{"id":5103,"date":"2015-02-03T20:37:51","date_gmt":"2015-02-04T01:37:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=5103"},"modified":"2024-03-20T17:36:00","modified_gmt":"2024-03-20T21:36:00","slug":"cut-to-the-quick-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5103","title":{"rendered":"Cut to the Quick"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cut to the Quick<\/a><\/em> (1993) Kate Ross<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CutToTheQuick\"<\/a>I was out of sorts and couldn’t decide what I was in the mood to read when I realized THIS was what I wanted to read. Or rather re-read.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try to be interested in very nearly everything. I always think boredom is to some extent the fault of the bored.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is so much I adore about this book. Take Phillipa, an 11-year-old girl who is delighted to meet the dandy Julian Kestrel.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf everyone who died with unpunished sins on his conscience came back as a ghost, the living would be crowded out of every home in England.\u201d
\n\u201cYou\u2019re cynical. I thought you would be. Can you sneer?\u201d
\n\u201cWith terrifying effect.\u201d
\n\u201cOh, do it, please! I want to see it!\u201d
\n\u201cI\u2019m afraid you\u2019re much too young to withstand it. I should be accused of stunting your growth\u2014 perhaps even sending you into a decline.\u201d
\n\u201cI wouldn\u2019t go into a decline. I\u2019m robust. My governess says so.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I love Julian Kestrel. He’s a mystery, and a man who makes himself out to be less than he truly is.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m up every morning by six. I don\u2019t suppose you\u2019d get up at that hour if the house were on fire.\u201d
\nJulian rallied. \u201cI like that hour very well. I often stay up all night so as not to miss it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t wish to insult you, Kestrel, but I\u2019m beginning to think you\u2019d have made a very good lawyer.\u201d
\n\u201cI couldn\u2019t have abided the wig. I never see a barrister tricked out for court without thinking he looks as if a wire-haired terrier had settled on his head.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That wouldn’t actually have been a slam at lawyers. It was that one didn’t expect members of the ton to work<\/em>.<\/p>\n

So Julian Kestrel is a dandy–he is a part of society because he is witty and dresses well. But without those things society wouldn’t give him a second glance, and he knows it.<\/p>\n

He’s also a kind man, although he wouldn’t admit it, because it would ruin the image he has worked so hard to create. Except that an act of kindness has him unexpectedly spending time with the Fontclairs, and a murder throws suspicion upon Julian and his manservant, Dipper (I also love Dipper).<\/p>\n

But I also love the little glimpses into what life would have been like then.<\/p>\n

Senderby was feeling miserably unequal to his task. He had never wanted to be constable of Alderton. He had yielded to the urging of his neighbours, who insisted he had more time for the job than most men in the parish. His shoemaking business was apt to be slow, except in the weeks just after the harvest, when people had money in their pockets. And he was tall and strapping\u2014 just the right build for a constable, everyone said. But what did he know about questioning servants and tracking murderers? Till now, he\u2019d had nothing more alarming to deal with than rounding up vagrants for the house of correction, or breaking up fights between farm labourers who\u2019d had a drop too many.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s a small wonder that justice was seen as something for the rich.<\/p>\n

But really, I love everything about this story: the characters, the mystery, the setting, the dialog, absolutely everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing pretty is no great matter. Any young lady with bright eyes and passable teeth can claim that much. Better to be clever, quick, and intrepid\u2014 to charm with your mind and enchant with your wit\u2014 in short, to be the one radiant Circe in a season of dreary Helens.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rating: 10\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by Felony & Mayhem Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cut to the Quick (1993) Kate Ross I was out of sorts and couldn’t decide what I was in the mood to read when I realized THIS was what I wanted to read. Or rather re-read. \u201cI try to be interested in very nearly everything. I always think boredom is to some extent the fault […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10,30,33,8],"tags":[556,514,365],"class_list":["post-5103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-10-10","category-british","category-historical","category-mystery","tag-georgian-era","tag-julian-kestrel","tag-kate-ross"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-1kj","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1707,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1707","url_meta":{"origin":5103,"position":0},"title":"Cut to the Quick","author":"Michelle","date":"May 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Cut to the Quick (1993) Kate Ross Amazing how reading--and rereading--an excellent book can lift one's mood. I love Kate Ross' Julian Kestrel series, which starts with Cut to the Quick.","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":261,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/261","url_meta":{"origin":5103,"position":1},"title":"The Devil in Music","author":"Michelle","date":"June 1, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The Devil in Music (1997) Kate Ross Four years previously, Lodovico Malvezzi died of a heart attack. Now, four years later, it comes out that he was actually murdered, but local officials covered up the murder in fear it would encourage the revolutionaries, who it was believed were behind the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "10\/10"","block_context":{"text":"10\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/10-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/06\/Devil-Music.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14250,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/14250","url_meta":{"origin":5103,"position":2},"title":"Cut to the Quick","author":"Michelle","date":"April 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Cut to the Quick (1993) Kate Ross (Julian Kestrel Mysteries) Set in England in 1823. \u201cIf everyone who died with unpunished sins on his conscience came back as a ghost, the living would be crowded out of every home in England.\u201d \u201cYou\u2019re cynical. I thought you would be. Can you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "10\/10"","block_context":{"text":"10\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/10-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cut to the Quick","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Cut-to-the-Quick.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":252,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/252","url_meta":{"origin":5103,"position":3},"title":"Cut to the Quick","author":"Michelle","date":"May 15, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Cut to the Quick (1993) Kate Ross Reading the T. F. Banks books put me in the mood for another Victorian mystery, and lucky for me, I had one waiting here to read. Julian Kestrel is a dandy. He's making his mark on London society by being a sharp dresser,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Cut-to-the-Quick.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":260,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/260","url_meta":{"origin":5103,"position":4},"title":"Whom the Gods Love","author":"Michelle","date":"May 29, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Whom the Gods Love (1995) Kate Ross Alexander Falkland has been killed. His head smashed in with a poker while one of his famous parties rages upstairs. But Alex is the darling of the ton (it took me awhile to figure this one out; the ton is the bon ton,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Whom-Gods-Love.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1709,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1709","url_meta":{"origin":5103,"position":5},"title":"A Broken Vessel","author":"Michelle","date":"May 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"A Broken Vessel (1994) Kate Ross Continuing my effort to lift my mood, I read the second Julian Kestrel book, A Broken Vessel.","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5103\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}