Madam, Will You Talk?by Mary Stewart
Publisher's Blurb:
Much of a strange and tragic drama of revenge, lust, fear, and death has already been played by the time Charity Selborne arrives at a plush resort in the South of France.
But by befriending a terrified boy and catching the attention of his enigmatic, possibly murderous father, Charity has inadvertently placed herself center stage.
My Reaction:
(Note: I listened to an audio version. As usual, by the time I was done, some of the reader's quirks had begun to grow irritating, but overall, not a bad reading. It was funny hearing the reader pause ever-so-slightly before the bits of French. That said, she handled them much more smoothly than I could have...)
The story was entertaining enough, but this is not one of my favorites of Stewart's novels (so far). I suspect that listening to her books is less enjoyable (for me, at least) than reading them myself. Certainly, it doesn't do them any favors. Possibly they'd also seem fresher if spaced out a bit more.
...I find that I don't have much to say about the novel, specifically. It benefits from the author's natural talent for strong settings. Listening, I could easily picture the scenes. The romance was (as usual) another case of Insta-Love-- and I found it difficult to sympathize with our heroine's speedy head-over-heels routine. (It may be that I didn't care for the reader's presentation of the hero.) As for the mystery, it was fine, but again, not the best I've read. Some of her other books are much better, in that respect.
Still, I can't complain. It gave me something to think about while knitting and crocheting.
