Review of June Trop’s The Deadliest Fever…
The Deadliest Fever. June Trop, author (Black Opal Books, 2018). Miriam bat Isaac is an alchemist and amateur sleuth. This novel, the last one of a series recently published, focuses more on the second role. This is a mystery with historical fiction overtones that includes the clash of two cultures, one Jewish and the other Roman, and they somewhat coexist in Alexandria during the time of Nero.
Someone desecrates the synagogue leaving it a mess with blood and oil on the floor. But then one of the relics gets damaged several times. Miriam the sleuth wonders what’s afoot.
I have to apologize here. While I sat in on a course that compared the great religions of the world, in this short review I can’t pretend to do justice to all the new details I learned about Jewish religious traditions. It suffices to say that this background material makes the novel come alive, though, as do the historical settings. The details given, both religious and otherwise, indicate that the author did a lot of research for this book, as the endnotes show. There’s also a glossary there, but the meaning of terms I didn’t know were easily guessed from context. (Some readers might want to refer to that glossary before starting the novel, or during their reading.)
It’s a bit odd that there’s no homicide case to solve here in what is an unusual story. The violence of the era is found in the Roman Empire for the most part. A past pogrom against Alexandrian Jews is mentioned, but the Romans were equal opportunity tyrants in those days, as the Christians of the era also knew.
The plot picks up speed as you turn the pages, almost becoming a thriller by book’s end. The characters are finely drawn, with Miriam, the main character, able to shed her relatively privileged lifestyle and go undercover. Suspense and intrigue are aspects of human existence through the centuries, so why not in Nero’s time?
There is romance here too, with Miriam’s beau Judah a man who has pulled himself up by his bootstraps (or sandal ties), no mean feat in this era of class distinctions and even slavery. A practical man, Judah nicely complements Miriam. They make a good team, so maybe they’ll be solving more cases in the future.
If readers want to experience a new, original take on crime stories (at least new for me), don’t miss this book. Recommended.
[Note: If you want to learn more about this author, see the “Interviews” category of this blog for my interview of June Trop. This book is available in ebook and print format.]
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Comments are always welcome.
Aristocrats and Assassins. #4 in the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series” is my favorite C&C book. In one very positive review with many kudos, the reviewer also commented that it could also serve as a model in a master class for authors who want to create a series: like all my books, it’s a completely independent story involving the detectives. Casilblanco is finally on vacation in Europe with his wife, and the action stays there. The assassins are terrorists, and the aristocrats are some European royals. Available at Amazon and Smashwords and all the latter’s affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc).
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
