Masquerade

Rating:
Summary: i was extremly dissapointed
Review: First off, Escapade, the author's first book with characters Phil and Jane, is one of my favorite books of all time. So I looked forward to the follow-up. Sadly, I was very disappointed. The author has chosen to have Jane's entire interaction in the book take place through letters to her friend Evy. While it might be a clever idea, it leaves the reader with zero emotional involvement. We want to see Phil and Jane interact together! That never even happens until the end of the book (literally). Too little, way too late. And the loss of Houdini is a huge one. While Phil's new sidesick Henry may be slighly amusing, the character doesn't come close to the chemistry between Phil and Houdini. (At one point Phil wires Houdini, which I hoped would somehow involve him in the story, but Houdini never answers the wire! Did the author forget about this plot point??) Anyway, advice to the author -- next time forget Jane's clever letters. Put Phil, Jane and Houdini back together! I'll buy that one!

Rating:
Summary: I wanted to call in sick and read,read,read
Review: In the sequel to Escapade, our yet-to-be lovers return as Pinkerton agents working on the suspicious murder-suicide of a wealthy American and his lover. Precocious letter writing Jane Turner is nanny to the brother's family, traveling in France. Dashing Phil Beaumont is assigned to a French detective, Ledoq who is the ultimate parody of Hercule Poirot. While tracking down clues, the pair run into Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, and a character who resembles Inspector Maigret. They are involved in a chase throught the sewers of Paris, only to be rescued by an English colonel and his wife on a cruise through said sewers. Meanwhile, Jane is touring France, dealing with the duties of a nanny, and fending off the amorous advances of a beautiful, young woman. Eventually, Phil and Jane run into each other and run the villain to ground. When you are finished gaining twenty pounds from reading of the cuisine of France, laughing ceaselessly, and exclaiming at the twisted end, you'll be wanting the as-yet-unwritten third in the series.

Rating:
Summary: Even at four stars Walter still rocks
Review: It's not his best but it's still a lot better than most of the stuff out there, especially in the historical name-drop genre. If you haven't already, try the top of his form -- "Miss Lizzie" "Wilde West" (remember the cowboy at Wilde's grave?)-- and then see if you don't want to e-mail his publisher begging for another fix. Meantime, there's "Masquerade" an entertaining enough sequel to "Eascapade" and featuring the same characters but not quite up to the same level. With all that thorough research I know he does, I was a little disappointed at what Walter left out of his dance through the seamier side of Paris in the 20s. Oh yes, there's ex-Pinkerton, Phil and the gushingly ambiguous Jane and, oh yes, Walter nails the outrageous American ex-pats but what about the artists, the great lesbian hostesses, what about more pages? Is he saving all of this for the sequel? I hope so. And I hope it happens soon.

Rating:
Summary: Even at four stars Walter still rocks
Review: It's not his best but it's still a lot better than most of the stuff out there, especially in the historical name-drop genre. If you haven't already, try the top of his form -- "Miss Lizzie" "Wilde West" (remember the cowboy at Wilde's grave?)-- and then see if you don't want to e-mail his publisher begging for another fix. Meantime, there's "Masquerade" an entertaining enough sequel to "Eascapade" and featuring the same characters but not quite up to the same level. With all that thorough research I know he does, I was a little disappointed at what Walter left out of his dance through the seamier side of Paris in the 20s. Oh yes, there's ex-Pinkerton, Phil and the gushingly ambiguous Jane and, oh yes, Walter nails the outrageous American ex-pats but what about the artists, the great lesbian hostesses, what about more pages? Is he saving all of this for the sequel? I hope so. And I hope it happens soon.

Rating:
Summary: A funny, witty intellegent historical mystery
Review: This a delightful historical piece, set in the 1920's in Paris. It is, in form, a murder mystery, but the mystery itself is really the least of the attractions of the book. Satterthwait obviously enjoys history, and can dig out the really neat stuff and present it in a delightful, funny and very readable style. I was completely engrossed by the charming characters, each of whom speaks in a unique voice, and all of whom say very funny things. Historical figures including Hemingway and Gertrude Stein (and an equivalent of Agatha Cristie) are encountered along the way, and their depictions are extremely interesting, and from I can tell, quite accurate. Somehow Satterthwait makes the appearance of these characters in his book seem entirely natural, and he makes them come alive with their own concerns and interests.

Satterthwait also provides an insightful and evocative characterization of Paris between the wars, a time that has always interested me. This is the time of flappers in America, and we meet their representative in France as the widow of one of the murder victim (oh yes, this is a murder mystery...) It is a time of desperate fun and vigorous intellectual life, but meanwhile the shades of Naziism are starting to descend on Europe. We learn about a Nazi fundraiser in France, and her friends, lovers, fellow-travelers and contributors. It is a time of relative social freedom, and the book takes us on an interesting side trip into the Parisian lesbian community.

One of the book's narrators is a classic hardboiled American Pinkerton, who is perfectly paired with an verbose and expressive Frenchman, who is a dilletante detective and an obsessive gourmet and bon vivant. Their dialogue is worth the price of the book. The other narrator is a vivid young Englishwoman, well educated but down on her luck and enlisted by the Pinkertons, and she writes of her adventures in delightfully crafted, witty letters to her best friend. You don't see much of the epistolary form of literature anymore, and Satterthwait has taken the opportunity to revive it and put it to his own uses.

Escapade (the predecessor of this book) is very good, but I think Masquerade is even better. I am waiting the next promised installment with bated breath, in which our narrators are scheduled to go to pre-war Germany and hob-nob with the Nazis.

Rating:
Summary: i was extremly dissapointed
Review: this book was definitly a waste of my time, energy and money. although it had good descriptions of the settings, the plot was confusing and the end stunk