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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Disappointing - it should really be only 2½ stars , 10 May 2007
Disappointing -
When I recently discovered the existence of this book, I was overjoyed! In addition to being a creation of a master at historical mysteries, it appeared at first glance, to be wrapped around four of my major loves: mystery, history, architecture and music. Unhappily, it doesn't really deliver on any of them.
There is a bit of everything in the original promise, but what's there is rather weak. The dialogue tends to stilted much of the time, and is remarkably similar, no matter who is speaking. It does little to develop any character other than the Navajo, Yazzie, who is only present for perhaps 20 pages.
Set in Arizona in the late 1920s, when the famed Arizona Biltmore Resort was being built, there is somewhat of an aura of history here. However, other than the occasional mention of a Saguaro or the sand in the desert, it could just as easily have been set anywhere. To me, it read very much like a contemporary novel. Clothing, cars, accessories--everything could have come from the pages of a novel set last year. Thankfully, there was no television or computers to intrude, but not enough was made of the few historical elements that were there.
Frank Lloyd Wright is a presence, although seldom in actuality. Mostly, he's referred to as being `somewhere' in the vicinity. He is at the heart of the mystery--as is his architecture--and it's no doubt a valid point, but is it serious enough to have caused two deaths, and so many vicious beatings? May be, I don't know. I didn't figure it out, and I doubt anyone else would either, as it was so esoteric in nature.
Merlin Richards is a young architect from Wales who idolizes Wright, and leaves behind his known world and family to come to America on the off-chance he'll be able to meet and perhaps work with the master architect. He brings with him a Welsh harp that's been in his family for generations, but after his pocket was picked in New York, he's compelled to pawn the harp in Wisconsin, for money to continue his trip to Arizona. So much for the music element! We never hear it or see it again.
Finally, I must admit to cringing frequently at the crudeness of many of the male characters presented here. It's hard to believe they'd come on so strong and so coarsely to total strangers, especially those representatives of law and order. Maybe they did.
The architectural elements that are here are wonderful, however. If you have even a remote knowledge of Wright's work, it's very easy to conjure up mental images to accompany the words on these pages. It's also enough to prompt you to want to visit those buildings of his that we still have in this country.
I really wanted to like this book more than I did. However, I will definitely read the next book in the series - Saint's Rest. After that? Who knows?
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Intriguing concept with so-so execution, 27 May 1999
By A Customer
Here's an intriguing pseudo-historical mystery involving the irrepressible character and speech of Frank Lloyd Wright, "America's Greatest Architect" (although, typically, he would dispute the necessity for "America" in the sobriquet--and may have been right!). FLLW doesn't appear often enough, more's the pity, because he struts through his scenes in all his arrogant super-perceptive glory, putting Our Hero, Merlin--a randomly wimpish/aggressive budding architect come to worship Wright--quite in the shade. Wright seems authentic in speech and attitude, the architectural passages are perceptive and accurate (although I missed having a good picture of the innovative and glamorous Biltmore Hotel [an actual resort]). The characters are fairly well-differentiated, particularly Tom Vernon, Wright's unctuous chief apprentice, and mysterious Rosa of the ambiguous virtue who befriends Merlin. Merlin's character wanders a bit, his motivation is clear but not psychologically convincing; maybe the intended point is he's just a confused young man. Then again, this author makes more attempt at humor than at profundity. Setting a mystery among architects is fascinating, but how a greenhorn foreigner (Merlin) can do better policing than a pair of veteran Arizona cops is not made believable. The plot is well-constructed, and vital coincidences are not glaring, although Merlin's oft-mentioned (but absent) Welsh harp seems to be a loose end, set up for the second novel in this new, quick-reading series by an average author. I'll read the next one, too.
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