|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
This is a hard book to classify -- it might be more romance than mystery, and is definitely a cozy if it is a mystery. Maggie Kelly is a novelist who used to write romance, now she writes historical mystery. Her books are set in the Regency period, as many romances seem to be. Maggie's characters, Alexandre Blake, Viscount Saint Just and his sidekick, Sterling Balder have somehow come to life and occupy her Manhattan condo with her. Since this is the third book in the series, presumably the first book explained how this occurred. That is not addressed in this book. They are just there - not ghosts, but flesh and blood people. Maggie passes them off to her agent, publisher and neighbors as cousins from England. Silly? Yes, that is definitely what this series is. Maggie and her pals attend an annual convention of romance writers this year held in Manhattan. In attendance is possibly every caricature of a romance writer that any of us could imagine, including her arch rival, Felicity (formerly Faith). She and Faith used to be good friends till Faith got on the best-selling lists and she now is in competition with her former best pal. A series of pranks occur right from the outset, mostly aimed at Felicity. Bunny, the over-enthusiastic, wannabe romance writer and all-round airhead, who is the chair of the convention, runs around shrieking and trying to shield Felicity from the other convention-goers. It does progress to murder and Maggie's boy friend, Steve Wendell, a police detective, is on the scene trying to protect Maggie and solve the crime. Every amateur sleuth needs a friend in the police department, as we all know. The sleuth in this case is more Alex than Maggie. Maggie pretty much stomps around complaining, smoking or moaning that she can't smoke wherever she pleases, and telling everyone "bite me". Yes, she's a charmer. The whole matter is resolved in a silly (there's that word again) denouement during a costume ball. This could be a good beach book, but certainly not one anyone would mistake for a mystery.
Reviewed by Lorraine Gelly, June 2004
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
|
