Genre:
Mystery/Satire/Chick-Lit
Description:
“This
comic novel—which takes its title from the most famous
Shakespearean quote that Shakespeare never wrote—explores how easy
it is to perpetrate a character assassination whether by a great
playwright or a gang of online trolls.”
Author:
Anne
R. Allen is the author or co-author of several novels, a short story
collection, with a few non-fiction books thrown in as well. Before
turning to writing, Ms Allen spent twenty-five years working in the
theater as an actor and director. Anne and NYT bestselling author
Ruth Harris have a popular blog that covers issues in publishing that
has named on several “best of” lists, including one from Writer's
Digest and another co-run by the Association of American Publishers,
but this is the one I think you should find most impressive.
Appraisal:
On the
surface So Much for
Buckingham is a little
bit suspense novel, several mysteries rolled into one, or what the
author describes as chick-lit noir, which is a fitting description
for the way it combines the humor of chick-lit with a darker edge.
The story is told from two alternating points of view, that of the
protagonist, Camilla, and her friend Plantagenet or Plant, for short.
Plant is on his honeymoon to England, alone. (His new husband
abandoned him and fled to a new-agey retreat in Hawaii with one of
Camilla's ex-boyfriends.) Meanwhile Camilla, a bookshop owner and
author of books on etiquette, is holding down the fort at home. The
short alternating chapters keep the pace fast and the reader turning
the page. How the various mysteries and conflicts are related, if at
all, and how they resolve, kept me guessing until the end.
Along
with all the above is satire, taking pokes at various internet
behavior. (Think in terms of trolling and internet vigilantes.) For
the average reader much of this might seem far-fetched and
over-the-top. Viewing the story from that perspective works fine.
However, for those readers who are plugged in to various happenings
in the publishing world over the last few years or have hung out in
the right Amazon forums, these parts will seem more nuanced, less
satirical and more true to life. Yes, there really are people that
crazy out there.
FYI:
While
part of a series, I had no issues reading this book as a standalone.
Format/Typo
Issues:
A
small number of typos.
Rating:
**** Four Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate word count:
75-80,000 words
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