Masquerade Book

Walter Satterthwait writes richly detailed historical mysteries about everyone from Oscar Wilde to Lizzie Borden. In the well-reviewed Escapade, he introduced us to Pinkerton detective Phil Beaumont and his partner, a sharp and seductive Brit named Jane Turner. Masquerade brings this fascinating couple to Paris in 1923, where wealthy American dilettante Richard Forsythe and his German mistress have been found dead. The French police are calling it a double suicide, but Forsythe's mother has hired Beaumont and Turner to dig deeper. In between having amorous alliances, spotting the likes of Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, and Ernest Hemingway on the street, and eating too many rich meals with a French policeman ("One can lead a horse to tournedos Rossini, but one cannot make him eat," this worthy sighs when Phil finally requests a steak, rare, with no sauces), Beaumont and Turner dip into a world of insidious aristocrats and dangerous drug dealers as they find out what really happened. Other Satterthwait pleasures in paperback: Accustomed to the Dark, At Ease with the Dead, Wall of Glass. --Dick AdlerRead More