Okay as a locked-van puzzle, but weighted down with Gye’s journal entries and outré escapes from gangster widows,...
Cambridge University parapsychology lecturer Nathaniel Gye comes to the aid of a corpse.
The voice of security guard Bob Gomer wafts over a séance table, imploring his MS-stricken wife Pearl to contact Dr. Gye (Tripletree, 2003) and prove that he didn’t commit suicide and that he wasn’t guilty of stealing Antonello da Messina’s Renaissance masterpiece Portrait of a Doge while transporting it in a locked van from Heathrow to Bath’s Millenium Gallery. Through the medium Mrs. George, Gomer also warns that Gye’s wife Katherine, editor of Panache, should stay away from Italy. Of course she goes anyway, and is promptly robbed, then abducted by menacing folks who want her husband to stop dabbling in their affairs. Gye, who has hotfooted it to Florence to find her and continue dabbling into the art theft, is stymied when a master forger dies before they can talk, prompting the release of Katherine, who is now even more determined than him to see things through. The investigation proceeds from Venice to Rome to Bath—with stops along the way to discuss matters with a retired barrister, an illusionist, several unscrupulous Italians, Gomer’s brother-in-law, the CID inspector who originally thought Gomer a suicide, and the medium’s car-crazy son Kevin—before a final séance explains all.
Okay as a locked-van puzzle, but weighted down with Gye’s journal entries and outré escapes from gangster widows, international conspiracies, and ectoplasmic manifestations.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-7867-22
Page Count: 512
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2004
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
