THE CONVIVIAL CODFISH

by Charlotte MacLeod ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 6, 1984

Jewish detective Max Bitterson and his recent bride Sarah (The Bilbao Looking Glass) are living in Boston and seeing a lot of Sarah's older WASP/Boston-Brahmin relatives--many of them truly looney. For instance, Uncle Jeremy Kelling has just been named Exalted Chowderhead to the Order of the Convivial Codfish, has lost his enormous ceremonial chain. . .and has landed in the hospital after a fall, which Max determines was no accident: it was carefully engineered. What's the motive, then? Well, Uncle Jem's injury does keep him from the annual Codfish bash held aboard the private railroad on the estate of Tom and Wouter Tolbathy--generations-long purveyors of fancy foods to Bostonians. And the caviar served that night (by a vanishing waiter, wearing the missing chain!) is laced with poison; moreover, Wouter, the train's engineer, is found dead in his cab. . .from a karate chop. Who's behind all the mayhem? Could it be the Russians? So believe the local police. But Max persists in talking to survivors, domestics, and what seems like half of Boston--till he comes up with some complicated answers and a certifiable culprit. Arch, fey folderol in the MacLeod manner, but Max's no-nonsense personality helps to dilute the preciousness: mildly palatable entertainment overall.

Pub Date: July 6, 1984

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1984

Categories: FICTION