When Fellworth Dolphin inherits an unexpected fortune from his miserly, cold-hearted mother, he teams up with a plain young woman and sets out to discover the source of the money, which could be linked to a long-ago train robbery in which Fell's late father may have taken part. 25,000 first printing.
Taking a break from her two long-running series (Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth), Beaton introduces a pair of engaging misfits whose struggles to cope with overbearing families and overweening circumstances teach them, eventually, to rely on each other. When diffident fortyish virgin Fellworth Dolphin's mother dies, he finds himself surprisingly relieved and freed from a bondage he was only partially aware of. That's nowhere near the astonishment he feels when he learns that, in spite of their penurious existence, he's heir to a large sum. In a moment of panic, when it seems an aunt might assume the tyrannical role his mother once played, Fell pretends an engagement to mousy waitress Maggie Partlett. In fits and starts, Maggie and Fell begin their separate transformations--she to a swan, he to a drake. One catalyst is the money and its questionable provenance--perhaps the result of an infamous train robbery that occurred many years ago and that Fell's father might have been involved with. The other is the transformation wrought by their shared investigation and their shared lives, as Maggie falls in with the pretended engagement for her own purposes. Various relatives and villains attempt to derail the couple as they journey, but there's never a question of where the author is taking her odd couple, and never a doubt they will arrive safely. The trip will delight fans of either of Beaton's other series. (Mar. 21)will be published on Mar. 6 (see Forecasts, Dec. 18, 2000).
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Fell Dolphin hates his full name of Fellworth and his life: toiling as a waiter supporting his bitter, aged mother. When she dies, he discovers there's a lot of money he didn't know they had. He's outraged at the loss of his youth (he's 37) and the university education he craved. When he finds even more cash hidden in his dead father's possessions, he begins to wonder about a decades-old train robbery connected to his father's name. Throughout a "dandelion summer" (unusually steamy for Britain), and assisted (often masterminded) by a young woman whose charms and loyalty he steadfastly refuses to see, Fell traces that long-ago theft. Along the way, he gets shot at and tossed in the river, spends lots of money on clothes and furniture, and travels to London for the first time. He not only finds true love and pots of money but also uncovers his true parentage and opens a bookshop. With the twists and turns of a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, this is a nice bit of fluff.
GraceAnne DeCandidoCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reservedFellworth Dolphin, virginal and fortyish, achieves freedom when his manipulative, widowed mother dies of a sudden heart attack. Surprisingly, Dolphin inherits a small fortune as well as a mysteriously full cash box. To keep family at bay, he invents a live-in fianc e plain Maggie from the restaurant he has just quit who becomes his accomplice in investigating a years-old, unsolved train robbery with which his father had some connection. Assault, deception, and attempted murder dog their search, which uncovers much more than just robbery perps. Beaton, in fine form, handles a twisting plot with dexterity, wit, and precision. Recommended.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
