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Robert R. McCammon

Robert McCammon

The Queen of Bedlam Paperback – October 23, 2007

by Robert McCammon (Author)

483 ratings

Book 2 of 8: The Matthew Corbett Novels

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His epic masterwork Speaks the Nightbird, a tour de force of witch hunt terror in a colonial town, was hailed by Sandra Brown as "deeply satisfying...told with matchless insight into the human soul." Now, Robert McCammon brings the hero of that spellbinding novel, Matthew Corbett, to eighteenth-century New York, where a killer wields a bloody and terrifying power over a bustling city carving out its identity—and over Matthew's own uncertain destiny.

The unsolved murder of a respected doctor has sent ripples of fear throughout a city teeming with life and noise and commerce. Who snuffed out the good man's life with the slash of a blade on a midnight street? The local printmaster has labeled the fiend "the Masker," adding fuel to a volatile mystery...and when the Masker claims a new victim, hardworking young law clerk Matthew Corbett is lured into a maze of forensic clues and heart-pounding investigation that will both test his natural penchant for detection and inflame his hunger for justice.

In the strangest twist of all, the key to unmasking the Masker may await in an asylum where the Queen of Bedlam reigns—and only a man of Matthew's reason and empathy can unlock her secrets. From the seaport to Wall Street, from society mansions to gutters glimmering with blood spilled by a deviant, Matthew's quest will tauntingly reveal the answers he seeks—and the chilling truths he cannot escape.

Print length

656 pages
Language

English
Publication date

October 23, 2007
Dimensions

5.31 x 1.64 x 8.25 inches
ISBN-10

1416551115
ISBN-13

978-1416551119
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Set in Manhattan in 1703, this spellbinding sequel to Speaks the Nightbird (2002) from bestseller McCammon finds Matthew Corbett, a 23-year-old magistrate's clerk, on the trail of the Masker, a killer who stalks prominent businessmen. Matthew stumbles on the bodies of two of the Masker's victims, including pederast Eben Ausley, the headmaster of the orphanage Matthew once reluctantly called home. Plucky Matthew, who becomes a junior associate of the New York branch of a London problem-solving firm called the Herrald Agency, discovers a possible link to the crimes in the person of an elderly amnesiac patient in a mental asylum who's known as the Queen of Bedlam. Matthew and his cohorts later make a dangerous foray to the headquarters that the villainous Professor Fell maintains for young-criminals-in-training. McCammon brilliantly captures colonial New York and closes with a tantalizing cliffhanger that suggests more exciting sleuthing to come. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Robert McCammon is the New York Times bestselling author of Boy’s Life and Gone South, among many critically acclaimed works of fiction, with millions of copies of his novels in print. He is a recipient of the Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award, the Grand Master Award from the World Horror Convention, and is a World Fantasy Award winner. He lives in Alabama. Visit the author at RobertMcCammon.com.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Gallery Books; 1st Edition (October 23, 2007)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 656 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1416551115
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1416551119
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.25 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.31 x 1.64 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #253,579 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3,408 in Historical Thrillers (Books)
- #3,731 in Serial Killer Thrillers
- #4,390 in Historical Mystery

Customer Reviews:
483 ratings

About the authors

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Robert R. McCammon
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Robert McCammon is the New York Times bestselling author of nineteen novels, including the award-winning BOY'S LIFE and SPEAKS THE NIGHTBIRD. There are more than four million copies of his books in print. His 2018 novel, THE LISTENER, is set in the 1930s and is available now from Cemetery Dance Publications.
His newest novel, CARDINAL BLACK, was published by Cemetery Dance in 2019. It is the seventh novel in the Matthew Corbett series, which started with SPEAKS THE NIGHTBIRD.
Mr. McCammon is currently writing THE KING OF SHADOWS, the eighth novel in the Matthew Corbett series.
Visit his websites: www.robertmccammon.com and www.matthewcorbettsworld.com
See more on the author's page
Robert McCammon
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.
Robert McCammon is the New York Times bestselling author of nineteen novels, including the award-winning BOY'S LIFE and SPEAKS THE NIGHTBIRD. There are more than four million copies of his books in print. His latest novel, CARDINAL BLACK, is the seventh book in the Matthew Corbett series.
He recently completed the eighth book, THE KING OF SHADOWS, which is expected to be published in 2022.
Visit his websites: www.robertmccammon.com and www.matthewcorbettsworld.com
See more on the author's page

Customer reviews

5 star		78%
4 star		17%
3 star		2%
2 star		2%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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K. Graff

Fascinating and riveting read

Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2019

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This is a follow up to Speaks the Nightbird, the first in a 5-book series about Matthew Corbett, a most unlikely hero. I don’t typically read historical fiction, but was introduced to the series by my book club. I am ecstatic to have “met” this protagonist.

The Queen of Bedlam continues the storyline of an unassuming but very clever legal clerk named Matthew Corbett. This book is set in New York at the dawn of the 18th century. An avid chess player, Mr. Corbett has an uncanny ability to “solve problems”, and, as such, he finds himself in a new career as a junior associate of what we would consider to be a private investigation firm in today’s times.

His sleuthing activities lead him on numerous perilous journeys, which kept this reader mesmerized. The characters met along the way are unforgettable, and the interwoven storylines are breathtaking.

Yes, there is violence - some of it downright gruesome - but the violence is indicative of the times and is always germaine to the story at hand. In other words, the violence is not gratuitous. I can live with that!

I heartily recommend this book (as well as the first in the series) for an educational, enlightening and enjoyable read.

11 people found this helpful

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Adrienne Perry

Spellbinding!

Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2019

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If you don’t care for a great many details in your Historic Mystery, this is not a read for you! This author is as much a world builder as any SciFi or fantasy writer, the only difference being that this is a world that once existed, so wonderfully described that you find yourself immersed in the telling to the point that you ARE there, at least in your well-exercised & healthy imagination. This book is the sequel to Speaks the Nightbird, but you don’t have to have read that tale (although you certainly should) to appreciate this one; the only thing the two have in common is it’s the same brilliant magistrate’s clerk, Matthew Corbett, out to solve intriguing mysteries…one being what will Matthew do with his life now that becoming a lawyer has been ruled out. The setting is New York Town not long after it’s transition from New Amsterdam, it’s population only 3,000 or so individuals, so you can imagine the fear that infects the townsfolk when a serial killer emerges whom they dub “The Masker” because of the curious cuts made in the flesh surrounding the victim’s eyes. And then there’s a dignified & wealthy speechless woman in a nearby mental asylum that Matthew believes is somehow connected. Flawlessly written rich prose; exciting action! Now on to the next book of what has become the Matthew Corbett series.

8 people found this helpful

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KeoghTop Contributor: Cooking

Historic Fiction + Mystery + Horror + Action = I'm hooked

Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2021

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Hope to see the others in this series out on e-book soon! This second book takes a great new direction from the first book. (Paralegal -> Fledgling Detective). Moreover, it sets up the entire series for a much more exciting action and plot oriented direction. I keep liking Matthew Corbett better and better. In this book, he pulls a Spiderman move and must choose between a life of danger or love and happiness. It takes place in New York City under Colonial English rule. Anyway, I hope to see more of these on e-book soon. If you like David Morrell's Thomas De Quincey Books or Dan Simmon's Historic Fiction, these are a home run!

One person found this helpful

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Matthew Corbett turns P.I.

Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2013

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THE QUEEN OF BEDLAM is the first sequel to the "Matthew Corbett" series first published in 2002 as McCammon's "comeback" smash hit, SPEAKS THE NIGHTBIRD. As TQOB opens, 23 year old Matthew is now a clerk for a Magistrate in 1702 Manhattan, a bustling up and coming metropolis of some 5,000 souls. But his days as a simple clerk come to an end when he draws the attention of Katherine Herrald, the well-to-do, successful widowed owner of a London-based Private Investigator Agency seeking to open an office in the New World. Matthew is hired on a kind of trial basis to discover the identify of and story behind the eponymous "Queen", a mysterious, catatonic woman in a private sanitarium up the Hudson, whose benefactor has her maintained amidst lavish and expensive furnishing from which all identifying marks have been removed, under the care of 2 private physicians who are paid directly from a source in Philadelphia.

Whereas in STN, we are treated to detailed descriptions of everyday life in the 1699 Carolina Colonies, TQOB gives us a similar picture of life in New York when Brooklyn was still spelled Breuckelen and Philadelphia and Boston were the real big cities, with Manhattan still just a few steps up from a village.

The writing is magnificent and the the pace is rapid, even for a long novel. Matthew continues to grow and mature, and, under the tutelage of Herralds parter, Hudson Greathouse, begins to train physically in defensive and offensive arts that will turn out to be key in a lengthy climactic section near the end of the novel.

Once again there are multiple mysteries to be solved, and Matthew continues to sharpen his ability to ask precisely the right questions and to assemble seemingly unrelated facts and occurrences as he slowly builds theories to explain the mysteries he seeks to explain. There are some welcome comic asides that McCammon handles particularly well, but once again, as with STN, this is a straight up historical fiction- mystery story with not a hint of that old McCammon horror. So if you are looking for another SWAN SONG, you will likely be disappointed. But if you are looking for top notch mystery, history and fiction, this is for you. It's on to MISTER SLAUGHTER, the next one in the series for me.

Highly Recommended.

J.M. Tepper

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Squeaky Joe

A fascinating and thrilling read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 21, 2018

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When a respected doctor is murdered in 1700s New York, a tide of fear sweeps through the city. Branded ‘the Masker’ by a local printer, a second body is soon discovered, spreading further alarm amid the community. Law clerk Matthew Corbett has questions he wants answered, but no-one is willing to listen to him – least of all High Constable Gardner Lillehorne, so Matthew takes on his own investigation and quickly finds himself in deep water.

In Robert McCammon’s second book featuring Matthew Corbett, the young clerk is faced with several challenges, not least discovering who is going around slashing throats. As with ‘Sings the Night Bird’ the story is riveting from start to finish and demonstrates the author’s skill as a consummate storyteller. The plot weaves together numerous storylines, pitching its hero against a talented swordsman, a cross-dressing Govenor and old enemy Eben Ausley, as well as throwing him into a possible romance with his new landlord’s daughter.

The language, as always, is perfect and paints a vivid picture of early New York, as well as the vagaries and occasionally murderous habits of its inhabitants. A fascinating and thrilling read from the first page to the last.

4 people found this helpful

Ian Williams

A thriller to rank with Stieg Larsson's Millenium trilogy

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 7, 2010

Verified Purchase

-which I coincidentally read immediately before this.

Set in growing colony town of New York in 1702, it continues the story of the young clerk, Matthew Corbett, (whose story begins in Speaks The Nightbird, though prior knowledge of his activities is not required). The town is terrified because of the activities of a violent murderer (and possibly serial killer) nicknamed The Masker. This is only the beginning of an exquisitely written authentically detailed historical thriller which grows more and more complex as the highly intelligent Corbett begins to investigate the dark secrets of the new society and the dark and dangerous world in which he lives. It is populated with a number of vivid and fascinating characters who range from the kindly and the charming to the deepest black. It is stunningly inventive with a rich use of language and vernacular and a plot that twists and turns in many unexpected directions.

I really don't want to say to much otherwise I might spoil the many pleasures that this rich and readable novel possesses. Perhaps it's best if I end this review by saying I read this book on holiday and within hours of my return (and about half an hour before writing this review) had ordered the third in the series which was published earlier this year.

3 people found this helpful

Watty

Slow starter

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 8, 2018

Verified Purchase

A good historical murder mystery, it was very slow in its build up in fact I nearly cast the book aside it was so overly descriptive-the book is set in New York and yes the story needed to give you the sense of the city as it was but most of this was only relevant if you were a New Yorker, anyway I finished the book and it turned out to be an enjoyable read once past the boring first chapters.

Mr Macabre

Superb!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 30, 2016

Verified Purchase

I enjoyed this as much as [book:Speaks the Nightbird|1525997] Matthew Corbett is a hugely likeable character and placing him in the New York of this age works beautifully. Mr McCammon has the knack of making you read without ever realising that's what you're doing! Some writers can take a while to take you into the pages but he does it in a matter of one sentence.

A beautifully written story and I'll definitely continue with this series.

One person found this helpful

sandra k chung

Great

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 25, 2021

Verified Purchase

I am at present reading his first book. It that good. Can not wait to read this book

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