2007 Book Log #44-45: More Mary Stewart

[annathepiper]

Madam, Will You Talk?: This was a bit of an odd bird--the oldest yet of the Stewarts I'd read, I think, dating clear back to 1955. And this time around I really noticed it, more than with her other books. The thing that stood out most strongly for me in this thing was how many characters were smoking, and how often--the heroine especially seemed to do it a lot for comfort. Barely a scene went by without someone lighting up. Talk about your ways to date a novel, eh? Between that and the thing being set in the south of France, it really came out feeling for me rather like an old Cary Grant movie or something. All these sophisticated people in Europe, smoking and drinking and dealing with intrigue and murder, and there's even a couple of pretty impressive car chase sequences--with the heroine at the wheel, in fact. And with my affection for Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, especially first season, it was strangely easy to envision the setting in full Technicolor, with David Hedison playing the part of the brooding hero. Snicker.

Anyway, plot-wise, this one wasn't terribly surprising; of course you know, going in, that the Big Mystery about the hero is going to come out okay in the end. But I did like that this one also brings the heroine in almost on the very tail end of the overall plot; she only comes in as a pivotal player at that point, rather than being there for the whole thing. Kind of cool, that. Points off for having the heroine faint in the middle of a tense scene with the hero, though, just because he's being Skeery! Two and a half stars.

Wildfire at Midnight: This one was notable for me being set on the isle of Skye in Scotland, which was a refreshing switch from France, even if the obligatory Colorful Locales With Spelled-Out Scottish Accents were a bit tough to read (the trick of it, I found, seemed to be a bit zen--if I didn't try too hard to sound out the spellings, the accent clicked better in my brain). We get more characters smoking a lot in this story, and to add to that, the slightly out of the ordinary (for Stewart) tack of the heroine starting the story divorced. Three guesses who shows up on Skye shortly after she does. ;)

All jokes about Mystery Science Theater 3000 and "OH NO JOEL, ROCK CLIMBING!" aside, there are some neat tense passages herein where most of the cast go out in search of missing climbers. To a modern reader it'd probably be annoying that the women in the cast wind up playing support to the Big Strong Men Doing the Bulk of the Work, but I'll cut that some slack on the grounds that the heroine does still get to do pivotal stuff involved with the search. I pegged the killer beforehand, but not too terribly long, so points for not making that terribly obvious too soon into the story. Three stars.

Comments

[mamishka.livejournal.com]

I have to say it's been amusing to read your postings on this, since I read all of Mary Stewart's books when I was a kid. ;) I recall loving Moonspinners and Touch Not the Cat best of the lot, but it's been a long time.

There is actually a Disney movie version of The Moonspinners - not as good as the book, but not shabby. ;)

[annathepiper]

I'm pretty sure I read several of these when I was in high school, yeah! I totally remembered Touch Not the Cat for the longest time, since it has telepathy in it, and once I got into The Moonspinners it felt familiar.

Fun to know there's a movie version! I may have to find that.

And hee, glad to give you a giggle. ^_^