DEL-Gaudi Afternoon (Wilson, Barbara) - Softcover

Wilson, Barbara

3.22

242 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 093118889X ISBN 13: 9780931188893

Publisher: Seal Press, 1993

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Cassandra Reilly is a footloose Irish-American based in London, who is currently in the midst of translating a magic realism novel about thesearch for a lost mother. When she gets an offer from a San Franciscan femme fatale to look for her husband in Barcelona, Cassandra can't resist--and she chases people of all genders in thish highspirited comic thriller.

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Review:

Barbara Wilson's mysteries are witty, fast-paced, and fun to read. Plus, they have enough politics so that you can tell yourself that reading them is good for you. Gaudi Afternoon, written before "gender studies" became a buzz phrase, looks and laughs at what makes a gal straight or queer, femme or butch, lesbian or dyke, transgendered or translated. Cassandra Reilly, Wilson's wry, savvy, globetrotting sleuth, charges through Barcelona to find a missing person or two of indeterminate gender.

From Publishers Weekly:

As in The Dog Collar Murders , Wilson exploits the mystery genre to explore a feminist perspective on timely subjects--here, gender roles and child custody. This latest pk effort falters, largely because the story relies for its effect on characters with mixed-up identities and a penchant for lying. Professional translator Cassandra Reilly turns amateur sleuth when Frankie Stevens needs someone fluent in Spanish to accompany her to Barcelona to locate her estranged husband Ben, who has disappeared. However, Cassandra soon learns that very little is what it seems. Frankie and Ben aren't separated, they're divorced. Moreover, Ben (actually Bernadette) isn't an ex-husband, but an ex-wife: Frankie is a transsexual. The bone of contention between them is their daughter Delilah. Ben fled to Spain to escape the problems of their joint custody arrangement and because, now that Frankie is female, she wants to be Delilah's mother too. By the time the layers of deceit are revealed and Delilah has been kidnapped a few times, the child crawls off to get away from these people and have a nap--proving she's easily the brightest one of the lot.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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