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65 of 72 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Sense of the Past, June 9, 2006
This review is from: The Back Passage (Paperback)
Cleverly done, THE BACK PASSAGE explores relations between upstairs and downstairs at Drekeham Hall, a British country estate near Norfolk in the year 1925, on the eve of the General Strike that solidified labor and brought globalism to a halt for a few brief, ecstatic weeks. Like a Henry James heroine, young Edward Mitchell is an American student at Cambridge, is the "heiress to all the ages." At Cambridge he has been taken up by Harry "Boy" Morgan, his college roommate, an aristocrat bred to the bone who has been engaged to Lady Belinda for a year and a half. Mitchell (who insists his new UK friends call him "Mitch," with breezy American familiarity) accompanies his mate to a weekend party and soon finds himself face to face with a corpse in the stately home. Thus begins one of the more eccentric Golden Age mysteries I've read in some time, and I've read a zillion of `em.
The working class men of England need protection both from the upper classes who exploit them sexually, and from the police system, in which an avaricious sergeant takes money from Sir James Eagle to keep the common people in line and to whip up false charges should any of them complain. "Mitch" can't imagine similar injustices occurring in his home town of Boston, but we note that this is during the same period in which the governor of Massachusetts ordered the execution of two convicted anarchists, Sacco and Vanzetti, despite an international uproar protesting this injustice.
Whopper Hunt, a sleek Englishwoman with pots of money, is engaged to Sir James' handsome son Rex, who flees the mansion as soon as Boy and Mitch discover the body of Reginald Walworth. Naturally, our suspicions turn to Rex, then to Whopper, then to other members of the Eagle family, including Lady Caroline, the Judi Dench-like matriarch of the whole family who has a bad temper and who bullies the butler, Burroughs, and his "sister," the housekeeper Mrs. Ramage. There are so many suspects it's definitely difficult to tell them apart without a scorecard. Author Lear has challenged himself by adding modern spice to an age-old Agatha Christie landscape, and now and then he stumbles: was the word Mitch uses for a certain preliminary seminal fluid really lingua franca in 1925, no I don't think so. But outside of that he's good at men's trousers and underwear and you will definitely feel you're in the hands of a master as Mitch pursues his culprits through cupboards, swimming holes, armchairs and Bentleys. He thinks of a unique hiding place for a roll of film that will leave you sitting up rather more gingerly than ever before. In short, he is a fine writer with touch of the genius, or at any rate the sui generis which, in 2006 means just about the same thing. If ever he comes to San Francisco I invite him to investigate my cupboard, my rosewood chair, my bog or my many, many, my positive heap of film canisters.
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20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hilarious!, January 11, 2007
This review is from: The Back Passage (Paperback)
A outrageous romp! If you enjoyed the movie Gosford Park, or like Agatha Christie novels with a twist, this is for you. A tongue-in-cheek mystery set in 1925, in England. Mitch is a handsome wannabe sleuth who's attempt to solve a mystery nets him sex around every corner! Witty, fast-paced. Read it in one night.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ridiculous., August 30, 2006
This review is from: The Back Passage (Paperback)
Ridiculously fun.
Fun, fast and frantic - there is a ridiculous amount of sex and SO much of it, but somehow still well-written and always maintaining a very nice level of heat.
Featuring the seemingly ridiculous character of 'Mitch' Mitchell, this quick read is immensely satisfying and hits a surprisingly emotional note as it ends.
Because there's a catch.
The catch is Mitch himself. With the exception of 'Boy' Morgan, Mitch, despite initial impressions, is conveyed with a certain depth and shading which I absolutely had not expected when I began reading.
When an author is able to make you love a character who cuts more than just a swathe (a crevasse? canyon, perhaps?) through multiple partners and then grasp firm hold of your heart by the end (as opposed to grasping other things, but there is plenty of that, as well) - THAT is writing well-done.
I usually enjoy a certain amount of pain and soul-searching in whatever genre I read - but 'The Back Passage' throws all that aside as having already been done or as being almost completely immaterial, and rushes gleefully to its ending.
HIGHLY recommended.
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