Customer Reviews

The Greta Garbo Murder Case

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have never understood why some authors choose to write about historical figures and time periods without doing extensive research beforehand. Although this is supposed to be a historical mystery novel it reads more like a confusing, ridiculous piece of fantasy. Why must author George Baxt include Peter Lorre and Erich von Stroheim as characters in his novel if he's not in the least interested in finding out what these men were really like? Baxt's description of Mr. Lorre and Mr. Von Stroheim is degrading and offensive. It's too bad the author doesn't have more respect for these charming and extremely talented men, who incidentally were both Austrian Jews, not Germans. As for the whole Nazi spy plot -- well, I've read plenty of better-written, more realistic, WWII-era mystery novels. Pass on this one.

This is another George Baxt mystery that, perhaps, is a bit too full of spies. It was the very first I read, and I may have a soft spot for it, but I would recommend it to almost anyone. This is a very good book for someone who is willing to pay close attention to all the characters and plot details, not for a person that just sees the confusing mess (and it gets a bit messy at times, I'll confess). Still, it is quite a ride, and it makes one wish they'd actually met these people. Still more hurrays for Baxt- and, of course, Greta Garbo.

Up to now I've been enjoying Baxt's Hollywood mysteries, but this particular one was written extremely poorly. It was disjointed and made no sense. And Garbo seemed like a cardboard cutout - there was no life to her at all. The premise was a good one - espionage in Hollywood after the bombing of Pearl Harbour, but it went absolutely nowhere. It was so unmemorable that I don't even remember the names of the lead characters who were at the heart of the conspiracy. I do hope that the others remaining in the series get back to the old format that the first four books had.