BLIND TRUST

by Susannah Bamford ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 16, 1990

Bamford's hard-cover debut is a high-strung melodrama set in the grand salons--and seedy back alleys--of New York's turn-of-the-century boom economy. In 1880, Fifth Avenue is lined with the garish mansions of America's newest millionaires, the industrialists; and Darcy Snow, daughter of New York's aristocracy, is married off to the richest, greediest, and most conniving of them all. Darcy soon realizes that Claude Stratton's preverted sexual practices and neurotic possessiveness aren't quite normal. She longs to flee Stratton's marble mansion but has nowhere to go. That is, until Tavish Finn arrives in New York on the trail of an anonymous high-society blackmailer who murdered his best friend in a San Francisco hotel. Tavish, a rakish Irishman of mysterious origins, needs inside information regarding New York's exclusive social cliques; and Darcy, yearning for relief from her miserable marriage, tells all as the two initiate a passionate affair in the face of increasingly malicious gossip. Seeking revenge for his wife's betrayal, Stratton wickedly conspires with an amenable doctor to subject Darcy to a hysterectomy and circumcision. In the nick of time, however, Tavish manages a rescue, Stratton is subsequently murdered by the mysterious assassin, and the lovers escape to Colorado, where they catch the murderer and bring him to justice. The newly widowed Darcy and her lover are soon sitting down to their wedding luncheon in the more hospitable city of San Francisco, where the liberated bride vows never to act the role of hothouse orchid again. A hackneyed supporting cast of resolute feminists, prostitutes with hearts of gold, and doddering patriarchs further weakens this torrid tale.

Pub Date: April 16, 1990

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Evans

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1990

Categories: FICTION