Lucrezia Borgia and the Mother of Poisons: Amazon.ca: Roberta Gellis: Books

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From Booklist

Accused by her husband, the heir to the duke of Ferrara, of poisoning his mistress, the notorious Lucrezia Borgia must expose the real murderer to prove her innocence. Determined to escape the false rumors that plagued her existence in her native Rome, Lucrezia carves out a new life for herself in Ferrara; however, her newfound contentment is threatened by the mysterious death of the foolish but harmless Bianca Tedaldo. Assisted by her two loyal ladies-in-waiting and her saucy chambermaid, she undertakes an investigation that leads her down a suspenseful path of personal and political intrigue. As she plays a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with an increasingly desperate killer, Lucrezia's own safety is threatened in spite--or perhaps because--of her familial connections to both Pope Alexander VI and the cunning Cesare Borgia. Gellis does a fine job of resurrecting and rehabilitating the legendary Lucrezia Borgia in this gripping historical whodunit. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Fast paced and gripping...a perfect blend of history and mystery that will satisfy the most discerning fan."---Romantic Times (Top Pick) on Lucrezia Borgia and the Mother of Poisons

"Gellis does a fine job of resurrecting and rehabilitating the legendary Lureczia Borgia in this gripping historical whodunnit"--Booklist on Lucrezia Borgia and the Mother of Poisons

"Roberta Gellis and the medieval mystery are a perfect match."--Jo Beverly, New York Times bestselling author of Hazard on Lucrezia Borgia and the Mother of Poisons

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Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
"POISON? Why? Why would anyone wish to poison so harmless and silly a woman as Bianca Tedaldo?" Lucrezia breathed, all the color fading from her face, leaving her skin like translucent alabaster. Read the first page

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Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews

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Average Customer Review

4.3 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)

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3.0 out of 5 stars Lucrezia Borgia, Detective?, May 29 2004

By

St. Winnie-the-Pooh the Parkness "Ovum Benedicte" (Poached) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lucrezia Borgia and the Mother of Poisons (Hardcover)

It is a trend today in the mystery genre to make historical persons into some kind of detective. Now we have LUCREZIA BORGIA AND THE MOTHER OF POISONS by Roberta Gellis. I borrowed this book from a friend because of my interest in Lucrezia Borgia and the Renaissance in general, but having read this book, I don't think I will return to read any more books. It wasn't that it was a bad book, but it wasn't a compelling read. Gellis gives particulars of life in Renaissance, but the pace is slow and extremely repetitious. It is set in Ferrare. She is at this time married to her third husband, Alfonso, the son of the Duke. When a lady-in-waiting Donna Bianca Teobaldo is poisoned, Alfonso d'Este, Borgia's husband announces that Lucrezia had something to do with it in front of the entire court. It takes 77 pages for Lucrezia to tell everyone that she has to solve the murder to clear her name, over and over again. Why the Duke announced this in the first place is not made clear. The reader, on the other hand, knows the murderer by what the culprit does to make money. Nonetheless, the reader must go through tedious and rigorous plot points, because for some reason the intelligent heroine can't deduce that a person who had access to potions might be the murderer. But then sometimes the mystery isn't as interesting as idiosyncratic characters of the detective and her/his partners in solving crime. However, Lucrezia Borgia reads like any average romance heroine. In fact, even though she's an actual historical person, she is less actualized than some romance heroines. The whole books feels like a romance with a mystery overlay. There are endless descriptions of the clothing that the heroine wears and of her relationship with her husband, which are trademark notions in romances, and yet there is nothing in the style of writing that gives the reader genuine heartfelt thrills that a really well-constructed romance can produce. As a historical mystery and romance, it just didn't give me goosebumps.
I think those that like Robert Gellis will enjoy this book, but I'm not sure it will win her new readership. But one can never tell.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing, Dec 24 2003

By

Woodbuckley (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lucrezia Borgia and the Mother of Poisons (Hardcover)

Roberta Gellis is always a good author, whether she is
writing mysteries, romances or fantasy. She is also not an
author to be lightly taken up at will, for a pleasant few minutes. Her writing requires concentration and time.
Here she is starting on a new series featuring Lucrezia
Borgia and it is an engrossing opener. We are launched
directly into both the poisoning murder of one of her
ladies in waiting and her confusing, tentative relationship
with her husband Alfonso.
She realizes immediately that she must solve this murder,to
clear her name and be able to continue this new life that
she has found so much more pleasant than her former fraught
life in Rome.
There is a good deal of period detail that convincingly establishes the background, without becoming a history lecture.
The tortuous life of the Ferrara court is revealed through
the relationships between the characters. They all obviously have a life of their own, independant of the main plot.

Occasionally the dialogue is too wordy, the conversations sag to a too-distant point, but this does not distract permanently
from the story.
The relationship between the politically married couple, however, is far more fascinating and often I wanted the mystery to disappear, so that more would be revealed about Alfonso.
He is far more of an engrossing mystery to both the reader
and Lucrezia. The final paragraph scene between husband and wife is a dreadful teaser.
I shall definitely be reading the next installment - for just this reason.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Historical figure turns detective, Dec 1 2003

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A. Christie "bibliofiend508" (Plano, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lucrezia Borgia and the Mother of Poisons (Hardcover)

Lucrezia is accused by her husband, heir to the duchy of Ferrara of poisoning one of her ladies-in waiting. In her life prior to her marriage to Alfonso, Lucrezia had already lived through rumors of her being a poisoner. She does not want to live with people looking at her strangely and always wondering about her, so she sets off to find the real poisoner.

Roberta Gellis has written a well-constructed atmospheric novel set in the Italian Renaissance evoking a sense of time and place with a delightful heroine It was a little confusing at first to get used to the many characters introduced at the beginning at the novel. Hopefully, most of them will stay around for the next Lucrezia Borgia mystery so it won't be a problem again. The premise was a fairly straightforward whodunit plot, but was very suspenseful. This looks to be another outstanding series from Roberta Gellis.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A Small Canvas Seems to Suit Ms. Gellis
I had some real doubts when I first read on a historical mystery list that Ms. Gellis was going to be doing a series of mysteries with Lucrezia Borgia as the detective. Read more

Published on Nov 2 2003 by Sires

5.0 out of 5 stars Queen of Historical Fiction
To escape rumors of incest and poisoning Lucrezia Borgia flees from Rome to Ferrara where she enters into marriage with Alfonso, the duke of Ferrara. Read more

Published on Sep 28 2003 by Barbara Buhrer