Customer Reviews

Dinner at Antoine's

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Dinner at Antoine's" written by Frances Parkinson Keyes is set in New Orleans during Carnival Season in January 1948. It is a mystery that endures the generations. I first read "Dinner at Antoine's" ten years ago in 1990. I enjoyed the book so much that it inspired me to make a trip to the Crescent City. My love for the book has not died since that first reading.

The mystery is terrific. When I began my second read of the book in May 2000, I was quickly swept into the plot. I didn't want to stop reading. The book is so well written that the characters, plot and setting come to life before the reader. As Ruth Avery, the main character, sees New Orleans for the first time, I too saw the city for the first time through her eyes. The author gives a complete picture of New Orleans society in 1948 through the many characters that she develops. Joe Racina and his wife Judith are middle class residents. Joe works as a reporter and Judith maintains their home. Judith has chosen not to hire help as she grew up in Connecticut on a farm. To the opposite extreme you have the Lanlande family at the top of society. Other characters include Russell Aldridge, architect; Vance Perrault, doctor; and Tossie Pride, personal maid. "Dinner at Antoine's" is an old fashion murder mystery that in the style of Agatha Christie is full of suspects. Once again I was intrigued until the end as I remained unsure of the murderer's identity until it was revealed. This book is by far the author's best and it makes you beg for a sequel.

The added bonus to "Dinner at Antoine's" are the physical descriptions of landmarks in New Orleans. The descriptions are so great that this book could almost be categorized as a travel essay. When I traveled to New Orleans, I used "Dinner at Antoine's" as my guide. I quickly found Antoine's Restaurant and in the restaurant I found the Rex Room, 1840 Room, and Mystery Room just as the restaurant had been described by the author. The French bread, tomato aspic, oysters Foch, flaming pressed duck with cream and brandy, cherries Jubilee, and café brulot all enticingly described by the author can still be found on the menu. I quickly moved on throughout New Orleans finding the Court of the Two Sisters, Café Du Monde, the French Market, Jackson Square, the cathedral, St. Charles Avenue, the Garden District, Audubon Park, and the Metaire Cemetery. My most recent reading of the book has me wanting to return to discover the River Road and to find out if the Bar None Restaurant exists with its barbecued chicken, onion rings and corn fritters. Even if I find that the River Road and Bar None only exist in the author's imagination, she has so aptly described them that I will always feel as if I have actually visited.

Reading "Dinner at Antoine's" is the perfect way to spend a weekend when you want to take a luxurious vacation in the comfort of your home.

Half soap, half Agatha Christie mystery, this story of New Orleans in the late 1940s is a charming and compelling story of love, deception, and murder. Populated by a complex and endearing (or repelling) cast of characters, this is an excellent story. (And why isn't it in print?!)

Starting off at the restaurant Antoine's, it follows extremely rich playboy Orson Foxworth (yes, that is his real name) introducing his lovely niece Ruth Avery to the rich'n'famous of New Orleans. Among them are the beautiful Amelie Lalande, a self-absorbed but very lovely widow that Foxworth wants as a lover but is willing to marry; Odile St. Amand, Amelie's daughter, who is suffering from a disease she tries to hide; Leonce St. Amand, Odile's philandering husband; Caresse Lalande, Odile's little sister who is on the brink of a full-fledged affair with Leonce; Vance Perrault, a doctor who cares deeply for Odile; Odile's ex-lover, Sabin Duplessis; Joe Racina, a brilliant journalist, and many many others...

After a fateful night where Odile's shaking hands cause her to spill wine on herself (similar to a bloodstain), Amelie refuses Foxworth's proposal as she doesn't want to leave her poor invalid daughter alone, and Leonce attempts a seduction. Motives are abundant when Odile is found dead in her bedroom - shot through the heart with a gift from her ex-lover. Many lives and destinies will change (some for the better, some for worse) before Odile's killer finds justice of a sort...

The pace is pleasant and gradual, allowing us excellent insight into the characters. The descriptions of luxurious houses, restaurants and clothing (especially clothing!) are evocative and entertaining. No threads are left untangled, and the question of motive and reason is, frankly, as excellent as that of the Grand Mistress of Mystery, Agatha Christie.

There is only one thing that kept this from being a five-star book: As it was written in 1948, this book has a rather stereotyped portrayal of African Americans, especially Odile's loving nurse Tossie. Despite the stereotype, I was pleased that Tossie was not played for laughs and was one of the more insightful characters in the story. The reader automatically connects with her (especially regarding her low, low, LOW opinion of Leonce) and is warmed by the last chapter regarding her.

Though Ruth Avery is sort of the heroine, she is nevertheless not the central character. She is strong and independent, with little thought of social position; and, after Odile's murder, so is Caresse (whom I expected to hate but ended up liking). I hated Leonce, was charmed by Orson Foxworth and Joe Racina. I found the character of Amelie Lalande to be highly annoying, with her self-centered artificiality.

Though there are a few pitfalls in this book, it is nevertheless an entertaining (and pretty clean as well) story about mystery and passion in New Orleans, a beautiful city. Well worth the read.

If you've ever eaten at the wonderful restaurant Antoine's in the French Quarter of New Orleans (with its many themed Mardi Gras private rooms), you will definitely enjoy this book. And even if you haven't eaten at Antoine's, if you're interested in New Orleans society mid-way through the 20th Century, you'll find this a delightful mystery.

In addition, the home of the late author, Frances Parkinson Keyes, is open to the public in New Orleans. It's actually called the Beauregard Keyes House after Confederate General Beauregard who stayed there and Frances Parkinson Keyes. And the author also wrote a novel about the house called "Madame Castel's Lodger," which is filled with the interesting history of General Beauregard.

-- Phyllis Zimbler Miller

This beautifully written novel in a gently used library copy now joins my little shelf of Unlimited Re-Reads reserved for just such special old friends as The Virginian, Until the Sun Falls, O the Brave Music, A Dance to the Music of Tim, Persuasion and The Final Reflection. The words are worn smooth by familiarity and give the pleasure of fingering a stash of precious stones. Dinner at Antoine's is also touching as a memory of New Orleans in a former time among the privileged classes, with a sunny certainty that nothing will ever change (it is set in January-February 1948).

What a wonderful book. Even though it was written in 1948 it captures New Orleans as it was then and is now. Mystery, fun, and romance all rolled into one. Wished I had read it before I went to New Orleans.

Frances Parkinson Keyes wrote many good books. This is a personal favorite. It was also her best-selling book. It combines the color locale of New Orleans with interesting characters, romance, and a mystery. This is the only mystery novel that Keyes wrote, and she does a good job of keeping you guessing. I have read and reread this book over the years, and always enjoy it.

. . . a vintage copy in reasonably good shape of the edition I read in the 60s, sent very quickly

I decided to read this book after a visit to New Orleans when I toured the home of the author. The book was mentioned during the tour as one of her most famous books.

I can see why it is out of print. I almost quit reading it after 50 pages. To become classics, books need to have universal qualities that transcend time and place. Dinner at Antoines is filled with stereotypes.

As another reviewer pointed out, the depiction of blacks in the novel is condescending and dated. They all talk like characters in "Uncle Remus."

The blacks are not the only ones who talk like caricatures. The policeman Murphy talks like an Irish cop from the movies.

Other characters also are stereotypes. They are the ruthless businessman (Foxworth), the shallow woman out for his money (Amelie), the noble statesman (Huntington), the philandering husband (Leonce), the flirt (Caresse), Latin beauty (Clarinda), caring old doctor the tough-talking policeman, the rugged archeologist, etc. None of them seemed real to me.

The main women characters are interested only in clothes and men. Ruth is a rich 20-something clothes horse with a silver mink coat. Clarinda is considered an old maid at 27. Caresse goes to New York to become a model for a staid department store. None of them seems to have a brain.

The plot also seemed a little creaky to me. I figured out "who done it" about half way through the book, even though many characters had a motive and there were clues pointing at several. I also easily figured out who would marry whom at the end.

Another plot flaw is tha author does a lot of telling readers about characters and what is going on rather than demonstrating it by action.

Most of the plot takes place over a week, yet a murder is comitted and solved, an engagement takes place and is broken and replaced by another, and Ruth agrees to fly to Hondourus marry a man she has known a week.

As an example of 1950s race, class, and gender stereotypes taken to an extreme, the book is interesting. It was somewhat entertaining, but totally unbelievable. I did not believe in the world portrayed.

That is the main difference between a classic like Agatha Christie's novels and this book. I believe in the worlds Christie creates, though they are set in past times and distant places. However, I feel that Parkinson's New Orleans is an unbelievable place with unbelievable people.

Picked this recently from Grandmother's shelf; she'd never read it, but her few months living in New Orleans were right around the time of the book. It will be hard for enlightened readers to believe that upper /lower classes would behave and communicate in stereotyped ways; umbrage is mis-taken. Not only can you trust an observant outsider resident of New Orleans writing in 1948 to have a perspective on 1948 New Orleans superior in details to that of postmodern criticism, but it's also easily forgotten by outsiders, even after this hurricane, that, in this city more than any other, people lived their lives in one or two neighborhoods. In other words, life itself was, from an educational standpoint, simplistic and regressive. Craving high-mindedness, a fatalistic New Orleanian you never will be. It's faintly surprising that people want it dressed up. This work sure doesn't oblige (attention to fashion and finery notwithstanding). Most of its characters do suit a place so set'n its ways that, even as the book was being written, leadership was passing to the smaller (later giant), more creative city that would eventually come to N.O.'s aid from a few hundred miles to the west.

It would be standard (and a bit inaccurate) to say the setting is a character here. However, I will say something you rarely hear: stories exist so that the author has something on which to put the real communication. Forget the mystery. I'm nogood at figuring them out, yet I did. That's not what to read for. I read to soak in the place, the author's devotion to it, and then it just fits that the most humbly local person, the part of the tapestry the astute reader kept expecting to find dirt on, is revealed to have been good all along.