The Caravaggio Shawl (Gertrude Stein And Alice B. Toklas Mystery) - Softcover

Samuel M. Steward; Phil Andros

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1555831524 ISBN 13: 9781555831523

Publisher: Alyson Books, 1989

Synopsis

The second entry in Steward's series (following Murder Is Murder Is Murder ) featuring his friends novelist Gertrude Stein and her companion Alice B. Toklas is a droll tale of homicide and amateur detection. The book assumes familiarity with the coterie of expatriate writers and artists whose social lives in the years between the World Wars revolved around Stein and Toklas's Paris home in the Rue Christine, but a tightly plotted mystery keeps incessant name-dropping and coy insights into the two women's private affairs from becoming irritating. Steward shares Stein's well-known fascination with ratiocination. To explore it, he uses a trio of sleuths: the intellectually bold Stein, the detail-oriented Toklas and gay writer John McAndrews, their legman, whose experience in the secret world of homosexual Paris yields critical clues. The three do not operate as Holmes and Watson but rather as a tripartite Holmesian mind, each contributing a unique perspective that assists in unraveling the puzzle. The effect is entertaining, though not particularly suspenseful.

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Reviews

The second entry in Steward's series (following Murder Is Murder Is Murder ) featuring his friends novelist Gertrude Stein and her companion Alice B. Toklas is a droll tale of homicide and amateur detection. The book assumes familiarity with the coterie of expatriate writers and artists whose social lives in the years between the World Wars revolved around Stein and Toklas's Paris home in the Rue Christine, but a tightly plotted mystery keeps incessant name-dropping and coy insights into the two women's private affairs from becoming irritating. Steward shares Stein's well-known fascination with ratiocination. To explore it, he uses a trio of sleuths: the intellectually bold Stein, the detail-oriented Toklas and gay writer John McAndrews, their legman, whose experience in the secret world of homosexual Paris yields critical clues. The three do not operate as Holmes and Watson but rather as a tripartite Holmesian mind, each contributing a unique perspective that assists in unraveling the puzzle. The effect is entertaining, though not particularly suspenseful.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Alyson Books
• Publication date: 1989
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1555831524
• ISBN 13: 9781555831523
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 209