The Strange Death of a Romantic

by Jim Williams

A gripping murder-mystery, written with the skillful and beguiling literary game-playing of Scherzo and Recherche. La Spezia, Italy, 1930. Young doctor Guy Parrot passes a summer in the company of his rich and glamorous friends: the actor/dramatist Ambrose Carmody, the poet Lewis Lockyer, the bootlegger Jackie Ferris, the socialite Margot Davenant, and the fascinating Julia Carradine. They while away the long evenings in weaving stories around a murder mystery: the death of the poet Shelley, who drowned at La Spezia just over a century before. On the surface their stories are a witty parody of various writers, but a sinister subtext hints at tensions within the group. The summer ends with a disappearance, a death and a disastrous love affair...In 1945 Guy returns to La Spezia to found an Army hospital in the aftermath of the War. With the aid of a fascist policeman, Signor Porrello, and hints from the elderly medium, Madame Hecate and the mysterious Signor Nessuno, Guy has an opportunity to reconstruct that summer in La Spezia and save his marriage from emotional sterility.
But first he must discover the identity of a corpse in the water cistern - and escape the machinations of the delightfully villainous Corporal Long.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Amazon, Mystery, Fiction

341 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Jim Williams first hit the news when his early novels had the uncanny knack of coming true. The Hitler Diaries was published nine months before the celebrated forgery came out in 1983. Farewell to Russia dealt with a nuclear disaster in the Soviet Union months before the Chernobyl disaster. Lara's Child, his sequel to Doctor Zhivago, provoked an international literary scandal and led to his being a guest speaker at the Cheltenham Festival. Scherzo, a witty and elegant mystery set in eighteenth century Venice, was nominated for the Booker Prize. All of his fiction has been published internationally. Tango in Madeira is his eleventh novel.

From the author:

I was born in Oldham, England, the son of a coal miner and a cotton mill worker and grew up in circumstances that would today be considered poor. However I had loving parents and benefitted from a good education.

I have a degree in law and sociology and speak French, German and Spanish and have a smattering of other languages. Since 1970 I've been a qualified barrister, though I no longer practice. I am a Fellow of the Indian Society of Arbitrators, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the founder and a fellow of the Institute of Applied Charlatanry. One of these qualifications is entirely worthless and I leave you to guess which.

The most important fact in my life is that I have had a long and loving marriage to a wonderful wife, and my grown-up family still gather with us most Sundays for a family dinner.

I seem to have a happy, easy-going nature and I take a great deal of pleasure in ordinary things such as walking or gardening. My wife and I enjoy theatre, ballet, opera, paintings and dancing at every possible opportunity.

Reviews

[Toby · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay, so I spent $3.99 to purchase this book for my Kindle.

It is not worth that much. If I could give it zero stars I would.

The blurb sounds fantastic!~ I love anything to do with historical whodunits, and the fact that it is about one of my favorite poets was just an added bonus.

And then...

...I started the book.

This might count as comedy to... some people? but not me.

"It doesn't do to be bashful," said Colonel Box. "It disheartens the men. I know you speak the lingo, because you proved it in our fight against the clap."

His last remark referred to an incident of the previous year. Officially known as the Anti-Venereal Disease Campaign, it had lasted for three months and culminated in "VD Day" - though, the nature of the illness being what it was, the junior officers such as Guy had had difficulty in imagining the climactic event that would close the proceedings. A service in a Naples cathedral, followed by the voluntary adoption of a universal celibacy, perhaps? As it happened, the Allies landed in Normandy on VD Day. This coincidence - if that is was it was - gave rise to the rumour, spread by Corporal Long, that the campaign had all along been one of misinformation to fool the Germans.

I don't find that funny. I think that's blatant disrespect to the men who served and fought at Normandy on V-Day. Maybe I'm too uptight, but... that's just not my kind of humor. It's body humor, and it's just... disgusting (to me at least) and - at the very least - unnecessary. If you have to stretch that far to be funny in a book that's supposed to appeal to adults who know who Shelley is and what the Italian Riviera is... then you're stretching too far, IMO. (Not to say that people who know those things never appreciate that type of humor, since that would be way too broad a generalization... but... really?)

And then we get another few pages discussing masturbation. Um, how about... no? I have to deal with talking with teenage boys about this at my job. Why would I want to read about it for FUN?

(Also, why the fuck would Williams write this:

The battalion was encamped in wheat fields on the plain somewhere north of Naples and towards the sea. The moon was up, the sky a limpid violet, and the Americans were romantically bombing Bologna.

What the hell? "Romantically bombing Bologna"? ....... Never mind. This book pisses me the fuck off and I haven't even gotten very far at all into it. No. Just no.)

[Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't Wait for the Masterpiece Theatre Version

A fun complex novel that incorporates several writing styles and that dry English wit. I am now a fan of Jim Williams and look forward to more of his entertaining writing. If you're a fan of Agatha Christie or a regular watcher of Masterpiece Theatre you will have another insight

[Joan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought this would be a really cool delving-into-history-to-solve-a-murder book, but it turned out to be a rather dull book where one of the characters is "obsessed" by this murder but really doesn't talk about it too much.

I will say this, each character takes a turn at writing some sort of fiction depicting the murder of Percy Shelly, though most of these are boring, one of the characters writes a little play that was probably the highlight of the book (at least the parts of the book I read). That piece could really be a stand alone skit!

I couldn't finish the book, though I made it halfway. It was mostly undeveloped characters talking to each other and every once in a while mentioning the murder that was supposed to be the crux of the whole novel.

[Kathryn Peirce · Rating 2 out of 5]

The strange waste of time

Meh. These characters were annoying. Theme only character I liked was Hecate and the Italian policeman. The protagonist is weak and miserble. It was an effort to finish for me. Maybe I missed something?

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book

You people should just read this book yourselves and write your own review on this novel yourself and I really enjoyed reading this book very much so. Shelley MA

[Barbara Scott-Emmett · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Strange Death of a Romantic is another of Williams’ playful tales of possible but disputed murder. You may never have wondered if the poet Shelley was deliberately drowned but if you read this book you will discover who dunnit anyway.

Guy Parrot, a young doctor, is befriended by a bunch of socialites in 1930. Most of these people are brittle and artificial and from the outset we know things are not going to go well for poor Guy. They set up temporary home in the Villa Esperanza near Le Spezia in Italy close to where Shelley had his boating accident – if accident it was.

To while away the time, the friends make up stories about Shelley’s possible murder. This is where William’s skill really comes into play. The stories are written in a variety of styles including pastiches of a Gothic romance, a Just William type story, a Noel Coward-like play and a bit of Gatsbyesque prose. The various peripheral characters evince qualities of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple with a touch of Madame Arcati thrown in – and there’s a bit of Mitford and Mosely for good measure. The novel is rich with literary and contemporary allusions. Recognising at least some of these allusions is probably necessary for full enjoyment of the book, but even without the background knowledge it will still be an entertaining read.

The novel starts in 1943 when Guy Parrot, now an army doctor, returns to the Villa Esperanza (and remember, ‘esperanza’ means ‘hope’) to set up a military hospital there. Along with dealing with wartime shenanigans involving insubordinate corporals, missing equipment and gay squaddies, Guy must also face his past and decide on his future. I have to admit finding the start slightly confusing but that doesn’t faze me – I’m not an advocate of the idea that all books must start with a bang. Stick with it and in no time at all you’ll be caught up in the fractured world of the well-meaning Dr Parrot.

This novel is funny, clever and literate; it also deals with hopeless love, disillusionment and mental illness. Another intriguing book from Jim Williams.

[Denise]

I couldn't get into this book. I'm about a quarter of the way through . . . and I just couldn't. I didn't even want to think about reading. Maybe it's cause I'm just not in the mood for this type of book, so I'll try again in a month or two.

[Rissi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ghastly characters & slow moving story line.

[Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. If you are an Agatha Christie fan you'll have some insight into this authors sense of humor.

[Sarah Bird · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tedious...