I have been re-reading some of the older Feist books in my library and decided to add the rest of his books. I have been reading them in series order according to the recommendation of Feist's site www.crydee.com

All I can say is that you will not miss anything by NOT reading this book.

All I can figure is that Feist decided to get a piece of the action off what this guy Rosenberg wrote by adding his name since it takes places in Midkemia that he created. It was slow to the point of dragging so bad that I fell asleep! I had the murderer picked out chapters before the murder was commmitted. There was so much analyzing of what characters were thinking that you could skip ahead and not miss a beat. Of all the Feist books the only other ones that have given me so much plot struggle were the machinations of the Great Game on Kelewan, but at least in that series there were great plot twists and story lines to help hook you back in to the story.

I have not read the book yet. Very impressed with the delivery to NZL - speed & excellent condition. Looking forward to reading the book as I have read Book 1 - Legends of the Riftwar!

I must say that this book is a MAJOR disappointment. I've read every other book that Feist has written and this is by far the worst. First the murder doesn't happen until near the end of the book. Second, the majority of the novel deals with the weather conditions of LaMut when the blizzard hit. I know it was probably cold but do we really need endless pages describing people not wanting to go out in the cold and standing around giving everyone the "evil eye" . Speaking of standing around that's all about what everyone does, stand around and try to figure out who's friends and who the next big shot is going to be. Finally of the main three characters talk about stereotypes...let's see we have the smart one, the big one , and and average guy who tries to be nice. If you are a Feist fan and want to read it all, go ahead but be warned.

Just never went anywhere. I am a big Raymond Feist fan but this was a big disappointment.

There are three major problems with this book.

First, the three main characters aren't that interesting.

Second, the same problem I had with the last Rosenberg book I read - it's hard to tell what the plot is. Despite the title, it is not a murder mystery. The murder doesn't even happen until 3/4 of the way through the book. And then the main characters frame an innocent (on this issue, anyway) man so that they can claim the job is done, get paid, and leave town.

Third, most of the events in the book center around a non-issue: The identity of the next Earl of LaMut. This is a non-issue because most of the people interested in this book have probably read Magician, which has been out for decades, and gives the answer - someone who isn't in the group squabbling about it in this book. The fact that the most frequently brought up question in the book is one that the reader knew the answer to before he even picked the book up makes it hard to care about the book as a whole.