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by Judith Rock
Paris, 1686: When The Bishop of Marseilles discovers that his young cousin Charles du Luc, former soldier and half-fledged Jesuit, has been helping heretics escape the king's dragoons, the bishop sends him far away - to Paris, where Charles is assigned to assist in teaching rhetoric and directing dance at the prestigious college of Louis le Grand.
Charles quickly embraces his new life and responsibilities. But on his first day, the school's star dancer disappears from rehearsal, and the next day another student is run down in the street. When the dancer's body is found under the worst possible circumstances, Charles is determined to find the killer in spite of being ordered to leave the investigation.
"Starred Review. [S]uperb historical debut ... Fans of Brother Cadfael, another military man turned priest sleuth, will be pleased." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. A fine counterpart to S. J. Parris' suspenseful historical-mystery novel Heresy, which dramatizes religious strife in an earlier era, and similar in theme to P. D. James’ Death in Holy Orders" - Booklist
"Starred Review. ...Rock's fine eye for historic detail and well-drawn characters will continue to engage readers long after they've put a name to the villain." - Kirkus
This information about The Rhetoric of Death was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Judith Rock has written on dance, art, and theology for many journals, and has been artist-in-residence and taught and lectured at colleges, seminaries, and conferences across the United States and abroad. After years in New York, she and her husband currently split their time between Louisville, Kentucky, and Sarasota, Florida.
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