Madam, Will You Talk?: Volume 22

A friend reminded me about this treasure with all the charm of days gone by and we can visit the south of France with her and her friends and acquiaintances.

Another rich, inviting and almost tangible description and sense tingling episode almost. Athough all the characters differ between books, i find the heroine (1950's style) in each to follow a pattern, perhaps the alter-ego of the writer and indeed the reader. They could easily be put together and create a modern day version for tv series. Madame Will You Talk feels like another warm and comforting chapter following our stong female lead, fast cars, secret rendevous, a family with hidden issues which on the surface appear quite normal, and yet...stage left we have our well timed arrival to become entwined and follow the intrigue through its inevitable twists and turns. All the time you are treated to the exceptional and spectacular description of the scenery, the heat/chill, food, light/dark and a romantic dalliance often tinged with danger. Mary Sterwart will, after one of her books, capture your sensibility and ensnare it with her charming creative writing ability and you will be captivated, of that there is little doubt.

If I weren't the kind of reader who enjoys rereading favorites I would have long ago have been buried beneath my collection -- not to mention divorced my much put-upon and dear spouse. Instead I reread my favorites -- most in paperback -- until they literally fall apart. Mary Stewart's books mysteries have long been on the list of old and much beloved. I was very fortunate, about the time I first read many of these books, I spent a year in Europe as an exchange student and was lucky enough to visit some of the places where Stewart sets -- and describes so wonderfully. Several of my particular favorites have reached that state of decrepitude where covers are frayed and pages keep falling out to be held in place with Scotch Tape. Imagine my delight in discovering re-issues of all my faves, including and especially Madam, Will You Talk. I was surprised to find out (from the intro to this edition) that this was Mary Stewart's first-published mystery. All the features which characterize a Steward thriller are there ... spectacular setting, believable characters and just a touch of the Gothic novel -- a young heroine, dark handsome stranger with a shady past, danger around every corner but all payed out beneath the brilliant skies and historic grandeur of Southern France. What appealed to me in particular when I read this more years ago than I care to admit to) is that while her heroines are young, Mary Stewart gives then more courage and common sense -- plus a little extra something that gives them a surprising edge that lets them take an active role in beating the bad guys. What that "something" is differs in each novel. In this story, the heroine is Charity Selbourne, a young war widow (WWII) whose war hero and former race car driver husband leaves her a tidy fortune as well as his skills behind the wheel. How those skills play out in a plot involving a young boy, his possibly homicidal father, a gang of criminals with sinister connections to the holocaust, an unflappable best friend and one very shaggy and dusty dog all make for most entertaining reading -- and rereading. It was a couple of years since my most recent copy disintegrated when this one became available. Reading it again after such a time, I was agreeably surprised how contemporary it seems, despite the historical setting. I am so glad that this wonderful book is available again and if I'm given enough time, throughly expect to read this edition "to death" as well. To those who haven't read this book, or haven't discovered Mary Stewart yet, I envy you...

The young and pretty widow, Charity Selbourne, has arrived in Provence for a holiday with her good friend Louise. The author wastes no time in setting the stage for suspense: Charity meets a young boy (David, also there on holiday with his mysterious stepmother) and has strong suspicions that all is not well in David's world. Charity begins by championing the boy's interests and being a good listener, but soon she is racing toward Marseilles in her Riley roadster (I should be so lucky) on a mission of life and death. She's a damn good driver, which I found exhilarating and refreshing for a novel from the late 40s or early 50s. Although I enjoy every Mary Stewart book I read, she definitely has a formula going, as other reviewers have noted. Stewart is a bright and clever author, but the pattern is quite predictable: a woman leaves GB because of a major life-upset, goes off to France or wherever, and meets a guy. Falling in love often takes a very short time (in this book, it happens in one afternoon -- the characters move from raging distrust to rapture and are suddenly mooning over each other at a candle-lit dinner). There were a good many coincidences in the unfolding of the plot in this particular book, but I had no trouble forgiving this. Would have liked a little more depth to the characters, but it's a short book.

A classic thriller, very much a product of its time, i.e. set soon after World War II, when it was considered - and probably was! - quite dangerous to engage in a car chase at 65-70 mph, whereas on modern roads and in modern vehicles such speeds are commonplace. The plot, while comparatively simple and summarised in true detective style in only a few pages at the end, was made exciting by the way that some of the characters changed unexpectedly from 'goodies' to 'baddies' or vice versa. I found myself reading the majority of the book on a ferry, where normally I tend to spend the time watching other people, and I was so absorbed that a) I hadn't realised just how many pages I had read in the time; and b) I found myself totally shut off from all that was going on around me. While to a small degree this may have been due to having personally visited some of the places featured, far more likely it was due to the fast-moving narrative style, and the precise and un-florid language. It's certainly a page-turner, although it's almost sixty years since it was first published!