Gordon, Alan 1959- (Alan R. Gordon)

PERSONAL:

Married Judy Downer; children: Robert. Education: University of Chicago, J.D., 1984.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Queens, NY. Office—Legal Aid Society, 199 Water St., New York, NY 10038.

CAREER:

Lawyer and writer. Legal Aid Society, New York, NY, attorney.

WRITINGS:

"FOOLS' GUILD" MYSTERY SERIES

Thirteenth Night, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 1999.

Jester Leaps In, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2000.

A Death in the Venetian Quarter, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2002.

The Widow of Jerusalem, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2003.

An Antic Disposition, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2004.

The Lark's Lament, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2007.

The Moneylender of Toulouse, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2008.

Contributor of short stories to periodicals, including Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.

SIDELIGHTS:

Alan Gordon has created a unique mystery series with his "Fools' Guild" series of books, set in medieval times and featuring a jester's group that functions at high levels of intrigue across England and Europe. The first book in the series is Thirteenth Night, a reference to William Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night. In this novel, Shakespeare's drama is based on real-life events orchestrated by Feste, one of the members of the Fools' Guild. Feste is called upon fifteen years later to investigate the cause of the duke of Orsino's death, and he must hide his identity from Malvolio, who has vowed revenge for the humiliation he suffered at Feste's hands years earlier. Jeri Wright, writing on the Mystery Reader Web site, found the most "fascinating" part of Gordon's book to be the invention of the Fools' Guild, which is allied with the church, spread throughout the known world, and instrumental in pulling strings behind the scenes at the highest levels of society and government. David Pitt noted in Booklist: "On every level—characters, plot, and style, in addition to premise—this is an outstanding first mystery."

In Jester Leaps In the fool named Theophilos has just married a woman named Viola, who is his apprentice as well as his wife. When six members of the Fools' Guild go missing, Theo is sent, with his bride, to Constantinople to try to find out what has happened to them, as well as to see if any other intrigue is brewing in the Byzantine empire. When the pair reaches Constantinople, they find that just staying alive is a challenge as they seek their fellow fools. According to Jennifer Monahan Winberry in a review on the Mystery Reader Web site, the plot of this book is secondary to its setting. "Jester Leaps In is a very dense Medieval mystery," she noted. "It is a very researched, detailed mystery. Those with a keen interest in this time period will enjoy the book the most." Booklist contributor David Pitt praised the author's firm grasp of the historical period, noting that Gordon puts "an immense amount of detail into his novels without making readers feel like they are being educated."

The Fools' Guild takes part in the Crusades in The Widow of Jerusalem, a novel narrated by Theophilos. In An Antic Disposition the fools must hide out from the murderous army of Pope Innocent III. While they hide, Theophilos provides entertainment by recounting the story of his teacher, Terrence of York. Terrence's tale is Gordon's "delightful and original spin" on Shakespeare's Hamlet, according to a Publishers Weekly contributor, who praised Gordon for his success in working with Shakespeare's material and producing "a riveting tale of ambition, subterfuge, betrayal and revenge." An Antic Disposition was also recommended by Barbara Bibel, who wrote in Booklist that "meticulous period detail mixed with adventure makes this an excellent read."

The next book in the series, The Lark's Lament, was called "a delight to read" by Booklist contributor David Pitt. In this tale, members of the Fools' Guild are essentially in hiding from Pope Innocent III and his attacks on the guild. Theophilos and Claudia go to the Cistercian monastery to enlist the help of the abbot Folq, who was previously the minstrel Folquet. Pleading their case to Folq for him to intercede with the pope on their behalf, the two become involved in a gruesome murder of a monk who is killed in the librarium with a cryptic message written on the wall in blood. Theophilos and Claudia soon find that the fate of the guild rests in their hands as Folq tells them to solve the mystery if the guild wants his help. However, if they fail, he will have the Pope declare the guild an abomination to be destroyed. "An intriguing look at the world of the Fools Guild in 1204," wrote a Kirkus Reviews contributor of The Lark's Lament. A reviewer writing in Publishers Weekly commented that "the husband-and-wife jesters are charming, the story behind the murder unpredictable yet entirely believable." Gordon has also written a seventh entry in the series titled The Moneylender of Toulouse.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, January 1, 1999, David Pitt, review of Thirteenth Night, p. 837; October 1, 2000, David Pitt, review of Jester Leaps In, p. 326; January 1, 2002, David Pitt, review of A Death in the Venetian Quarter, p. 818; January 1, 2004, Barbara Bibel, review of An Antic Disposition, p. 832; April 1, 2007, David Pitt, review of The Lark's Lament, p. 31.

Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2001, review of A Death in the Venetian Quarter, p. 1724; January 1, 2003, review of The Widow of Jerusalem, p. 29; February 15, 2007, review of The Lark's Lament.

Library Journal, January, 1999, Rex E. Klett, review of Thirteenth Night, p. 163; November 1, 2000, Rex E. Klett, review of Jester Leaps In, p. 142; February 1, 2003, review of The Widow of Jerusalem, p. 122.

Publishers Weekly, December 14, 1998, review of Thirteenth Night, p. 60; October 16, 2000, review of Jester Leaps In, p. 52; February 18, 2002, review of A Death in the Venetian Quarter, p. 79; January 13, 2003, review of The Widow of Jerusalem, p. 44; December 22, 2003, review of An Antic Disposition, p. 41; March 12, 2007, review of The Lark's Lament, p. 41.

ONLINE

Mystery Reader,http://www.themysteryreader.com/ (April 8, 2005), Jennifer Monahan Winberry, review of Jester Leaps In; Jeri Wright, review of Thirteenth Night.