Booklog: Did the devil make him do it?

[nebroadwe]

Dave Duncan, The Alchemist's Apprentice

High-concepted to me as "Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin in Renaissance Venice," this book lives up to its billing. NH Alfeo Zeno, apprentice to the physician, astrologer and occultist Nostradamus, returns home from shopping to find his master absent and a cryptic quatrain of prophecy beside the seeing crystal. Soon afterward the authorities arrive with news that an official whose death Nostradamus may have predicted dropped dead in his presence. Now master and apprentice must solve the mystery or face a most unpleasant set of consequences. Duncan deftly evokes the historical period without drowning the reader in detail or falling into anachronistic colloquialisms. His narrator Zeno is cynical, loyal, smart (though not as smart as his master) and an entertaining foil not only to his grumpy Nostradamus but also to the variously suave, threatening, blustery and seductive citizens of Venice. The occult elements are handled particularly well, blending neatly with the logic of the whodunnit -- no small accomplishment. A good read for both mystery and fantasy fans.

Comments

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

interesting i'll have to see if the library can get this when i go home

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

It's got a sequel, which I need to obtain from somewhere.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

cool