Subject: STRONG SPIRITS by Elisa DeCarlo

From: [email-masked]
Date: 14 Jan 94 23:55:16 GMT

STRONG SPIRITS by Elisa DeCarlo
           Ace, ISBN 0-380-77405-4, January 1994, 151pp, US$4.50.
                     A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
		      Copyright 1994 Evelyn C. Leeper

     This is apparently the prequel to DeCarlo's earlier book, THE DEVIL YOU
SAY, since that deals with the adventures of two characters who meet in this
book.  I heard DeCarlo read some of THE DEVIL YOU SAY on "Hour of the Wolf"
on WBAI radio and that was part of what made me pick up this book: the
P. G. Wodehouse influence is not immediately obvious from the cover.  (The
cover is reminiscent of that of Nina Kiriki Hoffman's THREAD THAT BINDS, but
here the whimsical effect is accurate to the book.)

     This is the story of Aubrey Arbuthnot, good-for-nothing playboy, whom
his father's death has left somewhat impoverished, and his adventures with
ghosts, spiritualists, hell hounds, and music hall singers.  Playing Jeeves
to Aubrey's Wooster is Hornchurch, a gentleman's gentleman and clearly the
more intelligent of the pair.  Though the story attempts a serious tone and
a bit of horror for its climax, even that gives way to the general frivolity
of the book.  All in all, this is a pleasant little book in a delightfully
refined style.

%T      Strong Spirits
%A      Elisa DeCarlo
%C      New York
%D      January 1994
%I      Ace
%O      paperback, US$4.50
%G      ISBN 0-380-77405-4
%P      151pp
%S      Arbuthnot & Hornchurch
%V      2

-- 
Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | [email-masked] / [email-masked]