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Bezig met laden... The Spook Lights Affairdoor Marcia Muller, Bill Pronzini
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Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. I enjoyed the late 19th-century San Francisco setting and insights into what life was like for rich and poor back then. Quincannon's obsession with finding the loot from a Wells Fargo robbery and earning the 10% reward didn't interest me as much as Carpenter's mystery of the debutante's vanished corpse. I was suspicious early on, though I didn't guess how the deed was done. The character who claims to be Sherlock Holmes was a hoot. geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
Onderdeel van de reeks(en)
Fiction.
Mystery.
Historical Fiction.
HTML: A debutante's missing body, murder most foul, and weird spectral lights in the fog make for a thrilling gaslight-era tale of mystery and detection. In 1895 San Francisco young debutantes don't commit suicide at festive parties, particularly not under the eye of Sabina Carpenter. But Virginia St. Ives evidently did, leaping from a foggy parapet in a shimmer of ghostly light. The seemingly impossible disappearance of her body creates an even more serious problem for the firm of Carpenter and Quincannon, Professional Detective Services. Sabina didn't want to take the case, but her partner John Quincannon insisted it would serve as entrée to the city's ultra rich and powerful. That means money, and Quincannon loves the almighty dollarâ??which is why he is hunting the bandit who robbed the Wells Fargo office of $35,000. Working their separate casesâ??while Sabina holds John off with one light handâ??the detectives give readers a tour of the city the way it was. From the infamous Barbary Coast to the expensive Tenderloin gaming houses and brothels frequented by wealthy men, Quincannon follows a danger-laden trail to unmask the murderous perpetrators of the robbery. Meanwhile, Sabina works her wiles on friends and relatives of the vanished debutante until the pieces of her puzzle start falling into place. But it's an oddly disguised gent appearing out of nowhere who provides the final clue to both casesâ??the shrewd "crackbrain" who believes himself to be Sherloc Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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Meanwhile, her partner, John Quincannon, is working on a bank robbery case: $35,000 stolen and not a single suspect. Who could resist trying for the 10% reward?
I don't read a lot of historicals so this was something of a novelty for me. The setting feels authentic (and the authors assure us that it is, in their afterword), and the mist-shrouded streets have a lot of atmosphere. The novel's weakness lies in its dearth of characterization. The characters serve the plot and little more. I couldn't even tell you much about Carpenter and Quincannon themselves, for whom this is their second outing. John has a big crush on Sabina, but she prefers to keep their relationship professional. He likes poetry. That's...about it. Any such information we do get is simply stated, rather than worked into the story naturally. The duo are likable enough, but they don't feel quite as real as the physical world they inhabit.
All in all, a pretty bare-bones mystery that I found less than satisfying. ( )