The Monkey's Mask (A Mask Noir Title) - Softcover

Porter, Dorothy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1852425490 ISBN 13: 9781852425494

Publisher: Serpent's Tail, 1997

Synopsis

The Australian publishing sensation: a lesbian thriller in verse.

About this title

About the Author

Dorothy Porter has established an international reputation as one of Australia's most exciting and innovative writers. Born in Sydney in 1954, she graduated from Sydney University in 1975, the same year as her first volume of poetry, Little Hoodlum, was published. Attaining a Diploma of Education, she supported her writing by part-time teaching for a number of years, before becoming a lecturer in Poetry and Writing at the University of Technology, Sydney. Her verse crime thriller, The Monkey's Mask, has become an international bestseller. She lives in Melbourne, Australia.

From Library Journal

Like Sam Spade, the archetypal hero of Dashiell Hammett's classic Maltese Falcon (1930), Jill Fitzpatrick, the lesbian private eye of Porter's mystery novel-in-verse, is torn between passionate love and professional ethics. On the trail of the murderer of Mickey Norris, a university coed and would-be poet, Jill falls hopelessly in love with Professor Diana Maitland, one of Mickey's former tutors-and a crucial piece of the puzzle. While sleuthing, Jill uncovers the hypocrisy of the poetry scene in Sydney, Australia, likening herself to a Medusa who will "turn those fraud poets/to marble." Porter (The Witch Number, International Specialized Bk. Svcs., 1993) writes short verse in a staccato, telegraphic style accented by salty language and graphic Australian slang, for which she provides a delightful glossary. A highly readable addition to larger poetry collections.
Daniel L. Guillory, Millikin Univ., Decatur, Ill.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Serpent's Tail
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1852425490
• ISBN 13: 9781852425494
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256