The Lost Empress
Written by Steve Robinson
3.5/5
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About this audiobook
From acclaimed author Steve Robinson comes a bold new Jefferson Tayte mystery.
On a foggy night in 1914, the ocean liner Empress of Ireland sank en route between Canada and England. The disaster saw a loss of life comparable to the Titanic and the Lusitania, and yet her tragedy has been forgotten.
When genealogist Jefferson Tayte is shown a locket belonging to one of the Empress’s victims, a British admiral’s daughter named Alice Stilwell, he must travel to England to understand the course of events that led to her death.
Tayte is expert in tracking killers across centuries. In The Lost Empress, his unique talents draw him to one of the greatest tragedies in maritime history as he unravels the truth behind Alice’s death amidst a backdrop of pre-WWI espionage.
This is the fourth book in the Jefferson Tayte Genealogical Mystery series but can be enjoyed as a stand-alone story.
Steve Robinson
Steve Robinson drew upon his own family history for inspiration when he imagined the life and quest of his genealogist hero, Jefferson Tayte. The talented London-based crime writer, who was first published at age sixteen, always wondered about his own maternal grandfather. “He was an American GI billeted in England during the Second World War,” Robinson says. “A few years after the war ended he went back to America, leaving a young family behind, and, to my knowledge, no further contact was made. I traced him to Los Angeles through his 1943 enlistment record and discovered that he was born in Arkansas…” Robinson cites crime-writing and genealogy amongst his hobbies—a passion that is readily apparent in his work. He can be contacted via his website, www.steve-robinson.me, his blog at steverobinsonauthor.blogspot.com, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SteveRobinsonAuthor.
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Titles in the series (7)
In the Blood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Queen of England Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To The Grave Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Empress Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kindred Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Letters from the Dead Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dying Games Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for The Lost Empress
60 ratings7 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Was an okay read. Story seemed far-fetched but still entertaining.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A pleasant enough easy read, though I would have preferred a better balance between JT’s research and Alice’s story - there wasn’t much of the former. And the ending felt a little feeble. Not knowing that this was a series, I originally read book 5, and then started back at book 1, so I already know what happens next, and it kind of feels like this book was squeezed in because the series needed to be made longer. Book 5 follows 3 far more logically than this one.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A modern murder in England appears to be directly linked to espionage in the lead up to WW I.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Not as good as his first two, but still readable.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Eh, I'm done with these. The formula never varies, the author apparently doesn't know any Americans and there are gaffes and laughable moments as a result. Plus I just can't take JT anymore and his lackluster, backward personality.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When you sit down to read this make sure that you have all weekend or a couple of days off. You will want to read it straight through!! It is that good. I found it to be very engrossing. This is a cleverly woven book of the past and present. The twists and turns of who Alice is and what happened to her is fascinating. Part mystery, part historical fiction and also part adventure it moves quickly along. I loved this book. The subject is interesting the characters are good and the delivery of the novel is well thought out. I give this book a 5 out of 5 stars.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As in his previous book To the Grave, author Steve Robinson tells his story with two narratives; one in 1914 and Tayte's in the present day. It is a technique he does well. I found both narratives to be equally interesting, and both kept me guessing at how all the pieces fit together. In addition, Robinson shines the spotlight on an almost forgotten tragedy: the sinking of the Empress of Ireland. With a death toll almost as high as the Titanic, the Empress of Ireland has long been overshadowed by the Titanic, the sinking of the Lusitania, and by the beginning of World War I. The Lost Empress does deal tangentially with the Great War and its centenary this year by focusing on some of the events that led up to it. This strong historical foundation adds a great deal to the past narrative in the book.As someone who's read all four of Robinson's Jefferson Tayte mysteries, it's easy to see what a canny writer he is. One of the things I enjoy the most is his character's use of basic genealogist's tools to solve mysteries. Having lived with two of this breed, I know just how much information can be found in old records, be they census records, wills, photographs, newspaper accounts, or letters and diaries. To the uninitiated it may seem incredulous that Tayte can solve crime using these methods, but it's not. (Did you know that there's such a thing as forensic genealogy?)Another thing that Robinson has done throughout this series is vary the action. From someone who blundered from one concussion to the next in the first book, Tayte has become calmer and more assured-- even to the point of dodging bullets in The Last Queen of England. Robinson knows that there aren't many genealogists out there who dodge bullets for a living, so there's no repeat of that in this book. Instead the focus is on that very puzzling ancestor and her story, and it's a very rich and satisfying mystery to solve.This book can easily be read as a standalone, but as the story ends with Tayte being on the verge of making a life-changing decision, chances are excellent that this is one series you're going to want to continue following.