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Jacqueline Kirby #1
The Seventh Sinner
For young Jean Suttman, the chance to study in Rome was a dream come true, until she stepped into the darkness at the Temple of Mithra and discovered the corpse of a fellow student. Now someone is stalking Jean, and accidents come close to killing her.
Audio CD
First published January 1, 1972
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About the author
Elizabeth Peters
179 books3,297 followersElizabeth Peters is a pen name of Barbara Mertz. She also wrote as Barbara Michaels as well as her own name. Born and brought up in Illinois, she earned her Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Chicago. Mertz was named Grand Master at the inaugural Anthony Awards in 1986 and Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America at the Edgar Awards in 1998. She lived in a historic farmhouse in Frederick, western Maryland until her death.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 319 reviews
October 1, 2018
Continuing my Elizabeth Peters mini-binge with the first of the Jacqueline Kirby short romantic suspense series. More suspense than romance, here. I am not at all sure if I ever read this one previously, though I have read others in the group. Though the librarian with the giant purse went on to anchor the succeeding books, this one was oddly structured in that it had a younger, ingenue-age viewpoint character, from whom J.K. stole the show, and possibly the ensuing books. I will get a better sense of how this worked out as I follow up with the next volume in order.
A pod of seven art and history grad students studying in Rome all become suspects/red herrings when a fellow student is murdered; the plot entwines mysteries of history as well as crime. Like Borrowers of the Night, recently reread, its 80s setting has edged from contemporary to historical in feel. H'm.
L.
November 18, 2025
Elizabeth Peters created a mystery-solver as distinctive and amusing as Poirot or Mrs. Bradley: her sleuth is the middle-aged librarian Jacqueline Kirby, by turns clumsy, ferocious, stylish, serene, acerbic, or foxy (her shapely legs are often openly admired, lol), and always carrying this huge white purse full of miscellany. I love formidable, oddball amateur detectives. she deserves a better novel, alas.
the book came out in 1972 and it shows. not in a bad way, I suppose, it's a zippy snapshot of a particular era. but it does mean a lot of inexplicably barefoot students and dated slang. half a century should be enough time to turn "dated" into "amusing" but I guess we need a full century for that, cats. the story is about seven friends (and one hot dad), multinational fellows studying at a university in Rome, all suspects in the murder of another student. these twentysomethings are brainy and very horny for each other. unfortunately - and this is the main reason for the 2 stars - the Lebanese murder victim is this needy, lumpy, homely, pretentious outcast and the butt of these kids' jokes. even the librarian disdains him. it just felt like everyone - especially the author - was bullying this pathetic proto-incel. it created a bad taste early on that never left.
the resolution was a little silly but mainly clever.
I was surprised to see some anti-Zionism on display in the last few pages. I guess some topics are timeless.
the book came out in 1972 and it shows. not in a bad way, I suppose, it's a zippy snapshot of a particular era. but it does mean a lot of inexplicably barefoot students and dated slang. half a century should be enough time to turn "dated" into "amusing" but I guess we need a full century for that, cats. the story is about seven friends (and one hot dad), multinational fellows studying at a university in Rome, all suspects in the murder of another student. these twentysomethings are brainy and very horny for each other. unfortunately - and this is the main reason for the 2 stars - the Lebanese murder victim is this needy, lumpy, homely, pretentious outcast and the butt of these kids' jokes. even the librarian disdains him. it just felt like everyone - especially the author - was bullying this pathetic proto-incel. it created a bad taste early on that never left.
the resolution was a little silly but mainly clever.
I was surprised to see some anti-Zionism on display in the last few pages. I guess some topics are timeless.
October 22, 2025
Jacqueline Kirby is a librarian working/visiting Rome. She gets involved with a group of students and their deadly games.
As a librarian, I am a fan of books that paint us as both omniscient and sexy. Plus, I want to own Jacqueline's purse with its every-ready supply of everything.
A solid mystery that introduces the reader to a fun amateur sleuth who appears in other works. -Rebekka
As a librarian, I am a fan of books that paint us as both omniscient and sexy. Plus, I want to own Jacqueline's purse with its every-ready supply of everything.
A solid mystery that introduces the reader to a fun amateur sleuth who appears in other works. -Rebekka
July 21, 2022
I adore Elizabeth Peters's iconic mystery series about Amelia Peabody. I also greatly enjoyed her Vicky Bliss series. I had never yet sampled her series about the librarian Jacqueline Kirby, so as I was in need of an entertaining read in German (for the purpose of further crawling towards German reading fluency), I picked up this German translation of the first of Jacqueline's adventures. And why not, especially as I had recently read the German translation of the first volume in Amelia Peabody's saga and enjoyed it in German not less than in original.
Well, as much as I loved Amelia in German I came to hate Jaqueline in German. It dragged and dragged. It was boring and utterly unconvincing, both plot and character-wise. Even the wonderful Italian location (Rome) didn't help much. I have a strong suspicion that I would have hated it in English just as well, even though it would have taken much less time out of my reading life.
And yet, besides the German reading gymnastics which is surely bound to bring the fluency fruit one day (or not ;) ), this dreadful reading experience has its own peculiar value: it demonstrates that the success isn't always achieved from the first try and sometimes not even from the tenth--the writer might fail many times before finally hitting the mark. Of course, just as likely the lucky break of the improved craft combining with the winning idea might never happen, and the barrier of boring mediocrity might never be surpassed, but it did happen in Elizabeth Peters's case, and I find this encouraging and inspiring.
Well, as much as I loved Amelia in German I came to hate Jaqueline in German. It dragged and dragged. It was boring and utterly unconvincing, both plot and character-wise. Even the wonderful Italian location (Rome) didn't help much. I have a strong suspicion that I would have hated it in English just as well, even though it would have taken much less time out of my reading life.
And yet, besides the German reading gymnastics which is surely bound to bring the fluency fruit one day (or not ;) ), this dreadful reading experience has its own peculiar value: it demonstrates that the success isn't always achieved from the first try and sometimes not even from the tenth--the writer might fail many times before finally hitting the mark. Of course, just as likely the lucky break of the improved craft combining with the winning idea might never happen, and the barrier of boring mediocrity might never be surpassed, but it did happen in Elizabeth Peters's case, and I find this encouraging and inspiring.
November 16, 2008
For some bizarre reason, I have ignored the many books of Elizabeth Peters despite consistently favorable reader reviews. Stupid move, because I really enjoyed this one, written several years ago and reissued. I listened to it on my Audible player while traveling, and it was a very enjoyable 6 hours. Apparently, Peters has become known for her Amelia Peabody series, Amelia being known for an acerbic wit and getting herself into and out of difficulties. Jacqueline Kirby must be a forerunner of Peabody even though she is not the central figure, she resolves the mystery using all the skills of that most formidable professions, the librarian. She's also amusingly condescendingly toward the academic seven who are all more than a little naive. In fact, it's her familiarity with the academic community and its peccadilloes. Dr. Scoville, father of Andy, one of the students could have been the prototype for another famous fictional archaeologist from Indiana. He could be the prototype for that later developed and more famous fictional archeologist. He is brilliant, handsome, sexy, and world famous for his daring exploits in pursuit of archeological treasures. Sound familiar, movie fans?
The story is set in Rome and, while perhaps a little dated -- it was written in 1972 -- is very enjoyable nevertheless. It unfolds through the eyes of Jean Stuttman, one of seven -- a number that ostensibly has great significance to the murder - - art/archaeology students studying at Rome's famous Institute of Art and Archaeology. (Peters, trained as a classical archaeologist, has filled the book with all sorts of interesting details about Rome and its history and archaeology -- she also writes under the name Barbara Michaels.) While on a tour of some ancient rooms found underneath Rome, one of their members, Albert is brutally murdered. Jean discovers him barely alive and watches him scratch "VII" in the dirt (at the time Jean reports it only as the number seven. Its Roman numeral character becomes significant only later.) It's hard to write about this book, because Peters left so many clues pointing in all sorts of directions; it' not easy to avoid giving away the ending. Jacqueline becomes attached to the students by chance, and when she realizes that "accidents" that happen to Jean may be attempts to murder her, she surreptitiously begins to work with a police lieutenant to uncover the clever killer
The story is set in Rome and, while perhaps a little dated -- it was written in 1972 -- is very enjoyable nevertheless. It unfolds through the eyes of Jean Stuttman, one of seven -- a number that ostensibly has great significance to the murder - - art/archaeology students studying at Rome's famous Institute of Art and Archaeology. (Peters, trained as a classical archaeologist, has filled the book with all sorts of interesting details about Rome and its history and archaeology -- she also writes under the name Barbara Michaels.) While on a tour of some ancient rooms found underneath Rome, one of their members, Albert is brutally murdered. Jean discovers him barely alive and watches him scratch "VII" in the dirt (at the time Jean reports it only as the number seven. Its Roman numeral character becomes significant only later.) It's hard to write about this book, because Peters left so many clues pointing in all sorts of directions; it' not easy to avoid giving away the ending. Jacqueline becomes attached to the students by chance, and when she realizes that "accidents" that happen to Jean may be attempts to murder her, she surreptitiously begins to work with a police lieutenant to uncover the clever killer
August 13, 2020
3.5 stars
This is another odd one from Elizabeth Peters. Her style feels bare-bones and scenes shuffle about without much padding. But it kept things intense and interesting. It is hard to tell who the heroine is supposed to be--Jean, who has the adventures, or Jacqueline Kirby, the mom-librarian who stumbles into her life. I see that the series goes on to follow Jacqueline, but Jean still feels like the main character.
Some clever little twists in here that I enjoyed. Nothing serious, but low-key and entertaining. A little hard to follow all the characters as an audio book.
This is another odd one from Elizabeth Peters. Her style feels bare-bones and scenes shuffle about without much padding. But it kept things intense and interesting. It is hard to tell who the heroine is supposed to be--Jean, who has the adventures, or Jacqueline Kirby, the mom-librarian who stumbles into her life. I see that the series goes on to follow Jacqueline, but Jean still feels like the main character.
Some clever little twists in here that I enjoyed. Nothing serious, but low-key and entertaining. A little hard to follow all the characters as an audio book.
August 2, 2024
The late, great Elizabeth Peters introduced readers to numerous clever female sleuths, but flippant Jacqueline Kirby is one of my favorites. The Seventh Sinner is the first in a trilogy of books featuring the red-headed sarcastic heroine with both an enormous purse and an enormous heart.
An eccentric Lebanese Maronite student studying in Rome is killed, and the likeliest suspects are — well, not exactly his friends, but a group of seven Albert palled around with. One wag dubbed the group the Seven Sinners, and Jacqueline is determined to discover which one it is. A wonderful plot, a humorous protagonist and the Eternal City: What’s not to love?
An eccentric Lebanese Maronite student studying in Rome is killed, and the likeliest suspects are — well, not exactly his friends, but a group of seven Albert palled around with. One wag dubbed the group the Seven Sinners, and Jacqueline is determined to discover which one it is. A wonderful plot, a humorous protagonist and the Eternal City: What’s not to love?
November 26, 2021
Jean is part of a group of seven scholars in Rome who have dubbed themselves the ‘seven sinners’. When she stumbles across another student stabbed and lying in a pool of his own blood, she suspects one of the seven has committed one of the seven deadly sins.
Yes, Jean is the main character of this, the first in the series of books which go on to feature Jacqueline Kirby. Jacqueline is a visiting librarian with whom Jean strikes up a friendship after she runs into her, literally. Jacqueline then indulges in a little amateur sleuthing when it becomes obvious that Jean’s life too is in danger.
It’s not difficult to imagine why the series continued with Jacqueline as the main character instead of Jean. Jacqueline sizzles off the page with just the right balance of intelligence, cheekiness, sexiness and a mysterious past. Jean, meanwhile, is a bit bland and her personality only brightens up when she shares scenes with Jacqueline.
The Italian setting is great but I found the time setting a little odd. It was first published in 1972 and set around that year. However, I kept feeling like it was set a little bit further back, say around the 40s or 50s. Everyone seems a little old fashioned!
The mystery plot itself is pretty good. I guessed quite a few things, but there were enough surprises at the end to keep me satisfied.
Unfortunately when it comes to the rest of the series, I’m not going to be so well fulfilled. You see, this book, the first, is free on Audible and I assumed, as such, that the subsequent books would be there to purchase. I mean, that’s how these things work — they suck you in with the first book and you fork out the cash for the others if you enjoy it. However, there is only the fourth book available on Audible and the middle two are missing. Okay… So I check for the ebook version. Neither book two nor three have ever been released. Okay… So I check for the printed version. They’re not available at any of my local libraries (I live on the edge of two local governments, so I could try both). They’re not readily available at any of the local bookstores. I can get a copy for around $50 online… So… I’ll keep searching but I’m a little mad at Audible. Why get me interested in a series and then leave me high and dry? Grrr
Anyway, 4 out of 5 and I’d love to say I’ll be reading more in this series but I’m not sure if I will!
Yes, Jean is the main character of this, the first in the series of books which go on to feature Jacqueline Kirby. Jacqueline is a visiting librarian with whom Jean strikes up a friendship after she runs into her, literally. Jacqueline then indulges in a little amateur sleuthing when it becomes obvious that Jean’s life too is in danger.
It’s not difficult to imagine why the series continued with Jacqueline as the main character instead of Jean. Jacqueline sizzles off the page with just the right balance of intelligence, cheekiness, sexiness and a mysterious past. Jean, meanwhile, is a bit bland and her personality only brightens up when she shares scenes with Jacqueline.
The Italian setting is great but I found the time setting a little odd. It was first published in 1972 and set around that year. However, I kept feeling like it was set a little bit further back, say around the 40s or 50s. Everyone seems a little old fashioned!
The mystery plot itself is pretty good. I guessed quite a few things, but there were enough surprises at the end to keep me satisfied.
Unfortunately when it comes to the rest of the series, I’m not going to be so well fulfilled. You see, this book, the first, is free on Audible and I assumed, as such, that the subsequent books would be there to purchase. I mean, that’s how these things work — they suck you in with the first book and you fork out the cash for the others if you enjoy it. However, there is only the fourth book available on Audible and the middle two are missing. Okay… So I check for the ebook version. Neither book two nor three have ever been released. Okay… So I check for the printed version. They’re not available at any of my local libraries (I live on the edge of two local governments, so I could try both). They’re not readily available at any of the local bookstores. I can get a copy for around $50 online… So… I’ll keep searching but I’m a little mad at Audible. Why get me interested in a series and then leave me high and dry? Grrr
Anyway, 4 out of 5 and I’d love to say I’ll be reading more in this series but I’m not sure if I will!
May 10, 2021
So light and lovely - a murder mystery set in Rome in the seventies, this book (almost) inspired me to pick up a bunch of other novels set in Rome that I left half-read at one point or another, from Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Marble Faun to Tom Rachman's The Italian Teacher. As with those, and a bunch of other novels by a bevy of Anglo writers, it is about a group of expat artists and students and the interactions among them against the backdrop of a semi-exotic, perennially a e s t h e t i c Rome. Plus there's a murder here. It's interesting the amount of murder one encounters in these Rome novels. The Marble Faun, even Donna Tartt's The Secret History.
The murder mystery isn't very intricate, or difficult to figure out (not that I found it easy to figure out, either - it just felt sort of beside the point when the identity of the murderer was revealed) but that's OK. The charm of the narration picks up where the plot falters and the interesting bits about Rome and its ecclesiastical history, catacombs and so on come to the rescue when the charm fails. According to the reviews, fans of the Amelia Peabody series are kind of disappointed with Jacqueline Kirby but I have to say, I don't see why. They're just as equally good, but then of course, the Amelia Peabody series has both the Victoriana and Egyptology thing going for it whereas this is a more freewheeling kind of enterprise. Anyway, this is just the kind of reading to entertain you, and make you feel like you're back on track with your reading, and make you want to read like 5 other novels right away, or fifty.
The murder mystery isn't very intricate, or difficult to figure out (not that I found it easy to figure out, either - it just felt sort of beside the point when the identity of the murderer was revealed) but that's OK. The charm of the narration picks up where the plot falters and the interesting bits about Rome and its ecclesiastical history, catacombs and so on come to the rescue when the charm fails. According to the reviews, fans of the Amelia Peabody series are kind of disappointed with Jacqueline Kirby but I have to say, I don't see why. They're just as equally good, but then of course, the Amelia Peabody series has both the Victoriana and Egyptology thing going for it whereas this is a more freewheeling kind of enterprise. Anyway, this is just the kind of reading to entertain you, and make you feel like you're back on track with your reading, and make you want to read like 5 other novels right away, or fifty.
March 5, 2022
Whew! Thank goodness, a 4 star read or listen in this case. Too bad I had to hunt a book down from 1972 to get it. The Seventh Sinner is a nostalgia read, but I feel it still stands up.
Fun combination of suspense/thriller with a touch of academia in Rome circa 197o’s. It’s a little dated, one of the characters refers to the police as the “fuzz and there’s mention of a growing Israeli/Palestinian conflict, but the moments are more entertaining that irritating. One thing that was irritating in the audio is a character’s accent that is specifically identified as Liverpudlian and the narrator goes straight for an Irish accent. Hello Beatles!
Premise is a group of college students from around the world are studying Classics in Rome. The emphasis is on art history although each student has their own expertise. A literal closed room murder occurs and the suspects narrow down to the small group of friends. Toss in a stock handsome Italian detective and murder mystery!
The fun lies less with the murder mystery and more with the various characters especially Jaqueline Kirby, Elizabeth Peters’ adventurous librarian heroine. This is her first murder adventure, and she was a great heroine then as well as now. Acerbic and funny, she wins the day.
Fun combination of suspense/thriller with a touch of academia in Rome circa 197o’s. It’s a little dated, one of the characters refers to the police as the “fuzz and there’s mention of a growing Israeli/Palestinian conflict, but the moments are more entertaining that irritating. One thing that was irritating in the audio is a character’s accent that is specifically identified as Liverpudlian and the narrator goes straight for an Irish accent. Hello Beatles!
Premise is a group of college students from around the world are studying Classics in Rome. The emphasis is on art history although each student has their own expertise. A literal closed room murder occurs and the suspects narrow down to the small group of friends. Toss in a stock handsome Italian detective and murder mystery!
The fun lies less with the murder mystery and more with the various characters especially Jaqueline Kirby, Elizabeth Peters’ adventurous librarian heroine. This is her first murder adventure, and she was a great heroine then as well as now. Acerbic and funny, she wins the day.
September 2, 2024
Hmmm. I can't say that I was utterly enamoured of this book. A murder mystery involving seven young Art and Archaeology students studying in Rome - one of their acquaintances is found dead, and Jean, who found him and was witness to his last words, suddenly starts having a lot of strange accidents. Enter the mysterious Jacqueline, who reluctantly sets about working out was is going on.
I think I only finished this book as it was so short and didn't really need a huge amount of brain power to wade through. It takes a long, long time to get to the actual crime, so if you're ok with lots of descriptive paragraphs about the city and the characters, you'll be fine ... I started to get a bit fidgety, and the death happened at just the right moment to keep me turning the pages.
It's not really a mystery the reader can solve, as it hinges on official records that we are not privy to and aren't told about to the denouement at the end. But, from the get go, we are told that its one of the friends so you can hazard a good guess at who the culprit is.
I think there were also a few times that the editing could be stronger - a scene with Jack knitting, explaining to Jean it keeps her hands busy so she doesn't smoke. Next page, she puts down her needles and lights up, for Jean to state "I didn't know you smoked!" Little things like that leapt out, grating through what was actually a reasonably entertaining read. Just not an author I would rush out to buy the complete works of.
I think I only finished this book as it was so short and didn't really need a huge amount of brain power to wade through. It takes a long, long time to get to the actual crime, so if you're ok with lots of descriptive paragraphs about the city and the characters, you'll be fine ... I started to get a bit fidgety, and the death happened at just the right moment to keep me turning the pages.
It's not really a mystery the reader can solve, as it hinges on official records that we are not privy to and aren't told about to the denouement at the end. But, from the get go, we are told that its one of the friends so you can hazard a good guess at who the culprit is.
I think there were also a few times that the editing could be stronger - a scene with Jack knitting, explaining to Jean it keeps her hands busy so she doesn't smoke. Next page, she puts down her needles and lights up, for Jean to state "I didn't know you smoked!" Little things like that leapt out, grating through what was actually a reasonably entertaining read. Just not an author I would rush out to buy the complete works of.
November 7, 2016
More like a 2 1/2. Being a huge fan of Elizabeth Peter's Amelia Peabody series, I thought it'd be interesting to read a book in a series which pre-dated the Peabody books. One can definitely tell this is one of her first efforts. In the Amelia Peabody series, Ms. Peters' characters just come to life and are very three-dimensional. There is never a dull moment. The first installment of the Jacqueline Kirby series, however, is the exact opposite. We never get a sense of any of the characters, they are all fairly one-dimensional, and the narration is not even from Jacqueline's POV, but Jean, a character who probably will not even be in the next book. And while I think Ms. Peters was hoping to make Jacqueline seem mysterious, it didn't work for me. I just felt she was very one-dimensional and I didn't really care about her one way or the other. But the book is an important stepping stone in Ms. Peters career if it helped her evolve into the writer which produced such a wonderful series as Amelia Peabody. I'll probably only read the second Jacqueline Kirby book if I find it at a library sale or on a clearance shelf.
August 28, 2013
I absolutely love Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody series so I thought I'd give her earlier work a try what a mistake. There really wasn't a likable character among the bunch. Nope not even the main character, Jacqueline Kirby. Jacqueline is a librarian who sort of horns in on a group of college students working on projects to maintain their grants. The seven semi-friends meet every morning at the local cafe for coffee and feel compelled to include a disagreeable fellow who refuses to get lost. The book really starts when said fellow winds up dead at a party at one of the seven friends houses (to which he was not invited).
Unfortunately I felt that the story itself and most of the characters were very bland and rather dull. There was too much history and/or religious background for my tastes that it almost eclipsed the mystery itself. I will admit that I figured out who the miscreant was but not the motive. All in all a good mystery but a terrible accounting. This isn't a series I would continue.
Unfortunately I felt that the story itself and most of the characters were very bland and rather dull. There was too much history and/or religious background for my tastes that it almost eclipsed the mystery itself. I will admit that I figured out who the miscreant was but not the motive. All in all a good mystery but a terrible accounting. This isn't a series I would continue.
July 8, 2022
Elizabeth Peters is perhaps best known for her Amelia Peabody series, which I've enjoyed. I much prefer, however, her Jacqueline Kirby books, and I'm disappointed that she wrote only 4.
Seventh Sinner is the first in the series. It takes place in Rome, where Kirby is a visiting university librarian at an Institute of Art and Archeology. She befriends, or is befriended by, a group of young scholars. When a hanger-on of the group is murdered, Kirby is on the spot. The main witness to the murder is subsequently bedeviled by a series of potentially fatal 'accidents', and Kirby takes the witness under her wing. She then goes on, with the help of the local police, to solve the crime, relying in her part on her knowledge of the vagaries of academia.
Kirby is something of a Mary Sue, being lovely and wise and brimming with knowledge trivial and arcane. (She is not dissimilar to Amelia Peabody, in fact, but there's no husband or overly precocious son or Master Criminals on the scene.) But it was a fun read.
Seventh Sinner is the first in the series. It takes place in Rome, where Kirby is a visiting university librarian at an Institute of Art and Archeology. She befriends, or is befriended by, a group of young scholars. When a hanger-on of the group is murdered, Kirby is on the spot. The main witness to the murder is subsequently bedeviled by a series of potentially fatal 'accidents', and Kirby takes the witness under her wing. She then goes on, with the help of the local police, to solve the crime, relying in her part on her knowledge of the vagaries of academia.
Kirby is something of a Mary Sue, being lovely and wise and brimming with knowledge trivial and arcane. (She is not dissimilar to Amelia Peabody, in fact, but there's no husband or overly precocious son or Master Criminals on the scene.) But it was a fun read.
April 10, 2024
Love the settings and romantic/suspense/mystery component of these types of novels and Elizabeth Peters does it well. The romantic element took a bit of a back seat with this one though.
April 25, 2018
I picked this book up at a book sale because I am a huge fan of Elizabeth Peters Amelia Peabody series. Yet I have found that the two other novels that I have read by Peters outside that series, this one and a Vicky Bliss mystery, just don't have the same magic and pull as my favorite series does. I know that it is unfair to compare series from the same author, so take the rest of this review with a grain of salt.
When it comes to his novel, I believe the problem arises with the point of view that was chosen. It is in third person, but follow the actions of Jean Suttman, one of the "Seven Sinners", students studying in Rome. While Jean is in the middle of all the action, finding the body that the murder mystery is centered around and then her own life seeming to be in danger, she does almost nothing to solve the mystery. While she has a good deal of knowledge about ancient roman antiquities, ruins, and art, her tidbits of information end up not really having much to do with anything. The crime solving is taken care of Jacqueline Kirby, a librarian that the group comes across by accident and is adopted by them rather readily. There can be something that could be really interesting about switching the POV from the normal "detective" of the novel to the "victim" so to speak, but it robs the reader of the ability to solve the mystery before all is revealed at the end. I hate when mystery novels do that because half of the fun of reading them is trying to outsmart the detective and figure out who the "bad guy" is first. While I still guessed who the murderer was, that was because I have read enough mystery novels to figure it out purely by how the character was described. There were not enough clues there for the reader to put together and since we don't follow Kirby as she finds the clues and puts everything together, the reveal doesn't feel earned.
I don't want it to seem like I did not enjoy the novel, but it was much like watching a home movie of someone else's vacation. It was pleasant, but not something I would want to read again. However, I am interested in how the next novel is structured as the synopsis makes it seem as if the POV will be following Jacqueline Kirby. If I find it at a book sale I'll probably pick it up.
When it comes to his novel, I believe the problem arises with the point of view that was chosen. It is in third person, but follow the actions of Jean Suttman, one of the "Seven Sinners", students studying in Rome. While Jean is in the middle of all the action, finding the body that the murder mystery is centered around and then her own life seeming to be in danger, she does almost nothing to solve the mystery. While she has a good deal of knowledge about ancient roman antiquities, ruins, and art, her tidbits of information end up not really having much to do with anything. The crime solving is taken care of Jacqueline Kirby, a librarian that the group comes across by accident and is adopted by them rather readily. There can be something that could be really interesting about switching the POV from the normal "detective" of the novel to the "victim" so to speak, but it robs the reader of the ability to solve the mystery before all is revealed at the end. I hate when mystery novels do that because half of the fun of reading them is trying to outsmart the detective and figure out who the "bad guy" is first. While I still guessed who the murderer was, that was because I have read enough mystery novels to figure it out purely by how the character was described. There were not enough clues there for the reader to put together and since we don't follow Kirby as she finds the clues and puts everything together, the reveal doesn't feel earned.
I don't want it to seem like I did not enjoy the novel, but it was much like watching a home movie of someone else's vacation. It was pleasant, but not something I would want to read again. However, I am interested in how the next novel is structured as the synopsis makes it seem as if the POV will be following Jacqueline Kirby. If I find it at a book sale I'll probably pick it up.
May 9, 2013
A little background:
1. I absolutely love the Amelia Peabody series written by Elizabeth Peters. I have read the entire series, plus the extra book on Egypt. Just LOVE the series.
2. Though middle-aged, I just became a librarian 3 years ago.
Why am I telling you this? Because I want you to know where I am coming from. I was so excited when I stumbled upon the Jacqueline Kirby series ( it's not new, because first book was published in 1972.). A book about a librarian sleuth written by an author I thoroughly enjoy?! I went to the public library that night to check out the first in the series, "The Seventh Sinner".
Okay. Though not original, I was fine with the portrayal of Jacqueline as the stereo-typical librarian; middle-aged (Hello!), hair in a tight bun, "glasses perched on her nose as she looks down on you" librarian. I wasn't bothered by the not unexpected reference to Marian the Librarian from "The Music Man". (Heck, I'm probably the only one in my library that thinks it's funny that our IT department named our network drive Marian.) Or by the continual allusions to her being sensible, though there is "more to her than meets the eye".
But did Elizabeth Peters really just introduce us to Jacqueline by using the Porn Movie Librarian Stereo-type?!?!? You know the one; she's plain, dowdy, and uptight but as soon as she takes off her glasses and lets down her hair, she's in stilettos and fish-net stockings, her skirt is now 3 inches above the knee, her shirt shrunk 2 sizes and she looks like Cindy Crawford in an 80's Pepsi commercial. Trust me; I'm a librarian who wears glasses. When I take them off there is absolutely NO WAY you would mistake me for Cindy Crawford.
But even that isn't the reason why I gave the book 2 stars. It was the Point-of-View. It's written from another character's POV and NOT Jacqueline's. All we get are snippets of how the other characters in the story perceive her -- and it is rarely flattering unless she has her hair loose or is in an "unexpectedly feminine" outfit. We have no chance of discovering more about how she thinks or operates; finding out what she is truly like in her multi-faceted personality; watch her develop and grow as a character. Why do I care about what Jean Suttman thinks when the series is about Jacqueline Kirby?
I just could not get past this POV issue in order to enjoy the story. I was asked to invest in caring about characters that I don't think continue on into the next book while being denied the chance to really care about what happens to Jacqueline. Because I know what Elizabeth Peters is capable of in her story writing is the only reason I might give the 2nd book a chance. But then again I might not; there is only so much Porn Movie Librarian stereo-type references that I can deal with.
1. I absolutely love the Amelia Peabody series written by Elizabeth Peters. I have read the entire series, plus the extra book on Egypt. Just LOVE the series.
2. Though middle-aged, I just became a librarian 3 years ago.
Why am I telling you this? Because I want you to know where I am coming from. I was so excited when I stumbled upon the Jacqueline Kirby series ( it's not new, because first book was published in 1972.). A book about a librarian sleuth written by an author I thoroughly enjoy?! I went to the public library that night to check out the first in the series, "The Seventh Sinner".
Okay. Though not original, I was fine with the portrayal of Jacqueline as the stereo-typical librarian; middle-aged (Hello!), hair in a tight bun, "glasses perched on her nose as she looks down on you" librarian. I wasn't bothered by the not unexpected reference to Marian the Librarian from "The Music Man". (Heck, I'm probably the only one in my library that thinks it's funny that our IT department named our network drive Marian.) Or by the continual allusions to her being sensible, though there is "more to her than meets the eye".
But did Elizabeth Peters really just introduce us to Jacqueline by using the Porn Movie Librarian Stereo-type?!?!? You know the one; she's plain, dowdy, and uptight but as soon as she takes off her glasses and lets down her hair, she's in stilettos and fish-net stockings, her skirt is now 3 inches above the knee, her shirt shrunk 2 sizes and she looks like Cindy Crawford in an 80's Pepsi commercial. Trust me; I'm a librarian who wears glasses. When I take them off there is absolutely NO WAY you would mistake me for Cindy Crawford.
But even that isn't the reason why I gave the book 2 stars. It was the Point-of-View. It's written from another character's POV and NOT Jacqueline's. All we get are snippets of how the other characters in the story perceive her -- and it is rarely flattering unless she has her hair loose or is in an "unexpectedly feminine" outfit. We have no chance of discovering more about how she thinks or operates; finding out what she is truly like in her multi-faceted personality; watch her develop and grow as a character. Why do I care about what Jean Suttman thinks when the series is about Jacqueline Kirby?
I just could not get past this POV issue in order to enjoy the story. I was asked to invest in caring about characters that I don't think continue on into the next book while being denied the chance to really care about what happens to Jacqueline. Because I know what Elizabeth Peters is capable of in her story writing is the only reason I might give the 2nd book a chance. But then again I might not; there is only so much Porn Movie Librarian stereo-type references that I can deal with.
October 6, 2018
Re-read on audio by Grace Conlin. Jacqueline Kirby sweeps in on the young Jean and her childish graduate student friends, who are students at an Institute for Architecture and Art in Rome. Peters set several books in Rome and I hope she got to take a trip there off her taxes because she certainly uses the setting to great effect, although this one is a teensy bit travelogue-y at the expense of character development. Jean is narrating and she’s an annoying vaguely naive and insipid everywoman common in Peters’ books of the era, despite her realistic response to finding a body. That may be why I much prefer Vicky Bliss and Amelia Peabody to the Jacqueline Kirby books. Still, this is better than most mysteries and sets up the later JKirby novels, so it’s worth a gander.
March 22, 2022
When I previewed this novel on a #FridayReads post, someone said that the cover reminded them of the Nancy Drew novels and someone else replied that they'd read the book and it felt like 'Nancy Drew for grown ups'. I think that that's an excellent description.
'The Seventh Sinner' was a light, fast read, set in an exotic location, populated with vibrant and sometimes slightly strange people tangled up in a mystery that's shot through with references to the history of ancient Rome and the early Christian Church. The mystery is fairly clever and kept me guessing throughout but what made the book for me was the spiky pragmatism of Jaqueline Kirby, an American librarian who strikes up an acquaintance with a group of young, post-doctoral historians, a generation younger than her and mostly American, who are doing research at the institute in Rome that Jacqueline is working at for the summer.
Although this is the first book in a four-book series featuring Jacqueline Kirby, the story is not told from her point of view. This storytelling style reminded me of the first Miss Marple book 'The Murder At The Vicarage' where we learnt about Miss Marple through the eyes of others without ever getting in her head. The impact of this in 'The Seventh Sinner' is that Jacqueline Kirby retains a mystique that makes her interesting and unpredictable. Having the story told by someone who is sometimes a little slow to understand what's happening around her but who is close enough to witness Jacqueline's calmness in the face of danger and her habit of changing how she presents herself to the world e.g. from demure, hair-in-a-bun glove-wearing proper Librarian to charismatic, flaming-haired, dress-split-to-long-legged-thigh party goer.
Jacqueline is observant, often blunt, always independent, sometimes deceitful and always unflappable. She's hard to like, impossible to ignore and difficult to predict. She also has a very wide range of knowledge of history, art and people that she uses to track down the person behind the killings.
I thought that the feeling of being in a privileged English-speaking enclave in a foreign city where you are neither tourist nor resident was captured well.
The plot is cunning, erudite and almost plausible. There's a large cast of characters, relatively little violence and a lot of conversation about history, archaeology and hagiography.
When the big reveal came, it was fun and caught me by surprise but didn't feel like cheating. I felt the final chapters after we knew who killed whom and why, showed a need to tidy up every detail that felt quite old-fashioned, even for the 1970s. I'm fairly sure that those pages wouldn't make it into a movie version.
I was a teenager when 'The Seventh Sinner' was published in 1972 and reading it now feels like time travel but to a time that seems stranger than I had remembered. It wasn't just the floral flamboyance of the men's clothes or the now-so-dated hairstyles. The social mores and attitudes towards gender and age are more different than I had remembered. This book made me aware of just how long it's been since I was a teenager.
The audiobook version of 'The Seventh Sinner' wasn't what I had expected either. Audible (who offer the book for free to members) show the release date as 2018 but Blackstone recorded it in 1997 and it's showing its age. Grace Conlin does an OK job as a narrator but it's not up to today's standards where I'm used to narrators providing their characters with distinct, instantly recognisable voices.
I had fun with the book. It kept me entertained on a long car ride and left me keen to finish it off when we got home. I'll be reading more in this series but next time I won't be using the audiobook version.
Read
November 17, 2025Having found the final book (Naked Once More) in this short series flawed but acceptable, and recalling how much I used to enjoy the romantic suspense of this author's alter ego Barbara Michaels, I went back to read all four books. This series opener made me recall why I never got into the mysteries written by the same author as Elizabeth Peters--they're just not as tight or as stylish or as tricksy as the short list of whodunnit authors I love best (Christie, Tey, James, Conan Doyle, Stout, along with Sarah Shaber, Edmund Crispin, Caroline Graham, Anthony Horowitz--okay, maybe not such a short list, and I know I've left some out, but each of them has a combo of style + substance that makes the Jacqueline Kirby books look a bit workaday in comparison.
I will note that Peters/Michaels isn't the only mystery author who wrote/writes one series I love and another that bores me. I reread only the Cadfael books by Ellis Peters, only the Charles Paris books by Simon Brett, and only the Harbinder Kaur series by Elly Griffiths.
But I must end by saying that if you enjoy Peters' Egyptian series, we're just different readers--and you should absolutely try the Jacqueline Kirby series.
I will note that Peters/Michaels isn't the only mystery author who wrote/writes one series I love and another that bores me. I reread only the Cadfael books by Ellis Peters, only the Charles Paris books by Simon Brett, and only the Harbinder Kaur series by Elly Griffiths.
But I must end by saying that if you enjoy Peters' Egyptian series, we're just different readers--and you should absolutely try the Jacqueline Kirby series.
April 14, 2024
Echt heerlijk deze, kon ook niet anders met al die studentjes in Rome en een biepjuf die de moord oplost!
December 9, 2013
When I heard Barbara Mertz died on August 8, 2013, I looked her books up to see if there was any I had missed reading. Mertz wrote under the name Elizabeth Peter and Barbara Michaels. Under Peter’s she is well known the Abigail Peabody series and under Michaels the Vicky Bliss series. Mertz was an archeologist who wrote mystery novels with an archeology background. I had never heard of the Jacqueline Kirby books until now. I had read all the other books so decided to give the Kirby book a try. Mertz provided a great deal of Roman history in a sort of sightseeing trip about Rome with Kirby and the group of graduate students. Kirby had a dry since of humor and the student’s were quick with the witty replies made for a few good laughs while reading. The mystery seemed to be secondary to the history of Rome and the interaction of the group of students. I was about 2/3 the way through the story before I thought I had figured who did it but the reason why was a surprise. I had thought there was not much of a plot to the story but obviously I was wrong. Thought it was great the hero was a librarian. I read this book as an audio book. Grace Conlin did a good job narrating the story.
June 17, 2016
Elizabeth Peters's novel The Murders of Richard III impressed me as being just the thing for reading when in need of light entertainment and amusement. So I tried another book in the same series, The Seventh Sinner, to see if the impression held. And it did.
Featuring librarian-sleuth Jacqueline Kirby again, this novel is set in Rome, among a small group of young research fellows and other advanced foreign students at an international institute for the study of art and architecture. Kirby herself is on a working vacation, improving her CV with an eye to an classics-related opening at her workplace back in the US.
The historical hook here is the remarkable architectural history of Rome, with particular emphasis on the history of Christian buildings, from secret underground churches and catacombs dating back to the early days of Christianity in Rome, to the proliferation of churches devoted to the saints - which leads to a delightful sidedish of hagiographic tidbits.
The murder mystery to be solved focuses on the eccentric theories of one of the young scholars of hagiocentric archeology, and in the process of solving it, Kirby leads us on a wild ride through the underbelly of academe.
I think i'm going to enjoy the rest of Peters' oeuvre.
Featuring librarian-sleuth Jacqueline Kirby again, this novel is set in Rome, among a small group of young research fellows and other advanced foreign students at an international institute for the study of art and architecture. Kirby herself is on a working vacation, improving her CV with an eye to an classics-related opening at her workplace back in the US.
The historical hook here is the remarkable architectural history of Rome, with particular emphasis on the history of Christian buildings, from secret underground churches and catacombs dating back to the early days of Christianity in Rome, to the proliferation of churches devoted to the saints - which leads to a delightful sidedish of hagiographic tidbits.
The murder mystery to be solved focuses on the eccentric theories of one of the young scholars of hagiocentric archeology, and in the process of solving it, Kirby leads us on a wild ride through the underbelly of academe.
I think i'm going to enjoy the rest of Peters' oeuvre.
August 13, 2016
Audiobook. I have the cassettes, not the CDs.
I can't believe I'm categorizing this as a period piece since I was alive then but it is written in the 1970s and so does have dialogue from that time period, "Right on" and calling cops the "Fuzz". As I was alive during that time period, I can safely say no one in my impoverished, crime riddled neighborhood in the Bay Area of California called the police the "Fuzz". So, I'm thinking at the time she wrote this, Elizabeth Peters wanted to appear up to date on all of the current slang and that is why she threw it in.
The story itself was okay. One of Jean's colleagues in a fellowship program in Rome is murdered and for some reason they're after Jean too. She gets help from Jacqueline, a librarian Jean literally ran into and became friends with. This friendship is very strange because it's like neither woman really wants it in the first place and they seem to get on each other's nerves. I've a couple of books under the author's pseudonym Barbara Michaels. The writing is very similar.
I can't believe I'm categorizing this as a period piece since I was alive then but it is written in the 1970s and so does have dialogue from that time period, "Right on" and calling cops the "Fuzz". As I was alive during that time period, I can safely say no one in my impoverished, crime riddled neighborhood in the Bay Area of California called the police the "Fuzz". So, I'm thinking at the time she wrote this, Elizabeth Peters wanted to appear up to date on all of the current slang and that is why she threw it in.
The story itself was okay. One of Jean's colleagues in a fellowship program in Rome is murdered and for some reason they're after Jean too. She gets help from Jacqueline, a librarian Jean literally ran into and became friends with. This friendship is very strange because it's like neither woman really wants it in the first place and they seem to get on each other's nerves. I've a couple of books under the author's pseudonym Barbara Michaels. The writing is very similar.
March 28, 2021
I was rather disappointed in this book, the first in the Jacqueline Kirby series. I think probably the main reason is that virtually none of the characters resonated with me. I just didn't fall in love with any of them :(
What I did like is that Jacqueline is a librarian who runs with other librarians, in particular students who are working on college projects. I really liked that aspect and wanted more. I also enjoyed the "seven sinners" or librarians who'd meet for coffee daily...I'd LOVE to do that! There were definite Christian elements which I don't mind at all. I also like that the POV's are in first person, my favorite. The mystery was decent but not exciting to me.
What I did like is that Jacqueline is a librarian who runs with other librarians, in particular students who are working on college projects. I really liked that aspect and wanted more. I also enjoyed the "seven sinners" or librarians who'd meet for coffee daily...I'd LOVE to do that! There were definite Christian elements which I don't mind at all. I also like that the POV's are in first person, my favorite. The mystery was decent but not exciting to me.
June 28, 2025
This was much better than I anticipated. I only read it to satisfy a book club prompt but was surprisingly engaged. Glad to find a new author to explore.
March 29, 2021
3.5 stars for great evocative scenes of Roman historical sites, and an intriguing introduction to another of Elizabeth Peters amateur detectives. Jacqueline Kirby, “middle-aged” academic librarian (we don’t get an exact age but she appears to be in her 40s - I guess that’s middle-aged by early 1970s standards, when this was published).
I read this and the other Jacqueline Kirby mysteries back when I first discovered and got hooked on Amelia Peabody, Peters’ most famous creation. Kirby is no Peabody, the indomitable Victorian Egyptologist, she’s not even as humorous or exciting as Vicky Bliss, another academic/amateur detective created by Peters. Kirby is quirkier, more eccentric; she is intriguing, as the young graduate students she gets involved with in this Roman murder mystery note, because she mentions having two college-aged children, but does not wish to speak of them, and never mentions a husband. She is attractive to mature men in this story, but young men also comment on her great legs, or stunning hair. I’m always surprised by how sexist men often are in older books like this, even set in the 1970s when I was a kid! Here, the young grad students grab, chase, pinch their female counterparts- I couldn’t help thinking how appalled modern young women would be if they were treated this way, and how awkward if these characters found themselves as professional colleagues in academia in the future!
Anyway, this book opens with Jean and Michael, two grad students, literally plowing into Jacqueline in the halls of the institute in Rome where they are all spending the summer. In an example of the sexist behavior of the time, Jean has been trying to work in the library, Michael was hanging about trying to catch her in dark corners, and has convinced her to come outside for some fresh air and coffee - he’s chasing her, I guess some sort of rough flirtation, and they knock Jacqueline down coming around a corner.
They drag her along for coffee with their fellow students, dubbed the Seven Sinners by the handsome, outgoing, charming guy of the group, Andy, who also has an artist sister in the group. The rest are an interesting assortment of scholars and artists- and a rather awful hanger-on named Albert. This is where I really saw the difference in a book written in the 70s; the description of Albert is so cruel and mean, everything from his mannerisms, to the way he walks, to his looks, are described in a way to make him sound totally repulsive.
Anyway, the group tours Roman historical and archaeological sites, using their expertise in various areas to educate the other members of the group. During one of these trips, to an ancient underground temple of Mithra, Jean stumbles upon the dying Albert, who imparts a clue to her before he dies. His throat has been cut, but the police say it’s a suicide; following this bizarre judgment, Jean suffers a series of accidents. Jacqueline suspect Albert’s death was actually murder, and the killer is after Jean now.
It was interesting, and although there was some snappy dialogue, mostly delivered by Jacqueline, who could have quite an acid tongue, the humor was not nearly as enjoyable as in the Amelia Peabody series. Amelia is likable despite being a bossy, rather pushy know-it-all. In fact that’s where a lot of the humor comes from - snarky comments bounce off of her self-reliant, no-nonsense personality! Jacqueline, on the other hand, just seems cranky!
Peters kept the action moving, but several of the characters seemed rather two-dimensional, and again, Jacqueline was a bit of a cipher. Her motivations, her history, a lot about her just seemed opaque – she was the most interesting character in the whole book, and yet she seemed like a stranger. And one other pet peeve, the two main female characters being named “Jean” and “Jacqueline” was confusing- among so many characters, I kept mixing them up! Couldn’t the sweet young grad student have been Patty, or Kate, or Aurelia? I’m glad I reread this one for the enjoyable descriptions of summer in Rome, but I won’t be in a big hurry to re-read the rest of the Jacqueline Kirby mysteries. They are fun, but not as enjoyable to me as the Amelia Peabody series, which I am re-reading with the reading the detectives group.
I read this and the other Jacqueline Kirby mysteries back when I first discovered and got hooked on Amelia Peabody, Peters’ most famous creation. Kirby is no Peabody, the indomitable Victorian Egyptologist, she’s not even as humorous or exciting as Vicky Bliss, another academic/amateur detective created by Peters. Kirby is quirkier, more eccentric; she is intriguing, as the young graduate students she gets involved with in this Roman murder mystery note, because she mentions having two college-aged children, but does not wish to speak of them, and never mentions a husband. She is attractive to mature men in this story, but young men also comment on her great legs, or stunning hair. I’m always surprised by how sexist men often are in older books like this, even set in the 1970s when I was a kid! Here, the young grad students grab, chase, pinch their female counterparts- I couldn’t help thinking how appalled modern young women would be if they were treated this way, and how awkward if these characters found themselves as professional colleagues in academia in the future!
Anyway, this book opens with Jean and Michael, two grad students, literally plowing into Jacqueline in the halls of the institute in Rome where they are all spending the summer. In an example of the sexist behavior of the time, Jean has been trying to work in the library, Michael was hanging about trying to catch her in dark corners, and has convinced her to come outside for some fresh air and coffee - he’s chasing her, I guess some sort of rough flirtation, and they knock Jacqueline down coming around a corner.
They drag her along for coffee with their fellow students, dubbed the Seven Sinners by the handsome, outgoing, charming guy of the group, Andy, who also has an artist sister in the group. The rest are an interesting assortment of scholars and artists- and a rather awful hanger-on named Albert. This is where I really saw the difference in a book written in the 70s; the description of Albert is so cruel and mean, everything from his mannerisms, to the way he walks, to his looks, are described in a way to make him sound totally repulsive.
Anyway, the group tours Roman historical and archaeological sites, using their expertise in various areas to educate the other members of the group. During one of these trips, to an ancient underground temple of Mithra, Jean stumbles upon the dying Albert, who imparts a clue to her before he dies. His throat has been cut, but the police say it’s a suicide; following this bizarre judgment, Jean suffers a series of accidents. Jacqueline suspect Albert’s death was actually murder, and the killer is after Jean now.
It was interesting, and although there was some snappy dialogue, mostly delivered by Jacqueline, who could have quite an acid tongue, the humor was not nearly as enjoyable as in the Amelia Peabody series. Amelia is likable despite being a bossy, rather pushy know-it-all. In fact that’s where a lot of the humor comes from - snarky comments bounce off of her self-reliant, no-nonsense personality! Jacqueline, on the other hand, just seems cranky!
Peters kept the action moving, but several of the characters seemed rather two-dimensional, and again, Jacqueline was a bit of a cipher. Her motivations, her history, a lot about her just seemed opaque – she was the most interesting character in the whole book, and yet she seemed like a stranger. And one other pet peeve, the two main female characters being named “Jean” and “Jacqueline” was confusing- among so many characters, I kept mixing them up! Couldn’t the sweet young grad student have been Patty, or Kate, or Aurelia? I’m glad I reread this one for the enjoyable descriptions of summer in Rome, but I won’t be in a big hurry to re-read the rest of the Jacqueline Kirby mysteries. They are fun, but not as enjoyable to me as the Amelia Peabody series, which I am re-reading with the reading the detectives group.
March 1, 2022
content warning: fat shaming
This book was originally published in 1970, and it shows. I found myself intensely disliking the book within the first few chapters. The problem I had was the that the murder victim was supposed to be repulsive. He was a fellow studying with a small group of other fellows at an institute in Rome. This was supposed to be a prestigious gig. Since there were so few fellows, they all spent time together socially, even though everyone found Albert (our victim) to be repulsive. In order to explain how repulsive Albert was, one of the characters refers to him as "one of our crosses," and adds "we bear him patiently because we are trying to improve ourselves. Albert was sent to us so we could practice on him. If we ever learn to love Albert, we can love anything."
Why is Albert so repulsive? Well, first he doesn't have the social skills to understand that the others don't like him all much, so he continues to hang around them. He's ugly--and "had not a single redeeming feature." Peters, using Jean as a viewpoint narrator, explains
This read like so much fat shaming that I was repulsed--not by Albert but by Peters. I hope that her later books were better, and that she learned that it's not OK to describe a character like this. I found myself feeling physically ill as I read her description of Albert. It had been so long since I'd read that level of fat shaming that I had forgotten how it felt to see it so blatantly on a page.
I tried to give the book a good shot, but I got sick of it pretty early on and read ahead to the end. The mystery was turned out to be pretty much exactly what I expected after the first few chapters, with only a few questions about methods to solve. I don't think I'll read another book in the Kirby series.
This book was originally published in 1970, and it shows. I found myself intensely disliking the book within the first few chapters. The problem I had was the that the murder victim was supposed to be repulsive. He was a fellow studying with a small group of other fellows at an institute in Rome. This was supposed to be a prestigious gig. Since there were so few fellows, they all spent time together socially, even though everyone found Albert (our victim) to be repulsive. In order to explain how repulsive Albert was, one of the characters refers to him as "one of our crosses," and adds "we bear him patiently because we are trying to improve ourselves. Albert was sent to us so we could practice on him. If we ever learn to love Albert, we can love anything."
Why is Albert so repulsive? Well, first he doesn't have the social skills to understand that the others don't like him all much, so he continues to hang around them. He's ugly--and "had not a single redeeming feature." Peters, using Jean as a viewpoint narrator, explains
His scanty forehead was half hidden by greasy locks of black hair. His face was deeply pitted with the scars of acne. In order to accommodate his protruding front teeth his upper lip had stretched to an unbelievable degree; in profile his face looked anthropoid, chinless and loose-lipped. He was also fat—not chubby or plump, but flabbily obese. Like Michael he wore his belt around his hips instead of his waist, but while gravity pulled Michael’s belt down his lean body, Albert’s immense paunch eliminated his waist-line altogether. He had small, squinting eyes, which were buried, when he smiled, between his fat cheeks and his overhanging brows. The worn leather briefcase he carried wherever he went seemed to drag one shoulder down, so that he walked with an odd lurch.(18-19)
Yet it was not Albert’s looks that made him repulsive; it was his manner. He exuded spiritual malaise like a bad smell. Consciously Jean felt sorry for him, but when he dragged a chair next to hers and patted her on the knee with a pudgy paw, she had to force herself to smile back at him instead of pulling away as from a leper.
One of Albert’s maddening, yet pathetic, qualities was his unawareness of how he affected people. His face shone greasily as he greeted them. Tenderly he stowed his briefcase under his chair. The squinting eyes inspected them, lingering longest on Jean and on Dana—who responded with a curl of her lip—and then discovered Jacqueline. “Albert Gébara,” he announced, giving the first name the French pronunciation.
This read like so much fat shaming that I was repulsed--not by Albert but by Peters. I hope that her later books were better, and that she learned that it's not OK to describe a character like this. I found myself feeling physically ill as I read her description of Albert. It had been so long since I'd read that level of fat shaming that I had forgotten how it felt to see it so blatantly on a page.
I tried to give the book a good shot, but I got sick of it pretty early on and read ahead to the end. The mystery was turned out to be pretty much exactly what I expected after the first few chapters, with only a few questions about methods to solve. I don't think I'll read another book in the Kirby series.
December 2, 2021
This story introduces librarian Jacqueline Kirby when she is literally run into by Jean Suttman in the Institute Library in Rome one lovely May day. Jean is on fellowship to study there with a specialty in mosaics. Jacqueline is spending time in Europe after sending her children off to college.
As an apology, Jean offers to take Jacqueline out for a drink and introduces her to some friends. The friends are an eclectic group of students whose specialties range from art history to archaeology. They have named themselves the Seven Sinners. But there is an eighth hanger-on. Albert Gebara is a childhood acquaintance of one the group members but his repellent looks and personality make him a person the group tries to avoid.
The group and Jacqueline gather for a tour of some catacombs and Albert tags along. When Jean stumbles on Albert who has had his throat cut and is near death, the story becomes a mystery. Only Jean knows that he tried to write the number 7 as he lay dying. Jacqueline is not convinced, as the Roman police seem to be, the Albert committed suicide. After all he had burst in on a part the evening before accusing someone of theft.
When Jean begins to suffer from "accidents" including a fall down some dark stairs, being shoved into traffic, and almost drowning in the pool at Jacqueline's place, both Jacqueline and Jean begin to try to find out who murdered Albert and who thinks Jean knows something that will uncover the villain.
I loved the setting of Rome and the various personalities of the young scholars who make up the Seven Sinners. There was a lot of fun information about archaeological and historical Rome. I really liked Jacqueline who is bright, observant, and intriguing.
The mystery was nicely complex and Grace Conlin did a great job both with the voices and with the increasing tension in the story. This book was originally published in 1972 and sometimes that shows mostly in the fashions and in the fact the Jacqueline smokes. It was a fun story.
As an apology, Jean offers to take Jacqueline out for a drink and introduces her to some friends. The friends are an eclectic group of students whose specialties range from art history to archaeology. They have named themselves the Seven Sinners. But there is an eighth hanger-on. Albert Gebara is a childhood acquaintance of one the group members but his repellent looks and personality make him a person the group tries to avoid.
The group and Jacqueline gather for a tour of some catacombs and Albert tags along. When Jean stumbles on Albert who has had his throat cut and is near death, the story becomes a mystery. Only Jean knows that he tried to write the number 7 as he lay dying. Jacqueline is not convinced, as the Roman police seem to be, the Albert committed suicide. After all he had burst in on a part the evening before accusing someone of theft.
When Jean begins to suffer from "accidents" including a fall down some dark stairs, being shoved into traffic, and almost drowning in the pool at Jacqueline's place, both Jacqueline and Jean begin to try to find out who murdered Albert and who thinks Jean knows something that will uncover the villain.
I loved the setting of Rome and the various personalities of the young scholars who make up the Seven Sinners. There was a lot of fun information about archaeological and historical Rome. I really liked Jacqueline who is bright, observant, and intriguing.
The mystery was nicely complex and Grace Conlin did a great job both with the voices and with the increasing tension in the story. This book was originally published in 1972 and sometimes that shows mostly in the fashions and in the fact the Jacqueline smokes. It was a fun story.
October 3, 2023
3.5 stars This tale of murder and intrigue amidst a group of young students in Rome was an entertaining read. Written in the 70s, the world these students inhabit felt so different from today. No computers, no cellphones, and a lot more social and down time than what I remember even from the late 90s/early 2000s.
The main character in this book is twentysomething student Jean, but it's the librarian in her 40s who steals the show. Jacqueline Kirby is confident, sexy, and a very content empty nester. Throughout the story, she takes the students under her wing and I enjoyed their interactions with her.
The book felt a tad disjointed in places and perhaps a bit less polished than some of Elizabeth Peters/Barbara Michaels' other works, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit.
The main character in this book is twentysomething student Jean, but it's the librarian in her 40s who steals the show. Jacqueline Kirby is confident, sexy, and a very content empty nester. Throughout the story, she takes the students under her wing and I enjoyed their interactions with her.
The book felt a tad disjointed in places and perhaps a bit less polished than some of Elizabeth Peters/Barbara Michaels' other works, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit.
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