Perfect: A Novel [Paperback]

Marne Davis Kellogg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 20, 2007

Despite her best intentions, Kick Keswick--international jewel thief, fabulous dresser, gourmet cook, and woman-about-town--finds herself drawn  into the glamorous, dangerous world of jewels (and the people who covet them)....

It should have been the start of a perfect sojourn in Provence. Kick Keswick had just settled down to warm chocolate soufflé with a decadently rich Grand Marnier sauce and a small glass of Armagnac when she receives startling news: the personal jewels of the Queen of England herself have gone missing, and she wants Kick to get them back. Most of the world knows Kick as an expert in jewels and antiquities, having been the right hand at Ballantine & Company Auctioneers in London, but others know Kick as the world's finest jewel thief, a woman who can stand out in a crowd at will, but who can also blend in when she wants to. So the chase is on, in a race that takes her from Provence to Paris, London, St. Moritz, and Milan--and puts all her wiles and talents to the test as she faces a thief whose skills match her own. And with Kick Keswick on the case, there will be trouble afoot--of the multifaceted kind.
With sophistication, wit, and insider details, Perfect is a madcap adventure that takes you on a quest for the things that make life worth living…or at least worth talking about.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Kellogg's latest frothy adventure, retired jewel thief Kick Keswick leaps to the rescue when a trusted servant steals some of Queen Elizabeth II's most important jewels. Kick has come a long way since her impoverished girlhood, teenage pregnancy, rescue by a married titled lover and a stunning career as a thief herself. Now married to a semiretired Scotland Yard detective, Thomas Curtis, Kick putters around her house in Provence, where she needlepoints when she isn't cooking or laying down wine. She has what it takes to slip right into the character of Princess Margaret of Romania and penetrate the haute monde of the exclusive Swiss resort, Mont-St.-Anges, where she sets about trapping the dastardly fiend who has absconded with the royal emeralds. Character development? Plot? Compelling dialogue? Fuggedaboutit. Kellogg's tale is a cut-glass bowl of empty calories that reads like one part Van Cleef & Arpels catalogue and two parts Gourmet (except that Kick adds the beaten egg whites to the hot sugar syrup, instead of vice versa, when she makes icing for a devil's food cake). But Kellogg obviously has a good time writing the Kick Keswick novels (Priceless), and her fans won't be disappointed.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Anyone who has fantasized about affording the good life will appreciate living vicariously through Kick Keswick, former jewel thief and star of Kellogg's entertaining series. Everything Kick wears, eats, does, and says is of the highest class and absolutely delicious, from her cashmere warm-up suits (never worn for exercise, which she disdains) to her exquisite diamonds. She's married to her perfect male counterpart, Thomas, a former Scotland Yard agent and, coincidentally, also a Robin Hoodish former art thief. The two are spending time at their posh farm in France, when Thomas (still a consultant for the Yard) informs Kick that she's needed by the Queen of England. The queen's former footman has absconded with many of her highness' priceless jewels, and Kick is hired to get them back. The story follows Kick's journeys through France and Switzerland, culminating in an exclusive spa known only to the richest of the rich. Naturally, Kick easily blends into this Alpine Shangri-la and prepares to steal back the jewels. An adventure as airy and delightful as a chocolate souffle. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (February 20, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312337337
• ISBN-13: 978-0312337339
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #988,745 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars enjoyable crime caper, August 3, 2005

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Perfect (Kick Keswick Mysteries #3) (Hardcover)

After retiring as the highly publicized Shamrock Burglar, Kick Keswick, with her husband former Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Thomas Curtis, who moonlighted as the Samaritan Burglar, retired to their farmhouse in Provence. With the money and jewels they saved from their various heists, they have enough money to live in the most luxurious lifestyle imaginable if they so choose. Thomas gets called up from Scotland Yard occasionally to work on a tough case and Kick helps him in her own manner and style.

Now the Queen Elizabeth has asked personally for Thomas's help because some of the crown jewels were stolen by her trusted footman Bradford who helped her pack them for the royal tour she is going on. Thomas learns that Bradford changed his name to Sebastian Tremaine and is the business manager and companion for opera singer Constantin. Thomas has a plan to get Kick in position to get close to Sebastion and Constantin but she has her own methods of doing things and escapes his scrutiny the first change she gets. She tries and succeeds in meeting one of the world's richest men George Naxos and his beautiful wheelchair bound wife Alma. Kick maneuvers them into letting her visit his large isolated estate (more like at a small hamlet) in Switzerland where the rich and famous stay including Constantin and Sebastion. She concocts a daring plan to steal the jewels back from Sebastion but in this garden of Eden there lies a serpent waiting to strike at her and stop her plan from succeeding even if it means killing her.

Kick Keswick is very different than the usual heroine. She is self confident, comfortable in her own skin (even if she is twenty-five pounds overweight) and believes there isn't a jewel she can't rob given enough time. The way she maneuvers people to get them to do what she wants is a talent few people possess and the way she does it seems so reasonable at the time that readers find themselves believing she is an average person . This enjoyable crime caper is delightful and charming.

Harriet Klausner

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars more thomas and suspense with less clothes, please, August 20, 2005

By 

LARS (Chicago area) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Perfect (Kick Keswick Mysteries #3) (Hardcover)

I am a huge fan of Marne Davis Kellogg. My friends and I have read all of her books and were counting the days until Perfect. I was a little disappointed. Kick is still a wonderful character, but there was no real suspense here and Thomas is too minor a part of Perfect-again. The clothes descriptions that were so much fun before seem a tad overdone, and the Mont-St-Agnes crowd left me cold. We need some personal development amd fun characters along the lines of Lilly Bennett and Richard Jerome which brings me to a good point. When is another book in that series coming out?

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect Fun!, October 28, 2005

By 

Shelley Rothschild "Prodigious Reader" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Perfect (Kick Keswick Mysteries #3) (Hardcover)

This book is a treasure. A lovely escapist adventure that gives the reader a glimpse into the lives of the super rich, with sumptuous gourmet meals, elaborate jewels, the secrets of the world's best jewel thief, luxe travel locations and hidden enclaves in Provence, Paris and the Swiss Alps, and dreamy designer clothes and accessories. All of this luxury is wrapped up in a mystery centering on the clever, endearing Kick Keswick, who rose from poverty to world class success as a jewel thief. Here, she has to steal back the Queen of England's jewels, which have been purloined by a thief who is among an interesting international cast of characters. I did not want this book to end and have to leave Kick and her magical world. More!