An Uncertain Currency [Paperback]

Clyde Lynwood Sawyer (Author), Frances Witlin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2000

"Murder mysteries, clairvoyants and Southern mill towns are not subjects that immediately pique my interest. Nevertheless, authors Witlin and Sawyer have combined these disparate elements to craft a compelling tale, abetted by a fine and fiercely drawn cast of characters. Mario Castigliani, an aging European aristocrat and widower, has a genuine psychic gift that he has lovingly named la Lucia. But he has abused his power to the extent he can no longer count on it to earn his living. On a tour of ill-paying one-night stands, in the dog days of August, he is stranded in a Georgia mill town . A series of strange suicides has drawn the attention of the town's young police chief, the rawboned Beau Tyler. He asks Mario to help with the investigation. As their relationship grows, the reader wonders if the pair are really investigating a series of murders or if they are playing an obscure psychological game."

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Itinerant psychic performer Mario Castigliani and police chief Beaufort Tyler join forces in Floraville, GA, to investigate a suspicious death. An elderly black man, known for his spunk in Civil Rights days, supposedly committed suicide, but Tyler has his doubts--especially since Tyler's predecessor recently died the same way. Castigliani's authentic ability to read minds (Tyler never has a doubt) proves invaluable both to the plot and to the narrative, which includes frequent "unspoken" clues. The authors enrich the action with references to Castigliani's Italian past, local textile mill unrest, personal entanglements, and believable characters. An excellent read.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

This is not the first novel to feature a psychic as an amateur sleuth, but it is one of the better ones. Sawyer and Witlin have crafted an intricate story (it begins with a suicide that might not be suicide, but that's just the jumping-off point) that challenges not only their fictional sleuth but his readers as well. The wonderfully named Mario Castigliani, who makes his living as a performing psychic, is a fresh and interesting character; it's especially nice to see him say what many readers will surely be thinking: that almost all so-called psychics are charlatans. Despite being skeptical about psychic phenomena, the authors ask us to, please, just for the sake of argument, assume what this one man does is genuinely clairvoyant. Those able to make that assumption will be rewarded with a fine crime novel. David Pitt

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Avocet Pr Inc; 1st edition (February 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966107276
• ISBN-13: 978-0966107272
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,185,894 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Technical Tour de Force or Lyrical Masterpiece?, February 4, 2000

By 

Bison Hoag (Brooklyn NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Uncertain Currency (Paperback)

One summer when I was staying with friends in Milan, a somewhat preposterous argument broke out, after a few too many Splugens on the balcony, over whether Milan's Duomo was a "technical tour de force" or a "lyrical masterpiece." After numerous noise complaints from the neighbors, and several threats of overt violence, we decided in solidarity that the Duomo was both a lyrical masterpiece and a technical tour de force. Then the cops showed up. An Uncertain Currency, the new mystery thriller by Clyde Lynwood Sawyer, Jr. and Frances Witlin, integrates much of the same lyrical eloquence and technical mastery that would seem to characterize the infamous Duomo. Not only is this a novel of captivating intrigue but, almost as importantly, not once, at any time or at any place, do any of the characters utter the phrase "Who knew?" The cops call on Mario Castigliani, a down-and-out Italian clairvoyant performing artist, to help solve a murder in a small town in Georgia. If you love a good mystery, you must get your hands on this book. I loved it, even without drinking a bunch of Splugens before I read it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The truth may be uncertain, but this book is no counterfeit!, March 25, 2002

By 

Fayre (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Uncertain Currency (Paperback)

Just out of four years in an Ivy League English department barracks, my reading eye is more than a little critical. In fact, I find it's hard to enjoy reading at all anymore.

That's why I'm so grateful for this book... and grateful for the way it swept me up into itself and kept me from doing anything else until I had scanned its last page, closed it, and put it down with a sigh.

In a sleepy Southern town, where no one's all good, but only one is bad enough to kill, my mind was filled with vivid, strangely intertwining stories and the clear contours of a few strong individuals.

Frankly, this was the first book I read for pleasure since I graduated last spring. Since it reminded me of how much fun a good book can be, I don't think it will be my last.

But exactly WHY is it so good? Even with my long, hard training in literary dissection, I'd have to say that good art's the biggest mystery. You'll just have to read it for yourself.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of good stuff in here, January 23, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: An Uncertain Currency (Paperback)

A truly entertaining novel. An Uncertain Currency waltzes back and forth -- a superconcentrated mystery set in the modern American south on one hand, and a lyrical romance that originates in 1950s Italy on the other. The authors give us a clever mystery, steamy psychological tension, ethical dilemmas, longing, regret, troublemakers, innocents, and plenty more. All of it is observed with great humanity, empathy, and good humor.