The Feast of Stephen

Ellis Portal Mystery #2

by Rosemary Aubert

A serious of seemingly routine deaths by exposure in Toronto are revealed to have a much more sinister origin when all the victims turn out to be courtroom habitues who are all found with verses from the Bible in their possession. Reprint.

Genres: Mystery, Canada, Fiction

272 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 14, 1999

About the author

Rosemary Aubert, B.A., M.A., C.Cri is the internationally-acclaimed author of the Ellis Portal mystery series. She is the author of five romance novels published around the world and of poems, interviews, articles and reviews over several decades of writing. She has taught workshops from coast to coast in Canada and the United States and is a frequent guest lecturer at colleges, universities, writers' groups and conferences. Rosemary believes that anyone can be a writer if he or she is willing make full use of his or her talent, imagination and ability to work hard.

Series:
* Ellis Portal Mystery

Awards:
Arthur Ellis Award
◊ Best Novel (2000): The Feast of Stephen

Reviews

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this novel.......the character & the interesting twists!

[Alton Motobu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ellis Portal is the most interesting amateur sleuth I have ever encountered in 50+ years of reading cozy mysteries; he is an ex-judge in Toronto who is convicted of some sort of crime then leaves the bench and becomes a homeless street person and solves mysteries on the side. This is the second book in the series; I have not read the first, FREE REIGN, but I plan to do so later so I can learn more about his background. I picked up this book in mid-November because it seemed to have some Christmas flavor and I wanted to start getting in the mood for the holidays. The mystery involves the murders of other street persons who are court "groupies" - they spend their days sitting in court rooms listening to cases. Ellis goes undercover as a court room monitor to see who might be likely suspects, then he himself is targeted and barely survives. One drawback, however, is Ellis refuses to tell his daughter and the police what he has uncovered, and he has a tendency to not read his mail or listen to those who are trying to help him.

The ending of this books seems to tie up all the loose strings and Ellis seems on his way to recovery, but the series continued with at least 3 more books, so I may have to read those.

[Debby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Turned out better than I thought. I had trouble getting into the story the first few chapters. It did get better and the story became interesting. The list of suspects grew and you kept guessing. In the end, I was completely wrong on who the killer was. Nice read

[Dorothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining mystery with interesting main character.

[nineveh_rains · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting detective mystery.

[Cindy Su · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it.

[Qiana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't realize that I had come into the middle of a series until I started reading the book... and the author gave away seemingly huge parts of the book before. Sort of a downer that another book had been spoiled for me, but I digress. Former judge Ellis Portal is living in an abandoned government building when a friend asks him to come back to Toronto to investigate the death of a homeless woman that has been written off as exposure. His friend Queenie doesn't think that's the cause and wants someone to help. I enjoyed the story, but sometimes felt a bit lost with the back stories of the characters. This may have not been an issue if I had started the series with the first book. The mystery itself developed nicely and logically, although one of the red herrings was a bit too out of left field for me. This is one of the few books were I have to say I noticed a difference in the male and female characters and I could understand (and in someways liked more) the motivations of the female characters. Partly I think this may be due to coming into the middle of a series, but partly I think it may be that the women might have been more sympathetically drawn. I'm not sure that I'd seek out other books from this series, but if they presented themselves to me, I would read them.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written mystery that I had a hard time putting down. Aubert is skilled at describing the inner and outer realities of people who are down and out. The main character, Ellis Portal, is easy to relate to despite his lapses of judgment and flaws. I enjoyed the writing just a bit more than the mystery, parts of which lacked originality. But Aubert nicely tied in the mystery with the dramatic sub-plots, helping to make up for the unexciting mystery. This was my first Ellis Portal mystery, and I plan to read more.

[blmagm · Rating 4 out of 5]

So good to read a mystery that is more than a parody of the genre itself. Set in Canada, it tells the story of Ellis Portal, once a judge who is now "hard on his luck," as he helps solve the murders of several homeless people. Interesting characters sprinkled throughout: Tootie Beets, his young Gothic landlady; Harpur Stoughton-Melville, his Alzheimer's stricken former love; Ellen, his ambitious lawyer daughter, and his fellow sleuth Queenie. Enough twists and turns to keep me turning pages to the end.

[LJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Feast of Stephen - G+
Aubert, Rosemary - 2nd in series

A disgraced judge living in poverty investigates the death of homeless women in Toronto. Police blame the deaths on the weather, but a friend of a victim suspects foul play. By applying his experience as an indigent, ex-judge Ellis Portal uncovers a serial killer who targets street people.

This is a good series with an interesting protagonist.

[Marti · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book in that the main character in the series, is Ellis Portal, a former Canadian judge, now a homeless person. What led to this is sketched out, but the important part is what he is doing now, which is trying to solve the murders of three woman, as he is urged to do by an acquaintance named Queenie, who is of Cree descent. This gives a picture of the Toronto judicial system, which is somewhat different than ours.

[M.K. Theodoratus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have to give this five stars because I keep it and have reread it several times -- including this Christmas. If you haven't stumbled onto Aubert's Ellis Portal series, take a look. Her who-done-its delve deep into human nature and offers a interesting portrait of Montreal.

In The Feast of Stephen, "court groupies" are dying and former judge, Ellis Portal, is convinced to find out why. Added suspense: Portal has received the same type of Bible verses as the victims.

[Peggy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an entertaining enough mystery, but the main character, Ellis Portal, seems neutered to me, and unconvincing as a male figure who was once a judge, then homeless, then a criminal. He's just too nice, too refined, too ordinary. Unfortunately, I read this, the second novel in the series, out of sequence, so I am going to read book one to see what happened to tame Ellis so much. On the other hand, the plot is well-done and it certainly kept me reading.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didnt realise that this was the second book in a series. I was given this book while living in Toronto by a very kind lady. She told me to read it and then pass it onto someone else who would cherish it aswell. I wasn't planning on reading much of it but during my commute to work i loved this book! I thought it was very well written and the characters were awesome. I definitly would suggest this book to others! Im not sure i will read the full series...we will see.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderfully multi-layered protagonist: judge turned cocaine addict turned street person turned - well, that would be telling. Anyway, nice series. And actually believable, despite my description!

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

an easy to read, page turner. I liked the main character, Ellis Portal, the ex judge recovering from a break down of his life, who is trying to get back on track and now somewhat unwillingly involved in a mystery. I also liked the Toronto setting as it brought back some fond memories.

[Grey853 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't like the main character. To me the whole point of reading books is to have interesting characters involved in a plot that intrigues me. This one was okay, but nothing that engaging.

[Kimberlyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

slow moving--often the plot draggd into a dullness.

[Cody · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a rather good one- I'm usually not one for mysteries. I am, however, for characters who are not your average bland old cutouts, and she does create some very intriguing people.

[Dave · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too tedious; dumped

[Orangereader · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really tried to like this, shelved it and picked it up again.
I just can't relate the main character, sigh.
Shelving again.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

I suggest reading her first book, Free Reign, before reading this book,
her second. I like this character and his friend Queenie. I thought the
ending was perfect.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: former judge Portal, homeless himself, recruits Queenie to help solve several homeless murders.