Creation In Death J.D. Robb

1. Creation In DeathJ.D. Robb Created by: Allison Bender

2. What is it? Attribute: Title: What is your book’s genre? Write it here: Attribute: Attribute: Example: Example: Example:

3. Attribute: Setting makes this book a Horror/Fantasy novel. “Besides the enormous ox-carts, coaches, burros laden with charcoal and firewood, and herds of long-horned cattle and grunting swine, there were unexpected numbers of soldiers on the causeway” (15). “The following morning January made enquiries for Senor Benedicte do Cerritos among the letter-writers who set up their portable desks, their ink-wells and their sheets of pink and blue paper among the candy-stalls and vendors of mangos and oranges in the dense shade of the arcade along the western side of Plaza Santo Domingo” (132). “Every time I take a steam packet, reflected January resignedly, I swear the next voyage will be under sail. And then while we beat back and forth within sight of port for two weeks, waiting for a favorable puff of wind to take us in, I remember why I don’t” (308). Link to definition map!

4. Attribute: Because the main character is working to find clues to prove his friend’s innocence, this is a mystery. Middle Beginning End “I am widely supposed to have murdered his only son” (1). “The shop was gloomy . . . . Some of the medicinal plants he recognized from his sister Olympe’s stock of voodoo remedies—spikenard for hcest cold and aloes for bruises, chinchona bark to induce abortions. . . . But when they spoke of local poisons, what January learned was not only unhelpful but puzzling” (137). “’It has to have been peanuts, doesn’t it?’ said Rose. ‘I think so. Dona Maria-Exaltacion dies of eating ‘poisoned candy—it could easily have been a praline. . . . It would be easy for him to carry a handful of powdered nuts wrapped in paper and dump them in the strongest-tasting dish he could find”(270). SAMPLE SLIDE Link to definition map!

5. Attribute: This novel is a mystery because the main character must solve the problem, or terrible things will happen. Beginning Middle End “Were Don Prospero de Castellon even marginally sane, I would probably already have been executed—the evidence is fairly damning. By remarks the Don has made, however, I have the uncomfortable conviction that after the first of November—he will fall in with the popular view” (1). “The Days of the Dead were coming, as certain as the slow waning of the sun. Ten days’ grace at the outside, and less than that if Santa Anna left town, or Don Prospero grew bored with Hannibal . . . . Or went mad again. The recollection of the smell of blood in the darkness returned to him, and of Casimiro’s frightened eyes” (122). Don Anastasio reached down, dragged Hannibal to his feet by the front of his shirt, then tore the garment back over his shoulders and shovedhim into the grip of two bandits, who had managed, in near-record time, to finish the liquor in the flask” (291). SAMPLE SLIDE Link to definition map!

6. EVALUATION: Is Days of the Dead a good example of a historical mystery? • Barbara Hambly did an excellent job creating the setting of 1835 Mexico City. She researched the layout of the streets, and she used real figures from history. Her descriptions were vivid and believable. Unfortunately, the mystery fell flat. The trail to the killer was long and twisted; I never even suspected him of being the killer until she reveals him in the last part. The ending wrapped up very quickly; everyone was safe and happy. The bad guy was dead. SAMPLE SLIDE