1965 mystery/thriller or romantic suspense. Vanessa March, married two
years, had a fight with her husband Lewis just before he left on a
business trip to Stockholm. But then he shows up on a newsreel about a
circus fire in Austria… with his arm round a blonde.
And of course that's not what the story is going to be about,
because this isn't one of those dreary books about the inevitability
of infidelity, but it's the spur for Vanessa to agree to accompany her
feckless friend's young son on a trip to visit his father in Vienna.
Timothy hasn't been entirely open about his situation either, and they
soon fall into conspiracy. Before things are over there will have been
reconciliation, fights, a rooftop chase, daring rescues, and Lippizan
horses.
Stewart is increasing the humour again here; the hausfrau who objects
more to her best plates getting shot than to her husband getting
beaten up perhaps falls a bit flat, but the banter between Vanessa and
Tim, and Lewis when he shows up, makes up for it. There's a sense of
the ridiculous which is an effective counterpoint to the serious
business that forms the main plot. Vanessa may stumble into the latter
accidentally, but she acquits herself well, and her skills as a vet
are distinctly important to the story; there's also a fair bit of
horse care and training, which never quite reaches the level of
infodump though it comes close at times.
Scenary, while still described in lush detail for a largely
non-travelling readership, is now also well integrated into the story,
with a castle converted into an hotel (based apparently on the
Schloss Weesenstein
near the Czech border), and a rack-and-pinion railway which includes
an obvious Chekov's gun.
Pacing is a little off at the end, with the principal plot basically
dealt with two chapters early, and an accidental and
artificial-feeling crisis added to give Vanessa something heroic to do
at the climax.
Some of the attitudes may seem dated to a modern reader – Vanessa has
stopped working when she got married, for example, though she feels
strong objections when the menfolk swan in and take control of the
situation she'd been handling – but everything comes together well and
I think this is one of Stewart's best.
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