Customer Reviews

Nights in White Satin (Laura Principal Novels)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is another fine novel--well-written, compassionate, and intelligent--from one of the best of the new writers. Spring's characters and situations are complex, and the action typically has a reality (not to be confused with toughness) missing from many mystery novels.

I am dismayed and bewildered by the negative comments from the New England reader who apparently wanted Spring to have written another book, one with predictable feminist role models. One of Spring's strengths is the very lack of predictablity--her characters are as rich in detail and complex motivation as people we know.

I too heard Spring speak at PCA and I was impressed by the candor,intelligence, and passion of her remarks. She is a superb writer who lets us live a scene with her characters, and she thinks deeply about what she does with her books.

Starting with "Every Breath You Take" I have been hooked by Michelle Spring, and I can hardly wait for the next one.

Nights In White Satin' by Michelle Spring

At the Cambridge May ball, on a warm balmy magical evening in June, amidst champagne, smoked salmon, music and laughter, young, pretty Katie Arkwright disappears.

In this, the forth in the series featuring Laura Principal, Private Investigator, Aardvark Investigations had been retained to repel gatecrashers and maintain security at the Cambridge May Ball. Following the disappearance, Laura is retained by Stephen Fox, senior tutor at Bart's to find the missing girl.

Whilst pursing her investigations into Katie's disappearance, a murder and an unexplained death unfold. Both shocking. Are they related to the missing girl? Could the solutions be locked in the past?

The writing in this book is beautiful, Michelle descriptive powers brought the scenes to life, I was there. At all times during the story, the weather is hot, I felt this heat, and the beauty of Cambridge. The contrasts of life she portrays are so vivid. Some of the settings invoked a time gone by, and when Laura goes punting with her friend Helen down the river to Grantchester for a picnic, it brought to mind Stands the church clock at ten to three, and is there honey still for tea'.

This is a book full of full of beauty, violence, sadness, pain, and emotional conflict. It's also about choices, and the guilt that comes from fast actions that we think will solve an immediate problem and then we find that we maybe cannot live with them. also the resulting pain.

It's also a first class mystery, which I urge you all to read. This is not just highly recommended, it's a must.

Lizzie Hayes 15 May 1999

I just finished reading Michelle Spring's newest Laura Principal mystery, Nights in White Satin. This mystery packs a wallop. Very terse and sensitive at the same time. Spring `s novels highlight a feminist perspective in detective fiction. Each of her novels calls attention to a social issue that particularly affects women--even Standing in the Shadows can be viewed from that vantage point. Its strong stuff. And, Laura Principal is terrific!

NIGHTS IN WHITE SATIN involves unpleasant goings-on in Cambridge (England), beautiful sunny summer days on the river, a breathtaking description of Piccadilly Circus, and a chance to know more about private investigator Laura Principal. Michelle Spring's language is vivid, sensuous, and suspenseful, and it really brought the city of Cambridge to life. Laura Principal is a wonderfully complex character, and I look forward to reading more about her. By the way, this is fourth in the series; I've not read the first two, but I do recommend the third, STANDING IN THE SHADOWS.

The board sponsoring the Cambridge May Ball at St. Johns hires private investigator Laura Principal to coordinate security. The event honors those students who have completed three years of grueling work at Cambridge with a party. Nothing happens during the gala, but the next day the police question Laura pertaining to Katie Arkwright, who left the party early and has not been seen since.

The college hires Laura to discreetly inquire into what happened to Katie. Laura quickly learns that Katie had a waitressing job at an all male drinking club located on the St. Bart's campus. She also finds out that an ugly sexual incident occurred at the club. Stephen Fox, the senior tutor at the college believes Katie was partially to blame over the incident. Other evidence makes it seem that Katie was hooking. Two more incidents happen, but before Laura can follow up, someone kills Stephen. When data from the sixties surface, Laura realizes just how complex her simple investigation has become.

NIGHTS IN WHITE SATIN show that women have come a long way since the sixties, but have a long way to go before they can be considered receiving equal treatment. Cambridge is a hot bed of male chauvinism where a woman is stereotyped as a Madonna (virgin type that is) or a prostitute. Laura Principal has done an excellent job of illustrating her theory that most women will probably support even as most men will disagree. The villains in this novel are caricatures of men who think women have one job, spreading their legs. More than just a well-designed mystery, this Laura Principal provides a damning social commentary on society's double standard. This work is a definite winner.

Harriet Klausner

I'm not much of a mystery, but was taking a class on the mystery novel at school and this was one of the books assigned. Maybe it's me, but it's always seemed to me that the detective should be responsible for the resolution of the case. Not here. Everything turns out nicely without the detective actually having solved the case. Furthermore, Spring's prose didn't do much for me. Her paratactic sentences felt forced, rather than displaying natural speech rhythms.

Not a satisfying read at all.

I was quite horrified to read the comments on "Nights in White Satin" from "reader in New England". Michelle Spring is a gifted writer of FICTION. Whatever issues you have with how males and females are portrayed in society or in literature, it does not change the fact that this is a first rate novel. I'm sorry you didn't find Ms. Spring's characters to your liking, but many of us do. This, to me, was by far the best of the series so far.

Many mysteries depend to a certain extent on coincidence, but this one seems to do so because it's too lazy to do anything else. There is little tension, little excitement, little reason to care about any of the people in the book. The main character muses on this and that as she makes her way around Cambridge, but her observations seem shallow and obvious. The one piece of real history that is discussed touches tangentially on the plot but without adding any depth. Motivations for various actions are plopped onto the page, stirred for a bit, and then left half baked.

Save your money.

This book was SUCH a disappointment to me. I couldn't wait to finish it, and when I did I had to groan out loud. There is NO mystery here - just a stupid, boring story where the author spends endless, mind-numbing pages describing completely non-sensical "tidbits" about the heroine. Why must I read for 2 paragraphs about a bike ride she took as a child, or why she hates squirrels, or how her uncle kissed her? I skipped entire pages of this book because they were nothing but bizarre descriptions of things that were COMPLETELY irrelevant to the story. And, the story was so bad, it didn't make up for it. A waste of time.

This is the first book I have read by Michelle Spring. She is an extremely good writer, but she still needs to learn some more skills. This book is about a girl who is missing, and I was expecting a certain kind of writing and cocnclusion, and it did not happen the way I thought it would. The girl who was missing was...and I don't appreciate that kind of ending for a mystery book. I was blown away by the murderer and other non-suspect who did it-incredible! I have to congratulate her on that!!! Any way, not the way I expected it to turn out, but it was a very good book.