eh. this book proves that we must always read the back of books before buying them, and not just be transfixed by reflective silver surfaces. i bought this years and years ago and decided to finally read it. and for some reason, even after a casual remembering-glance at the back cover copy, stubbornly mentally insisted it was victorian. a nice victorian suspense-y thing, thought i. it actually takes place in the 90's. the 1990's. so it was jarring at first, and then there's an exhausting amount

Janine is a graduate student of European studies whose part-time job as a Mayfair pharmacy assistant leads to her to a murder. Scholar and eccentric Sebastian's accidental friendship with an elderly gentleman brings him unknowingly into the scheme involving a devious Greek business woman, a corrupt young lawyer and an ancient and stupendously valuable plot of land south of the Thames. Various colorful friends and colleagues add spice to the intricate plot, but the star of this thrilling and quir...

I thought this book was going to be a mystery, and it borders on being one, however as someone else pointed out it crosses genres and was much more. The story is very engaging, and the plot moves quickly, much as a thriller does. But this is no thriller. It is witty and funny in places -- I laughed out loud several times while reading it. It is intelligent, which is a refreshing change from so many authors today. Plus the characters are well-developed so you start caring about them. And it has a...

I don't generally have any patience with contemporary fiction, and although this is something of a mystery, it's only lightly so. I was surpriesed by how very much I enjoyed it. Part of that was, of course, the evocation of London--I have met or seen most of these characters, and the sense of place is considerable. Nevertheless, it was sufficiently well written that I finished with great enjoyment. I doubt that I'll read it again, but that's not a requirement for a high rating. It did suffer fro...

Such an interesting and funny novel. Why isn't it better known?

This extremely well-written and entertaining book is a quasi-thriller constructed around an exploration of how people meet and forge their own communities. Set in London, the story is populated by a disparate upper-middle class cast of professionals who are entwined in a plot revolving around some valuable South Bank real estate owned by a Greek monastery. Events are set in motion when two different groups discover the existence of the property, as well as the possibility of the existence of pri...

Was not invested in the characters nor the story. Also, the evocation of the city of London was minimal. And the ending “message(s)” were heavy-handed.

Intelligently written, well researched, nice prose, good characterizations, although somehow the prose didn't sparkle and I wasn't sure until 100 or so pages in that I was really interested in the story. One of those "serendipity" tales where a number of different characters come to be acquainted with one another and in the end--although their lives are told almost entirely within a narrow area of London--jointly have a brief and very unlikely "adventure" in the Cotswolds that ends in them thwar...

Originally published on my blog here in May 2005.Margery Allingham's classic novels are generally set in the most rural parts of Essex and Suffolk or in London. The latter had a particular atmosphere which is more or less gone from the genre: she specialised in eccentric faded gentility. Perhaps there is less of this about than there was in the thirties, and even thoguh there is still a great deal of crime fiction being set in England's capital, it is dominated by the police procedural. In Allin...

London Bridges has been on my bookshelf, unread, for more than five years. I discovered it there during a move and in moving hell read it while I was too distracted to visit the library. It has been one of the unexpected benefits of the move. Neither a thriller nor a detective novel, it is a gentle story of an inept intrigue and its unintentional exposure with just enough suspense to keep one reading. But the real delight is in its charming and quirky characters who seem to delight in getting to...

This book was just the sort of thing I like: set in the UK, includes some academic types, lively goings on. It gets off to a bit of a slow start as a number of key characters must be introduced, but once things are underway and the disparate strands are beginning to tie together, I found it very exciting. The ending was maybe a tad abrupt, but part of the reason I say that is because I love Sebastian, Dil, Janeane and Hattie and would eagerly follow them indefinitely.

I thought this book was too simplistic, and the action and characters a bit formulaic. The book's "bad guys" were lacking in definition. Its social commentary (as pertains to gay men and people of ethnicity in the UK) seems outdated but perhaps it wasn't at the time it was written.All things considered, I did read it all the way through.

Really enjoyed the all the characters (except the villainess, who was a bit too cartoon-y). Didn't mind the legalese, but some of the minute details of the British academic system were a bit arcane for a Yank with a BS.

I'm immersing myself in books set in London. This one reminded me a bit of Alexander McCall Smith's Isabel Dalhousie books, in that the characters are either clearly good or bad, and there's a final philosophical question at the end. The London setting might have earned this an extra half a star:)

Pleasant, clever, and often amusing.

Enjoyable. Loved the London setting.

Enjoyable, but a little too cute

Stevenson captures the voice and experience of a generation of thirty-something Brits in this fun novel in which murder, friendship, art history, aspiration and London all figure.