Review: Highly Recommended
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 25, 2013
This is a work of exceptional literary quality, masquerading as a tale of murder, theft, and arson.  Set in Brittany, Nicholas Keszthelyi begins, innocently enough, with the antiques of the Carmelite sisters and ends up in the hands of the chief inspector of police, up to his chin in many crimes.  The atmosphere is decadent and delicious, with appearances from Baudelaire, Swinburne, Huysmans, Andrea del Sarto, Petronius, and even King Arthur.  I loved the rapid fire, and often kinky, dialogue.  The book is witty and wonderful, including especially the final proclamation of Keszthelyi and his escape to * * * who can tell where?  Nabakov would cheer. This should be a best seller and I give it five stars.