In some literary circles, describing a novel as 'light reading' can be taken as a slur. Not so with this one. It’s a full, multidimensional novel crafted with a light but deft hand, providing an entertaining and thoughtful read without having to work hard ... Each substory treats readers to details of time and place through brief evocations and vocabulary in use at the time[...] along with references to events of the day, such as the Spanish-American War. These give the book an authentic feel and help broaden reader knowledge about the era. As well, the characters are simply but clearly drawn and have enough quirks to remain individual and believable without needing deep description ... This slim novel is not meant to be the most challenging puzzle possible, aimed at confounding readers. Instead it’s a little of this and a little of that, neatly melded together to give us a likeable detective team, an interesting period, a pair of intellectual-poser plots, and a setting most of us will never see but may be curious about. The prose style is swift from spareness and careful craft, versus breathless page-turning style.
Pronzini pens this in true crime noir fashion and the turn of the previous century time period is an ideal setting for some great old school detective work—that is if Sabina and John can escape from paradise in one piece!
