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Series Review
US Federal Agent and British Former Soldier Track Terrorists in the Politically and Socially Chaotic 1920s and 1930s
A shell-shocked British officer, Bennett Grey, and an angry United States Bureau of Investigation agent, Harris Stuyvesant, team up to catch killers and terrorists in this dark, daring new series, the Stuyvesant/ Grey Mystery Books, by the excellent Laurie R. King, author of the Mary Russell/ Sherlock Holmes Mystery Books , set in the same period, between World Wars I and II.
In the tumultuous aftermath of World War I, two ex-soldiers turn investigators in this daring series from virtuoso storyteller Laurie R. King
This series is off to a good start. Bennett Grey is one of the more fascinating characters I've encountered in mystery fiction. Horribly wounded in the war, he has a form of shell shock that has sharpened his senses to a painful degree, making him hyper-perceptive. This is useful to an investigator but causes him all kinds of trouble in "normal" life. Hugely imaginative creation. The books are written in King's customary vivid style.
Series Guide
To my mind the series proper starts with book #2 which has a clearly developed voice and which is also clearly noir. The first book gives a lot of character background and is more of a cozy.
Book Summaries
Below, the two books in the Stuyvesant/ Grey series in order:
Touchstone (2008, Stuyvesant/ Grey Mystery Books #1)
1926. Stuyvesant and Grey meet on the Cornwall coast and follow a suspected terrorist to a weekend party at the estate of one of England's most respected, oldest families.1929. Stuyvesant has left the Bureau of Investigation and is wandering around Europe supporting himself as a private investigator. He lands in Paris and quickly turns up a job searching among the expats (including Sarah Grey), decadent artists and hangers-on for a young American woman. Soon enough, the case takes a disturbing turn when Stuyvesant realizes that one missing girl is a drop in the bucket...Historical figures include Surrealist photographer Man Ray and Sylvia Beach, proprietor of Shakespeare & Co.Book Reviews
Stuyvesant/ Grey Series
(From newest to oldest; Dates refer to publication in the US in English;
# refers to series order)
Above, from top to bottom:
Art Deco Print of Paris, France depicts the era in which the Stuyvesant/ Grey Mystery Books are set; Flapper fashion popular in the era between World Wars I and II; Women in a Paris cafe in the 1920s
by Laurie R. King
This series is really starting to come together. Great read. Harris Stuyvesant, a compelling tough-guy hero, is down-and-out in Paris when he takes on a case that shakes him to what's left of his war-ravaged soul.
(Noir aka Hardboiled. Historical.Private Investigators. Set between World Wars I and II.)
Touchstone (2008, Stuyvesant/ Grey Mystery Books #1)
by Laurie R. King
FINALIST! Bruce Alexander Award
A dark variation on the traditional weekend house-party mystery. Love the characters but the book has a bit of an identity crisis--it doesn't know if it is a cozy or noir.
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