fielding is just a hair like Sherlock Holmes, only his blindness makes him more sensitive to sound and tactile sensations. This attribute helps him in his sleuthing endeavors...I totally understand this as blind friends have those same abilities, just as my vision and attention to visual details is more acute because I am deaf. This has been proven true for both blind and deaf persons in recent MRI scans by neuroscientists...so the author is not taking liberties with his character. His plots are less well developed, and as one reviewer said, the plots tends not to be the fast-paced one usually seen in modern mysteries. Time moved slower then, and the mores were different. So if you know your history, you should not expect the same type of behavior, language, etc. from people of that century as shown by those of this century.
Fun book (well...for a mystery)...
Karen Sadler
University of Pittsburgh
Customer Rating:
Summary: Alexander Brings Interesting Historical Period to Life
Comment: Death of a Colonial by Bruce Alexander brings to life an interesting historical period. Sir John Fielding a blind magistrate in London helped to develop the Bow Street Runners, the first professional police organization in England . Sir John, the brother of Henry Fielding was a famed and gifted magistrate who compensated for his lack of sight by developing other skills. It is said that he never forgot a voice and could recognize a criminal by his voice alone.Sixteen year old Jeremy Proctor assists Fielding in this pursuit of justice in Death of a Colonial. Fielding is commissioned to ascertain the validity of the claim of a fortune by Lawrence Paltrow the brother of an executed murderer, Arthur Paltrow. Arthur had been a wealthy man when he was executed and it was thought that there were no heirs to his estate. Together Jeremy and Fielding travel to Bath to meet the man's mother. It is at this point that the plot thickens. Jeremy and Fielding work together as a formidable team in discovering the conspirators.
Death of a colonial is rich in description of the feeling and times of England from Bath to London to Oxford. The reader is intrigued by Fieldings and Jeremy's journey through England and is ready to assist them in their search for criminals. The characters in the book are well developed and entertaining.
This is an entertaining book for those who love historical mysteries. Those who want fast paced action may wish to avoid this book
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good, not Great
Comment: I have read each of the Sir John Fielding mystery books. I enjoy them all. I don't worry too much about subplots, but enjoy a mystery. This book allowed me to know to much too soon, but overall it is a good book. If you didn't like his earlier ones you won't like this one. If you have liked them, then you will enjoy this one.
