Max Bravo is ready for some rest and relaxation. But when an old friend takes a leap off the Golden Gate Bridge, Max realizes that rest and relaxation simply aren't in the cards. The jumper, Frank Kelly, was a failed writer and an accomplished hothead. Max acquires Frank's journal and is soon following the dead man through a foggy landscape of artistic manias and romantic intrigues. Along the way, he encounters a motley crew of crackpots, bohemians, and wily ghosts that refuse to be buried in San Francisco's Barbary Coast past. Fans of quirky, literary mysteries will love this second dose of Max Bravo and his outrageous adventures.
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"This esoteric tale, peopled with dozens of quirky characters, draws you in and spits you out dazed and delighted with the journey."
-- Kirkus' Review - "The World's Toughest Reviewers"
"This quirky and offbeat novel may well appeal to fans of Lisa Lutz's Spellman Files, also a little wacky and set in San Francisco."
-- "Jessica Moyer, "Booklist
" . . . a rollicking romp through the caverns of Max's roller-coaster mind. Those seeking a conventional whodunit should look elsewhere."
-- Publishers' Weekly
"The serpentine story line has more wonderful curves than Lombard Street as Max, accompanied by Dixie and the ghosts, provides an intriguing tour of San Francisco."
-- Harriet Klausner, Genre-Go-Round
"Somewhere in the authorial firmament, Raymond Chandler is attempting to steal this passage for his latest celestial novel:
'Blashky introduced me to Miss Vicky. She leaned her forearms onto the bar, framing her bounteous breasts in the strong embrace of her bare arms. A man could lose his motel keys in that cleavage.'
Robinson's stylistics and Max's theatrics--equally bravura--make for a most exotic port of call in a mystery that defies categorical gravity, quite alike a perpendicular cable-car ride."
-- David Marshall James, Yahoo Shine
About the Author
CYNTHIA ROBINSON's stories have appeared in Opium.com and the "First Thrills "anthology. Nominated for the Best New American Voices Award, she lives in San Francisco. "The Barbary Galahad "is her second novel with Minotaur/Thomas Dunne Books; the first, "The Dog Park Club," was published in July 2010.
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Amazon.com:
3.5 out of 5 stars
6 reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Wonderful Literary Read
6 Mar 2012
By Timothy B. Rien
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Barbary Dogs is a smart, witty second novel for author Cynthia Robinson. It bristles with a colorful cast of quirky San Francisco characters, both past and present. Chief among them, Max Bravo, an opera singer as dexterous with a libretto as he is with a nightcap swill, returns from his first appearance in The Dog Park Club to solve the mystery of Frank Kelly's jump from the Golden Gate Bridge. It is impossible to emerge from this often dark and always riveting read without pulling for hapless beings, characters so well rendered they will delight and haunt the reader beyond the last page, much in the same way Max's grandmother and Duffield Fallon dog Max himself. And, speaking of dogs, Max does have a companion pug, the only dog appearing in the book--despite the dust jacket photography to the contrary. This book is a fine work of literary art, not to be missed because of, or judged by, its cover.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
entertaining paranormal amateur sleuth
8 Nov 2011
By Harriet Klausner
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Wannabe but failed writer Frank Kelly leaps off the Golden Gate Bridge. In a suicide note, Frank directed his friend opera singer Max Bravo to dispose of his estate. Though he knows he should feel guilty for his thinking a dead friend in need is a pest, Max and Dixie the pug (The Dog Park Club) begin the handling of what the late Frank left behind.
Max is taken aback when he finds a journal allegedly written by Frank that contains two distinctively different handwritings as well as enigmatic secrets he does not understand. He vows to interpret the journal unaware that he is a puppet on a strong pulled by the ghost of Barbary Coast thug Duffield Waverly Fallon. With the ghost of his Roma grandmother and with Dixie having his back, Max investigates the death of Frank.
This is an entertaining paranormal amateur sleuth starring a baritone who finds himself manipulated by the dead and a dog as he works the case. The serpentine story line has more wonderful curves than Lombard Street as Max, accompanied by Dixie and the ghosts, provides an intriguing tour of San Francisco.
Harriet Klausner
Max is taken aback when he finds a journal allegedly written by Frank that contains two distinctively different handwritings as well as enigmatic secrets he does not understand. He vows to interpret the journal unaware that he is a puppet on a strong pulled by the ghost of Barbary Coast thug Duffield Waverly Fallon. With the ghost of his Roma grandmother and with Dixie having his back, Max investigates the death of Frank.
This is an entertaining paranormal amateur sleuth starring a baritone who finds himself manipulated by the dead and a dog as he works the case. The serpentine story line has more wonderful curves than Lombard Street as Max, accompanied by Dixie and the ghosts, provides an intriguing tour of San Francisco.
Harriet Klausner
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Mixed feelings
27 Dec 2012
By Paige Bucherschrank
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
The first thing that I noticed about this book was the cover art. I thought that it was exceptionally good. But, in spite of the cover, there is only one dog, a pug, in the story and he plays a very minor role, although he is deserving of more, especially considering the other characters. The main character's grandmother is the best character and she's dead. As a matter of fact, all of the dead characters were more interesting than the living characters. Some reviewers seem to think that we should have all enjoyed this book because the author used a lot of words and that's true, I was entertained by the highfalutin language but some of the characters were so annoying and the story so repetitive that about mid-way through the book I was starting to wonder if it was worth finishing. It was a pleasure/pain thing, kind of like eating dark chocolate covered jalapenos.
Note to author: The Celica was not made by Honda.
Note to author: The Celica was not made by Honda.
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3.5 out of 5 stars
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