1988 cozy American detective fiction; eighth of MacLeod's novels of
Boston Brahmin Sarah Kelling and art investigator Max Bittersohn.
Sarah and Max have been invited to a Renaissance Revel at the
Billingsgates', to work out what's happened to their missing 1927 New
Phantom Rolls Royce.
Yes, it's more New England high society with Comical Characters,
though they mostly fade away rather once the murdering starts. As too
often, the mystery blends enough into the background that the puzzle
element becomes irrelevant; I'm carrying on with the series mostly
because I enjoy the primary characters, and Max and Sarah do get to
work together again, but this is the weakest entry yet. Motivations
are fragmentary, and an obvious suspect becomes very obvious. A side
plot dealing with local radio stations doesn't convince either.
"But we'd known him so long, and to have him killed by her own
bees—Max, has it struck you there's a diabolical mind at work here?"
"I can't say it has, Bill. I'd call it more a practical mind, and
damned little human feeling. The impression I get is that whoever's
responsible for these killings doesn't care about anything but
getting the job done with a minimum of risk and whatever weapon
comes handiest."
You'll need to have read previous books to have any idea of who's who,
and there are rather a lot of them to keep track of. And it hardly
seems worth it.
It's competently written, but I can't recommend it unless you're a
completist; it came out in the same year as The Recycled Citizen and
feels hasty at times. Followed by The Gladstone Bag.
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