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Reading THE TURQUOISE SHOP is like settling down to watch a glorious old Hollywood movie -- there's something visual and glamorous about this tale, set between the wars and first published in 1941. Set in fictional Santa Maria, an artists' colony in New Mexico, and based on a true story from Taos, it introduces us to 26-year-old Jean Holly who owns a shop selling jewellery and artifacts which is a drop-in spot for many of the local artists and townspeople. Life in the small Anglo community is dominated by the beautiful, wealthy, and manipulative Mona Brandon. When the disfigured remains of reclusive new resident Arkwright is found one day, rumours surface that he was really Mona's estranged husband Tom, hiding out from Mona with the local bad girl, Carmencita. The sheriff is aided in his investigations by Pat Abbott, a visiting private detective who is on holiday in Santa Maria, and recorded by Jean who has the inside track on what is going on in town and who sometimes gets to ride shotgun. The mystery is satisfying and not easy to predict. But for me the greatest enjoyment is in the depiction of the times, including lavish parties at the Brandon House; cocktails in the Castillo restaurant; Jean walking home in her best tweeds with a flashlight; and the doctor lighting up a cigarette in the shop as he pours his heart out to Jean. The images created, including the interiors and atmospheres of a range of homes and other buildings, are so vivid that it is hard not to imagine them as scenes from a black and white movie. The characters are interesting, some are enigmatic and most are very likeable. There is some interaction with the predominant native American and Mexican population, but with a couple of exceptions they are the more shadowy figures. Jean's rendition of the tale is charmingly self-effacing, conversational, and sometimes gently humorous. THE TURQUOISE SHOP is one of the latest reissues by The Rue Morgue Press, and is the first in what was to become the Pat and Jean Abbott series of 26 books. The second, THE GOLDEN BOX, set in a fictionalized version of the author's own home town of Lawrenceville, Illinois, will be published next year and it's on my wish list already.
Reviewed by Bridget Bolton, December 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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