Story of O: Part II Return to the Chateau [Paperback]

Pauline Reage (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1980

Praised for their riveting, ingenious plot twists, John Lawton's series of espionage thrillers featuring Chief Inspector Frederick Troy of Scotland Yard have an uncanny ability to place readers in the thick of history. Now in Flesh Wounds, an old flame has returned to Troy's life: Kitty Stilton, wife of an American presidential hopeful. Private eye Joey Rork has been hired to make sure Kitty's amorous liaisons with a rat pack crooner don't ruin her husband's political career. But he also wants to know why Kitty has been spotted with Danny Ryan, whose twin brothers, in addition to owning one of London's hottest jazz clubs, are said to have inherited the crime empire of fallen mobster Alf Marx. Before Rork can find out, he meets a gruesome end. And he isn't the only one: bodies have started turning up around London, dismembered in the same bizarre and horrifying way. Is it possible that the blood trail leads back to Troy's own police force and into Troy's own forgotten past? Flesh Wounds, a compulsively readable thriller, finds one of our most able storytellers at the height of his game.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

British author Lawton's marvelously evocative series of mysteries about Det. Sgt. Freddie Troy, Anglo-Russian Londoner, have been written and/or published in such a confusing order that it's hard to determine where this one, originally published in the U.K. in 2004 as Blue Rondo - comes in the canon. Characters introduced in 2004's Bluffing Mr. Churchill, including Winston's distant cousin Bob Churchill, an ace gunsmith, play an important role here, as 29-year-old Troy, who's recovering from serious gunshot wounds, celebrates Christmas 1944 by taking shooting lessons from Bob. Troy's Russian aristocrat fatherâ€"turnedâ€"British newspaper publisher has died; his mother's health is failing; his twin sisters seem to be intent on spreading their sexual favors around like caviar while their husbands are at the front. Then we jump ahead to the late 1950s, when London is becoming a mecca for American gamblers. Troy's old lover, the delightful ex-cop Kitty Stilton, returns to London as the wife of an important American politician with JFK overtones. There are characters based on (or at least inspired by) everyone from Frank Sinatra to Meyer Lansky, enough dismembered bodies to satisfy the most morbid imaginations and frequent flashes of sly wit and social conscience that illuminate a vanished world. Lawton's Troy series cries out to be made available with some kind of time line in order to give it, like Philip Kerr's Berlin Noir trilogy or the Jean-Louis St.
Cyr/Hermann Kohler books by J. Robert Janes, the genre classic status it deserves.
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.

Review

"Few novelists have given me more pleasure in recent years. . . . Lawton writes with such style, intelligence, irreverence, [and] political sophistication." -- Patrick Anderson, Washington Post

"Lawton is a master at atmospherics and well-thought-out plots. His characters are complex and real. . . . Historically accurate and gripping." -- Rocky Mountain News --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Grove Pr (April 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394176588
• ISBN-13: 978-0394176581
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,075,016 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars exhilarating British historical police procedural, March 13, 2005

By 

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

This review is from: Flesh Wounds (Hardcover)

World War II ended fourteen years ago, but London still shows the ruins. For Russian descendent Chief Superintendent of Scotland Yard Freddie Troy, the conviction of crime kingpin King Alf should be a time of elation. Instead the war years have returned; his former lover Kitty Stilton is back in town but unavailable since she is married to American presidential hopeful, Calvin Cormack, another person from Freddie's espionage past.

Private investigator Joey Rork is in town to insure that Kitty behaves while in England. However, while London swings with Kitty as its biggest swinger, a war seems imminent to take over King's Alf's crime syndicate and American gamblers and crooners are in the middle of the action. When Rork and others are violently killed, Freddie leads the inquiries that take him back to 1944 when he was recovering from a bullet courtesy of his mistress and the antics of his family especially his promiscuous sisters and his brother, who has present day (1959 that is) ambitions. There is also links to when he was Sergeant Freddie Troy. Still, in spite of his efforts London with Ike coming is filling up with mutilated corpses.

FLESH WOUNDS is an exhilarating British historical police procedural that binds events and real persona or obviously disguised persona between World War II and 1959. The story line is overloaded with several subplots that at times may feel overwhelming, but not only come together but enables readers to compare 1944 and 1959 London. Freddie is terrific in both eras as he is the string that keeps the multitude of subplots tied together. Fans will appreciate this deep but dark look back to two distinct Great Britain's only fifteen years apart within a fine Noir.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, but note - this is actually UK book "Blue Rondo", November 24, 2006

By 

John Swallow (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Flesh Wounds: An Inspector Troy Novel (A Black cat book) (Paperback)

The strange thing with the Inspector Troy books is that they get different titles when they're released in the US to when they originally come out in the UK. So, if you're from the UK and excited that to find a new Inspector Troy story you're sorely mistaken -- this book was originally called "Blue Rondo" and was first published in paperback in 2005. Why the title "Blue Rondo" is unsuitable for an American audience I don't know.

But with that out of the way, "Flesh Wounds"/"Blue Rondo" is one of my favourites of the Troy books. Over time, we've got to love the characterisation, Police Surgeon Kolanciwicz is one of the foulest-mouthed people I've come across, but is hilarious to read, and Troy's attitude to most people seems to be that they can go and get lost.

The best so far.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique series, February 26, 2010

By 

JoeV "Reader" (Arlington Hts, IL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Flesh Wounds: An Inspector Troy Novel (A Black cat book) (Paperback)

This is the fifth installment in the Frederick Troy series. Troy is a London homicide detective of Russian heritage - his father an immigrant who became a very powerful and wealthy newspaper publisher. The series takes place between the 1930's and the sixties and although there is a chronology to these books, the series doesn't follow a calendar. Also several of the books, including this one, have been published under different titles, i.e. same book, different title depending on if it's the British or American version.

I have not run across many folks who are familiar with this series which is unfortunate - these are great books - Flesh Wounds or Blue Rondo - being no exception. The books are historically based mysteries with historic figures - for instance Eisenhower makes an appearance in this one - and follow the events of the time. Our hero Troy is somewhat of a lone wolf on the police force - jaded just enough to be both pragmatic and at times very funny but personable, politically savvy and competent enough to climb the promotion ladder. He's the Chief Superintendent in this one.

There's also a supporting cast of characters - Troy's family, his friends and co-workers, including a distant cousin of Winston Churchill - who are well developed and engaging on their own. The books are a blend of mystery, police procedural and political intrigue, all handled extremely well by the author. Lastly, much like Charles McCarry's books, there is a lot of sex in this series and there's even more bed-hopping in this book than its predecessors - including one brief but bizarre and somewhat disturbing scene.

Flesh Wounds begins with a brief flashback to 1944 and war-time London and then moves forward to 1959. Troy finds himself embroiled in case in which the London East End underworld is in transition as a more violent group of Young Turks are supplanting their older predecessors. Troy and his cohorts get knocked around a bit and find themselves not only dealing with this new breed of criminals but also the same old corrupt politicians - but they come out on top in the end.

A very good book and highly recommended although - and I seem to be saying this with more and more frequency - I wouldn't start here simply because you miss a lot of Troy's history - specifically familial - if you haven't read the earlier books.