Sat 14 May 2016
A Mystery Review by Barry Gardner: MATT & BONNIE TAYLOR – Neon Dancers.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews[4] Comments
MATT & BONNIE TAYLOR – Neon Dancers. Palmer Kingston #2. Walker, hardcover, 1991. No paperback edition.
This is the second in a series set in an unnamed Florida city featuring two reporters: Palmer Kingston and his lover and rival, A. J. Egan.
Kingston is something of an eccentric, living in a garish mansion surrounded by neon signs and antique cars. Egan is a tenant in the mansion. If it all sounds a little strange, well, it is. The story, though, is a relatively straightforward tale of hijinks with the zoning board, a U. S. Attorney out to make a name for himself, and various parties trying to either aid or thwart his and the zoning board’s designs.
The attorney turns up dead, and Kingston has problems with A. J., his publisher, the law, and just about everybody else. I found him to be a very likeable character, the milieu an interesting one, and the Taylors’ storytelling skills more than adequate.
In short, I liked it, and will hunt up the first in the series. Recommended.
— The Palmer Kingston & A. J. Egan series:
Neon Flamingo. Dodd Mead, 1987.
Black Dutch. Walker, April 1991.
Neon Dancers. Walker, November 1991.
May 14th, 2016 at 4:07 pm
The little I knew about this series at the time, or thought I knew, was not much, only that it was flashy and glitzy and not likely to be of much interest to me.
No paperback edition would have been a big drawback, and the ugly art on the hardcover, if ever I came across it, even more so.
Given Barry’s review, though, I think I was right about the glitzy, but maybe I was wrong about the books being of no interest.
Even so, I doubt that I’ll make any kind of effort to find any them. It’s probably way too late. There are too many books already on hand now, as it is.
May 14th, 2016 at 4:10 pm
Publishers Weekly says: “Despite an unsurprising denouement and characters who aren’t as tough as the authors would have us believe, this novel is still neatly done…”
Kirkus says: “…the unexpected motive behind it provide an action-filled conclusion. Overly busy but mostly engaging — and much enhanced by its likable journalist-sleuth.”
May 14th, 2016 at 9:15 pm
Sounds like potential, but too late to see if it was fulfilled.
May 14th, 2016 at 9:54 pm
I did some research on the two books published in 1991, and I’ve changed the two of them around in the listing for the series. This makes Barry’s introductory sentence incorrect, as well as the last, but I’ll leave them as they are.