Thu 5 Aug 2010
Archived Review: LEA WAIT – Shadows at the Fair.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews[4] Comments
LEA WAIT – Shadows at the Fair. Pocket, paperback reprint; 1st printing, July 2003. Hardcover edition: Scribner, July 2002.
Since Lea Wait herself is a long-time antique dealer, one specializing in prints, it comes as little surprise that Maggie Summer, her detective heroine in this, the first in a series, is one also. An antique dealer, that is, specializing in prints.
And that’s the part of the story that’s the most fun to read, even though most of Maggie’s discussion of her stock in trade and other shop talk with her customers is quite irrelevant to the mystery — the death of another dealer who’d set up at same Rensselaer Antique Show as Maggie.
In fact, both customers and dealers are beautifully portrayed in all of their foibles and eccentricities, of which (from my own personal experience) customers and dealers have many. To put it mildly. Also right on in terms of characterization is Ben, the mildly retarded nephew assisting one of Maggie’s friends, who’s also set up at the show.
Which brings me to the part I didn’t care for so very much. Ben is accused of the murder — which allows the show to go on, with (as the police say) the killer caught. A fatal flaw for many a cozy: there’s far too much laughing and joking and kidding around when murder’s been done — with poor Ben sitting there alone in the lockup.
I was also ready to add another source of dissatisfaction, that of predictability, but I have to tell you that while the first two-thirds of the murder investigation falls into that particular category, I did not see the ending coming. My socks are still on, but it opened my eyes a little wider.
And so. With all of the pluses and minuses added in, subtracted off and weighed up against each other, the bottom line? An average sort of mystery, but with a nudge or two in the right direction, one that could have been improved upon immensely. There’s promise here, but apart from the antique dealer background, the rest is fairly uneven, at best.
The Maggie Summers “Antique Print Mysteries” series —
Shadows At the Fair (2002)
Shadows On the Coast of Maine (2003)
Shadows On the Ivy (2004)
Shadows At the Spring Show (2005)
August 6th, 2010 at 12:27 am
My mother-in-law was a collector and well known appraiser, and as a result I spent a lot of time ‘backstage’ so to speak in the antiques business (you’ll never buy another antique after watching a table being ‘distressed’ with a length of chain). I’ll grant the ‘types’ should provide the background for a good mystery and or series, but what I seem to notice is none of these are particularly good at the mystery part of the mystery novel.
I know they are popular, and I know they do what their audience want, but for the love of me I can’t figure out exactly why anyone would bother to do a mystery, much less read one, if they aren’t interested in the mystery. It would be a bit like reading a western that gets the details of a cattle drive right, but can’t handle the plot revolving around it. Frankly I’d rather they spent a little more time and effort on the plot and the mystery element — I can go ‘antiquing’ on the weekend and see the ‘characters’ for myself.
August 6th, 2010 at 1:00 am
I wish I remembered what almost knocked my socks off in terms of the ending of this mystery, but I don’t.
But reading my own review, I’m going to come to the defense of this book and say that the mystery element is stronger than the type you’re referring to, David.
The only evidence I have to base this statement on, I have to admit, though, is the fact that I probably wouldn’t have finished it otherwise.
Otherwise I agree with you 100 percent. Most current “cozy” hobby-oriented mysteries are stronger on hobby — that plus slightly wacky characters — than they are on plot.
This is a statement based on only a sampling of them on my part every once in a while.
Some catch on and become very popular. With only four in this series, which appears to have run its course, it’s one that, alas, didn’t make it.
August 7th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
There was a rash of mysteries with antiques backgrounds several years ago, and, at the time, I thought that Lea Wait’s series started well, although it ran out of steam. I’m not sure that I ever read the 4th entry.
I did a number of reviews for the apa in which I think I covered most of the antiques mysteries, and I rather regretted their gradual demise. However, my memory of most of them has faded dramatically, which may suggest that passing the test of time was not one of their strong suits.
August 7th, 2010 at 8:28 pm
Walter
I suspect that will be the fate of almost all of the current crop of “cozy” hobby-oriented mysteries — fading away and forgotten quickly.
Which, alas, but in all fairness, is true of almost all mystery fiction, no matter our likes or dislikes. Think back to the glut of gothic romances in the 1960s and 70s, and nobody wants them — or can read them — today.
— Steve