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A Nick Williams Mystery #18
The Adroit Alien
Monday, January 2, 1956
Nick and Carter have arrived safely in Paris and were even greeted at the airport by a minor government official and a small detachment of the famous Republican Guard.
After taking a week to recover from their Christmas adventures in Vermont, they're ready to move into their new house over in the 4th Arrondissement.
It takes three cabs to get the whole gang over there from their hotel and, as they stand on the sidewalk outside, none of them can quite believe what they a crumbling building, a trash-filled courtyard, several broken windows, and, as Nick tentatively pushes the front door open, the stench of a rotting corpse.
The police know that none of them could possibly have committed the crime but what about the mysterious Madame Marika, who has suddenly disappeared? Is she back behind the Iron Curtain? Or has she too been murdered?
The entire household gets involved in solving the mystery, dashing around the city that is their new home, and discovering, in the end, the bonds of love and friendship they have brought with them from San Francisco, across the Atlantic Ocean, and to La Ville-Lumière— The City of Light.
And that's only the beginning...
Nick and Carter have arrived safely in Paris and were even greeted at the airport by a minor government official and a small detachment of the famous Republican Guard.
After taking a week to recover from their Christmas adventures in Vermont, they're ready to move into their new house over in the 4th Arrondissement.
It takes three cabs to get the whole gang over there from their hotel and, as they stand on the sidewalk outside, none of them can quite believe what they a crumbling building, a trash-filled courtyard, several broken windows, and, as Nick tentatively pushes the front door open, the stench of a rotting corpse.
The police know that none of them could possibly have committed the crime but what about the mysterious Madame Marika, who has suddenly disappeared? Is she back behind the Iron Curtain? Or has she too been murdered?
The entire household gets involved in solving the mystery, dashing around the city that is their new home, and discovering, in the end, the bonds of love and friendship they have brought with them from San Francisco, across the Atlantic Ocean, and to La Ville-Lumière— The City of Light.
And that's only the beginning...
528 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 22, 2018
15 people are currently reading
20 people want to read
About the author
Frank W. Butterfield
123 books106 followersFrank W. Butterfield, not an assumed name, loves old movies, wise-cracking smart guys with hearts of gold, and writing for fun.
Although he worships San Francisco, he lives at the beach on another coast.
Born on a windy day in November of 1966, he was elected President of his high school Spanish Club in the spring of 1983.
After moving across these United States like a rapid-fire pinball, he currently makes his home in a hurricane-proof apartment with superior water pressure that was built in 1926.
While he hasn't met any dolphins personally, that invitation is always open.
Although he worships San Francisco, he lives at the beach on another coast.
Born on a windy day in November of 1966, he was elected President of his high school Spanish Club in the spring of 1983.
After moving across these United States like a rapid-fire pinball, he currently makes his home in a hurricane-proof apartment with superior water pressure that was built in 1926.
While he hasn't met any dolphins personally, that invitation is always open.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 4, 2018
The Adroit Alien (Nick Williams Mysteries #18)
By Frank W. Butterfield
Published by the author, 2018
Four stars
“Do you sometimes feel like we’re in the middle of a book?”
I described Frank Butterfield’s Nick Williams series to a longtime acquaintance as we waited for the train the other day. I was expressing my amazement that such a long series could sustain both interest and quality. I had another motive, since my friend, a gay man I’ve known for over thirty years, works for a big mainstream publisher, and dismisses gay-themed books as “bad.” He’s a good man, and thirty years ago was movie-star beautiful, but he reminds me of why I read and support both gay/bi authors and gay romance. Gay folk don’t love themselves enough, even today. The internalized homophobia is still there, in every generation, doing its insidious work.
The longevity of Nick and Carter’s adventures is remarkable, especially if, as the author claims, the plots just “come to me out of thin air.” I think Frank Butterfield makes light of his creative faculties. For all that they are not, perhaps, profound books (this isn’t James Michener or Philip Roth—but then, they were homophobes), Butterfield’s Nick Williams series continues to intrigue me and move me. Ultimately, Nick and Carter are just two men who love each other and want to be left alone. In a world that refuses to leave them alone, they use their vast resources to help other queer folk in distress due to the hatefulness of strangers.
“…I know you are very wealthy, but money does not cure all things.”
The story starts and ends with fictitious columns by Art Buchwald excerpted from the International Herald Tribune, a newspaper that used to be in every European hotel lobby, catering to American travelers. The purpose of these excerpts is to point out just how famous Nick and Carter are, and how international their celebrity has become. Nick never reads papers, and thus is oblivious to how recognized not just their lives, but their faces are. Buchwald was a comic writer, and less homophobic than most of his peers. He was still famous well into the 1980s, and I remember reading his column. If Art Buchwald wrote about you, then the world knew who you were. The second of these Buchwald columns, I might point out, is dated on my second birthday.
Forced into exile by J. Edgar Hoover and others in the international intelligence world, it is Nick and Carter who are the adroit aliens of the title. As the earlier books have done with California, this volume does with France, following Nick and Carter—and their band of merry men (and women) on a long trek from a crumbling house in Paris’s Quatrième Arrondissement with a surprise history, through the Alps to Chamonix and Grenoble, and on to the Cote d’Azur, the fabled French Riviera. All along the journey, Nick and Carter spend their money, pick up strays, and deal with the bizarre reality of their wealth and their notoriety. France in the mid-1950s was both a safe haven for nonconformists, and a hotbed of reactionary politics. As they have always been, the French are confusing, arrogant, and fiercely loyal when it suits them. The Riviera was coming into its post-war boom, with the likes of the American-born Princess Grace and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and it is a marvelous moment for Butterfield to depict.
Nick seems less angry in this book—because there are plenty of other, angrier people with whom he must cope. But he does weep—weeps for what he has lost, and what he fears to lose. Carter learns to speak French, which for some reason made me fall in love with him even more. There is plenty of hypocrisy in France’s tentative embrace of the most famous gay men in the world, but it has a different flavor than the American hypocrisy of its time.
“…stay vigilant, continue to live your life as you do, and know that you have more friends that you suspect.”
As always, Nick has dreams, and I must say Butterfield is very good with these. However, there is one prophetic moment in this story—akin to the ghost-story-like moments that have appeared in previous volumes—that reminded me that we (if we have read all of Butterfield’s books) know more about Nick and Carter than they themselves know. We don’t have to fear for our gay superheroes, Moneyman and Georgia Boy. Our job is to go along with them on their adventures, and to draw strength from their bravery, their generosity, and their love.
By Frank W. Butterfield
Published by the author, 2018
Four stars
“Do you sometimes feel like we’re in the middle of a book?”
I described Frank Butterfield’s Nick Williams series to a longtime acquaintance as we waited for the train the other day. I was expressing my amazement that such a long series could sustain both interest and quality. I had another motive, since my friend, a gay man I’ve known for over thirty years, works for a big mainstream publisher, and dismisses gay-themed books as “bad.” He’s a good man, and thirty years ago was movie-star beautiful, but he reminds me of why I read and support both gay/bi authors and gay romance. Gay folk don’t love themselves enough, even today. The internalized homophobia is still there, in every generation, doing its insidious work.
The longevity of Nick and Carter’s adventures is remarkable, especially if, as the author claims, the plots just “come to me out of thin air.” I think Frank Butterfield makes light of his creative faculties. For all that they are not, perhaps, profound books (this isn’t James Michener or Philip Roth—but then, they were homophobes), Butterfield’s Nick Williams series continues to intrigue me and move me. Ultimately, Nick and Carter are just two men who love each other and want to be left alone. In a world that refuses to leave them alone, they use their vast resources to help other queer folk in distress due to the hatefulness of strangers.
“…I know you are very wealthy, but money does not cure all things.”
The story starts and ends with fictitious columns by Art Buchwald excerpted from the International Herald Tribune, a newspaper that used to be in every European hotel lobby, catering to American travelers. The purpose of these excerpts is to point out just how famous Nick and Carter are, and how international their celebrity has become. Nick never reads papers, and thus is oblivious to how recognized not just their lives, but their faces are. Buchwald was a comic writer, and less homophobic than most of his peers. He was still famous well into the 1980s, and I remember reading his column. If Art Buchwald wrote about you, then the world knew who you were. The second of these Buchwald columns, I might point out, is dated on my second birthday.
Forced into exile by J. Edgar Hoover and others in the international intelligence world, it is Nick and Carter who are the adroit aliens of the title. As the earlier books have done with California, this volume does with France, following Nick and Carter—and their band of merry men (and women) on a long trek from a crumbling house in Paris’s Quatrième Arrondissement with a surprise history, through the Alps to Chamonix and Grenoble, and on to the Cote d’Azur, the fabled French Riviera. All along the journey, Nick and Carter spend their money, pick up strays, and deal with the bizarre reality of their wealth and their notoriety. France in the mid-1950s was both a safe haven for nonconformists, and a hotbed of reactionary politics. As they have always been, the French are confusing, arrogant, and fiercely loyal when it suits them. The Riviera was coming into its post-war boom, with the likes of the American-born Princess Grace and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and it is a marvelous moment for Butterfield to depict.
Nick seems less angry in this book—because there are plenty of other, angrier people with whom he must cope. But he does weep—weeps for what he has lost, and what he fears to lose. Carter learns to speak French, which for some reason made me fall in love with him even more. There is plenty of hypocrisy in France’s tentative embrace of the most famous gay men in the world, but it has a different flavor than the American hypocrisy of its time.
“…stay vigilant, continue to live your life as you do, and know that you have more friends that you suspect.”
As always, Nick has dreams, and I must say Butterfield is very good with these. However, there is one prophetic moment in this story—akin to the ghost-story-like moments that have appeared in previous volumes—that reminded me that we (if we have read all of Butterfield’s books) know more about Nick and Carter than they themselves know. We don’t have to fear for our gay superheroes, Moneyman and Georgia Boy. Our job is to go along with them on their adventures, and to draw strength from their bravery, their generosity, and their love.
February 16, 2018
Okay, I can't really tell you why, but I think this is one of my favorites so far. Paris and Nice, and new people getting a hand up, and a weird "Dynasty"-like unknown relative twist. I like hearing a bit more about the Misses Grace and Hyacinth (Frank W. Butterworth, if you happen to read this review, I could totally go a book or two about those two women in their younger years).
This series continues to be a delight.
This series continues to be a delight.
January 23, 2018
Things do not go well for our pair as they settle into their new lives in France. Will anything ever be straightforward for our heroes? Lettie has bought Nick, Carter and their entourage a house sight unseen, and not only is it a fixer-upper, it also includes a corpse. Luckily our heroes have an alibi for this one!
This is perhaps the longest episode in the Nick Williams series so far yet it is crammed from start to finish with mystery, murder and mayhem.
A very enjoyable and interesting read.
This is perhaps the longest episode in the Nick Williams series so far yet it is crammed from start to finish with mystery, murder and mayhem.
A very enjoyable and interesting read.
November 14, 2019
The Adroit Alien, set in Nick and Carter's new country of France, gives us all the regular crime and intrigue, plus the usual surveyance from any number of agencies around the world (CIA, FBI, MI6, the Crezh police, the Republican Guard, etc.). They learn that their ramshackle home in Paris - complete with a decadent Turkish bath in the basement - was the former home of Nick's infamous Uncle Paul and in the midst of a bitterly cold winter, escape to Grenoble and finally to the warmth and charm of the Cote d'Azur in the south of France.
In the midst of all the cases and intrigue and murders, it somehow escaped me until this book that Carter Woodrow Wilson Jones is quite a Renaissance man. His curiousity about the world around him extends to learning to surf in Australia, ski in Switzerland, learn French, become a PI and a rather savvy businessman, etc. Carter never forgets a name or face, and maintains an extensive network of friends, family and acquaintances with whom he regularly corresponds; he's the cohesive glue that holds Williams & Jones together.
Nick and Carter's exile to France is proving to be interesting - there's literally a whole world full of possibilities and as always, I'm starting on the next book in the series and looking forward to continuing the adventure. 4.5 stars.
In the midst of all the cases and intrigue and murders, it somehow escaped me until this book that Carter Woodrow Wilson Jones is quite a Renaissance man. His curiousity about the world around him extends to learning to surf in Australia, ski in Switzerland, learn French, become a PI and a rather savvy businessman, etc. Carter never forgets a name or face, and maintains an extensive network of friends, family and acquaintances with whom he regularly corresponds; he's the cohesive glue that holds Williams & Jones together.
Nick and Carter's exile to France is proving to be interesting - there's literally a whole world full of possibilities and as always, I'm starting on the next book in the series and looking forward to continuing the adventure. 4.5 stars.
February 6, 2018
In good form
This book in the series has a clear narrative energy that matches the best books in the series. As Butterfield tinkered with the mix of mystery and social history in recent books, he seemed to be looking for a confident voice. He has found it.
This book in the series has a clear narrative energy that matches the best books in the series. As Butterfield tinkered with the mix of mystery and social history in recent books, he seemed to be looking for a confident voice. He has found it.
February 7, 2019
Let me begin by saying, I still really like this series and I liked this installment. I would have rated it higher because there are still enough endearing and intriguing moments to keep me reading but a few bugaboos keep bugging me. The longer the series continues without fixing them the more egregious I find them. Hopefully, if Mr. Butterfield reads these reviews, he’ll acknowledge my concerns and perhaps address them in future installments. I realize I’m coming to the series after 28 books have been written but there’s always the chance that newer versions will be released at some point. That’s the magic of eBooks where updates and reedits are easy to publish.
It’s not really a pet peeve but the Same Name syndrome in this series is really getting annoying. It’s so obvious and confusing at this point that even the characters mention it but yet it still continues. Another Anna, Alexander, etc. For these basic plot device type characters, it has become utterly absurd. Note to the author = If clicking through a site like Nameberry is too time-consuming, there are name generation apps for your phone. Just tap to find something new. I get it, that in real life we often encounter people with the same/similar names but that’s utterly random and packed with visual and contextual clues that get lost in fiction. Everything is supposed to be included on purpose to move the story forward. These type of naming distractions take me out of the story too much.
This issue feels like a slap in the face when the author acknowledges the same name problem like when they go to Boston and are told to contact Kenneth the step-brother a few beats after talking about Kenneth the lawyer. They have a guy named Jack but then Nick calls Jacob the half-cousin, Jack and then he goes back to the other Jack at the hotel, I had to reread a couple of paragraphs to parse it all out which again, takes me out of the story world too much.
I’m sure something like this makes sense IRL because you can see they are two different people and if it’s your life you know who’s who but as a reader who dips in and out of the story world as I pick up and put down the book, I need some help from the narrator or characters to keep everyone distinctive and separate in my mind.
Along those lines, I feel there’s not enough summarization of the case or what’s going down. Why was Irina Marika passed off as the aunt? I remember the kid was confused and was obviously duped by this woman, but why? Did we find out why she went to London? I seem to recall that they suspect Joubert went there to kill her but I never understood what purpose that might serve in the larger arcs of the story but perhaps it plays out in a series arc to be explained/revealed in another book.
Threads get dumped so often that it’s kind of hard to keep up. Nick used to be so good about explaining it to another character or via his narration. Not so much in this installment. At this point, I’ve completely forgotten why he had to sell his property and planes to Robert. I thought Robert owned the management company and Nick owned the assets. Nick keeps mentioning that it happened by never why it had to happen. I get that he doesn’t really care about the money because he doesn’t consider that it's his but given everything that’s happened so far, I’d expect him to transfer his assets to Marnie with some kind of contract between the ownership entity held by her and the management entity owned by Robert. They have a good working relationship and seem to be friends so I’m sure both would be amenable to such a setup and this way, Nick would be paying her more as he’s been prone to do all along. As it is, Robert is, after Carter, the largest beneficiary of Nick’s largesse which seems a little out of balance given the amount of “screen time” or page-time he’s afforded. I suppose the other option would be to transfer the buildings to Mike and the others and let Robert continue to run the management company. Again, if the reasoning for this was explained at some point, I missed it.
The biggest thing in my mind to this point is if he was afraid his assets might be seized by the Feds or another level of government, should he be arrested, why not just take a minor stake as he’s clearly done with the film studio? If that was described/explained then I need a brief update/refresher/reminder when it’s mentioned in this installment. As it is, Nick says the plane used to belong to him but is now owned by Robert. Sure, okay, but why Mr. Butterfield?
Something that came up for me about halfway through this book is the fact that I miss Pam and Diane. Ever since they had to move out of the house on Hartford, I’ve missed them and that simple life in Eureka Valley. I would have been totally happy to read several more cases from that era of their lives if they were traditional cozy mysteries. I understand that’s not the story the author wanted to tell and the main premise of this series is what happens when Nick et al get outed decades before the term gets coined but we have energy invested in these gals. Their friend died off-page and the boys have grieved but what of the gals she left behind? Nick and Carter have left them behind as well - though, given everything I know about Carter, I’m sure he’s in touch with them on the regular behind the scenes. I’d still like to see Nick express some concern for them. I think it would be natural to think about Pam and Diane and Evelyn’s widow when he’s facing widowerhood himself.
I also understand that gay men and women have different ways of socializing and tend to prefer their own non-mixed social groups but the way things have played out it’s like Nick and Carter were only friends of convenience as they lived next door to one another. Were the boys only using them as beards for social engagements and their services are no longer required? But what about the other way around? Wouldn’t the gals need male dates for something? I guess since Pam is basically out at work and she’s her own boss, that’s probably not the case and as a teacher, Diane wouldn’t either but I just miss them. I thought they added a wonderfully working class aspect to the milieu and helped humanize and desexualize Nick’s inner circle dynamic. The gals were the only ones in Nick’s mix who didn’t work for him and just loved him for him and I feel like that ought to account for something more than just radio silence and erasure from the page.
A big thing that came up for me with this installment: I hate that the boys are in France and haven’t pined for their friends as much as they did in the run-up to their departure. From reading the summary of the next book in the series, I can see that is covered more extensively in the next one but from everything I know about these guys, I just expect them to miss their friends and family more. I realize at one point Nick admits that he is surprised that he doesn’t miss people more when they’re in Paris which shows he’s caught up in current events and moving forward with his life but then he switches gears and makes it all about being close to the ocean. I would think, given his love/hate relationship with the big pile of rocks that the Parisian house might hold a similar place in his heart/mind but it’s never mentioned either way which is a bit frustrating.
All of Nick’s previous interactions with Marnie have led me to believe that he relies on her for almost everything and values her competence. I wish there were a few more snafus or situations where Marnie would be missed/appreciated from afar. As it stands, her name isn’t really mentioned until 75% of the way in when Nick realizes he needs a French version of her to help him out. You could say that with this parsed down, Dragnet-style of prose it’s easy for him to skip or gloss over things, (Especially his emotions in the moment) which I admit is part of the appeal of these books but I expect Nick to at least mention a pang of longing or loss or get a hug from Carter to help deal with it. Also, the new gal is called Carla with an Italian surname that begins with M, so I immediately hate her as a cheap-shot female version of Carlo Martinelli.
When Nick has his emotional breakdown and shock after Carter’s incident with Joubert, I was surprised that none of these repressed feelings of longing for people and places from his old life didn’t rush out. After living in San Francisco for a decade and moving to London, I know first-hand that even the smallest things can trigger those kinds of emotions and one can be flooded with just the smallest things. For me, it was being in a Safeway in South London. It’s a supermarket that has its world HQ based in the SF Bay Area and I've been in many of their American stores. In London, I noticed there weren’t adverts on the floor, the ceiling or even on the shelves. I stood in the frozen food section that looked so familiar - just like any other similar aisle I’d been to in America but it was also so very different. It just felt so baren for some reason that I just started crying. It’s not like I missed the advertisements in the store but it was more like a wave of emotion that just came up as my mind and heart were flooded with remembrances of other times in other stores and passed quickly. I had a lot of little moments like that over the two years I lived abroad and I’m surprised Nick and Carter haven’t experienced them as well. With the chronological structuring, it's possible they've had such episodes off-page but I can't understand why that might be the case. Do none of the hotels in France trigger a longing for the Mark Hopkins or Top of the Mark? At the very least, I find that incredulous as that hotel/restaurant play such a crucial role in Nick’s life. It’s the setting for the inciting incident of the series and as such, I expect it to come up as a point of reference or an emotional trigger or even just a passing reflection in Nick’s narration.
As for triggers, Carter is tied into everything for Nick and almost losing him, in my estimation would trigger the sense of loss big time but it’s never really mentioned as such. Carter helps him with names and keeping in touch so, without Carter, his global web of connections is in jeopardy. Perhaps one could make the case that it overwhelms him to even consider it so his mind never gets too close to the magnitude of his loss, which is fair enough considering he’s drugged up through most of the riskiest portions of Carter’s recovery.
When everyone comes to visit for their big party we only see them in passing as most of their activities take place off-page. I get it, the party has nothing to do with the plot so that’s fine but I think it underscores a core problem with this series. It is so epic and sprawling that the characters we’ve come to know and love don’t have much to do in the day-to-day adventures unfolding on the page. I understand that reflects a sense of realism as everyone has their own jobs to do in their various locations but previous installments did a much better job of integrating the older cast as each book seems to collect new ones. For all of Nick’s seemingly compassionate kindness towards others, at this point, it seems so shallow to ring hollow and disingenuous. I mean when people would swing into his orbit and Nick would shower them with life-changing opportunities it was endearing but now it’s beginning to feel a bit selfish or at least self-serving as so many people are ‘out of sight, out of mind’ for him.
Okay, that’s enough for the niggling little bits of sand in my oyster. As the series progresses, they’ve become burgeoning little pearls but there’s still the whole ocean of possibilities to explore. The main thing that keeps me reading is the love story at the core of the series. As a ‘one-man man’ like Nick and Carter, I enjoy how devoted and in tune they are with one another. The mysteries have never really played a large part of the mix. No matter what the series is called, the mystery elements never really drop in the first 25% of any of these and are often so weak that they’re either unresolved or tied up neatly with the death of the culprit. In those regards, cozy mystery fans will be disappointed and for all of its prose, its never been a hard-boiled procedural either. Those might be a minus to some but to me, they’re a huge plus as it’s so unique and quirky to the mystery genre. At some point, I hope Butterfield realizes that he’s writing a character-driven narrative and focus on some of the character issues I’ve mentioned above.
Whether that happens or not, I’ll keep reading as I still want to find out what happens next and to read what new challenges the boys will face together.
It’s not really a pet peeve but the Same Name syndrome in this series is really getting annoying. It’s so obvious and confusing at this point that even the characters mention it but yet it still continues. Another Anna, Alexander, etc. For these basic plot device type characters, it has become utterly absurd. Note to the author = If clicking through a site like Nameberry is too time-consuming, there are name generation apps for your phone. Just tap to find something new. I get it, that in real life we often encounter people with the same/similar names but that’s utterly random and packed with visual and contextual clues that get lost in fiction. Everything is supposed to be included on purpose to move the story forward. These type of naming distractions take me out of the story too much.
This issue feels like a slap in the face when the author acknowledges the same name problem like when they go to Boston and are told to contact Kenneth the step-brother a few beats after talking about Kenneth the lawyer. They have a guy named Jack but then Nick calls Jacob the half-cousin, Jack and then he goes back to the other Jack at the hotel, I had to reread a couple of paragraphs to parse it all out which again, takes me out of the story world too much.
I’m sure something like this makes sense IRL because you can see they are two different people and if it’s your life you know who’s who but as a reader who dips in and out of the story world as I pick up and put down the book, I need some help from the narrator or characters to keep everyone distinctive and separate in my mind.
Along those lines, I feel there’s not enough summarization of the case or what’s going down. Why was Irina Marika passed off as the aunt? I remember the kid was confused and was obviously duped by this woman, but why? Did we find out why she went to London? I seem to recall that they suspect Joubert went there to kill her but I never understood what purpose that might serve in the larger arcs of the story but perhaps it plays out in a series arc to be explained/revealed in another book.
Threads get dumped so often that it’s kind of hard to keep up. Nick used to be so good about explaining it to another character or via his narration. Not so much in this installment. At this point, I’ve completely forgotten why he had to sell his property and planes to Robert. I thought Robert owned the management company and Nick owned the assets. Nick keeps mentioning that it happened by never why it had to happen. I get that he doesn’t really care about the money because he doesn’t consider that it's his but given everything that’s happened so far, I’d expect him to transfer his assets to Marnie with some kind of contract between the ownership entity held by her and the management entity owned by Robert. They have a good working relationship and seem to be friends so I’m sure both would be amenable to such a setup and this way, Nick would be paying her more as he’s been prone to do all along. As it is, Robert is, after Carter, the largest beneficiary of Nick’s largesse which seems a little out of balance given the amount of “screen time” or page-time he’s afforded. I suppose the other option would be to transfer the buildings to Mike and the others and let Robert continue to run the management company. Again, if the reasoning for this was explained at some point, I missed it.
The biggest thing in my mind to this point is if he was afraid his assets might be seized by the Feds or another level of government, should he be arrested, why not just take a minor stake as he’s clearly done with the film studio? If that was described/explained then I need a brief update/refresher/reminder when it’s mentioned in this installment. As it is, Nick says the plane used to belong to him but is now owned by Robert. Sure, okay, but why Mr. Butterfield?
Something that came up for me about halfway through this book is the fact that I miss Pam and Diane. Ever since they had to move out of the house on Hartford, I’ve missed them and that simple life in Eureka Valley. I would have been totally happy to read several more cases from that era of their lives if they were traditional cozy mysteries. I understand that’s not the story the author wanted to tell and the main premise of this series is what happens when Nick et al get outed decades before the term gets coined but we have energy invested in these gals. Their friend died off-page and the boys have grieved but what of the gals she left behind? Nick and Carter have left them behind as well - though, given everything I know about Carter, I’m sure he’s in touch with them on the regular behind the scenes. I’d still like to see Nick express some concern for them. I think it would be natural to think about Pam and Diane and Evelyn’s widow when he’s facing widowerhood himself.
I also understand that gay men and women have different ways of socializing and tend to prefer their own non-mixed social groups but the way things have played out it’s like Nick and Carter were only friends of convenience as they lived next door to one another. Were the boys only using them as beards for social engagements and their services are no longer required? But what about the other way around? Wouldn’t the gals need male dates for something? I guess since Pam is basically out at work and she’s her own boss, that’s probably not the case and as a teacher, Diane wouldn’t either but I just miss them. I thought they added a wonderfully working class aspect to the milieu and helped humanize and desexualize Nick’s inner circle dynamic. The gals were the only ones in Nick’s mix who didn’t work for him and just loved him for him and I feel like that ought to account for something more than just radio silence and erasure from the page.
A big thing that came up for me with this installment: I hate that the boys are in France and haven’t pined for their friends as much as they did in the run-up to their departure. From reading the summary of the next book in the series, I can see that is covered more extensively in the next one but from everything I know about these guys, I just expect them to miss their friends and family more. I realize at one point Nick admits that he is surprised that he doesn’t miss people more when they’re in Paris which shows he’s caught up in current events and moving forward with his life but then he switches gears and makes it all about being close to the ocean. I would think, given his love/hate relationship with the big pile of rocks that the Parisian house might hold a similar place in his heart/mind but it’s never mentioned either way which is a bit frustrating.
All of Nick’s previous interactions with Marnie have led me to believe that he relies on her for almost everything and values her competence. I wish there were a few more snafus or situations where Marnie would be missed/appreciated from afar. As it stands, her name isn’t really mentioned until 75% of the way in when Nick realizes he needs a French version of her to help him out. You could say that with this parsed down, Dragnet-style of prose it’s easy for him to skip or gloss over things, (Especially his emotions in the moment) which I admit is part of the appeal of these books but I expect Nick to at least mention a pang of longing or loss or get a hug from Carter to help deal with it. Also, the new gal is called Carla with an Italian surname that begins with M, so I immediately hate her as a cheap-shot female version of Carlo Martinelli.
When Nick has his emotional breakdown and shock after Carter’s incident with Joubert, I was surprised that none of these repressed feelings of longing for people and places from his old life didn’t rush out. After living in San Francisco for a decade and moving to London, I know first-hand that even the smallest things can trigger those kinds of emotions and one can be flooded with just the smallest things. For me, it was being in a Safeway in South London. It’s a supermarket that has its world HQ based in the SF Bay Area and I've been in many of their American stores. In London, I noticed there weren’t adverts on the floor, the ceiling or even on the shelves. I stood in the frozen food section that looked so familiar - just like any other similar aisle I’d been to in America but it was also so very different. It just felt so baren for some reason that I just started crying. It’s not like I missed the advertisements in the store but it was more like a wave of emotion that just came up as my mind and heart were flooded with remembrances of other times in other stores and passed quickly. I had a lot of little moments like that over the two years I lived abroad and I’m surprised Nick and Carter haven’t experienced them as well. With the chronological structuring, it's possible they've had such episodes off-page but I can't understand why that might be the case. Do none of the hotels in France trigger a longing for the Mark Hopkins or Top of the Mark? At the very least, I find that incredulous as that hotel/restaurant play such a crucial role in Nick’s life. It’s the setting for the inciting incident of the series and as such, I expect it to come up as a point of reference or an emotional trigger or even just a passing reflection in Nick’s narration.
As for triggers, Carter is tied into everything for Nick and almost losing him, in my estimation would trigger the sense of loss big time but it’s never really mentioned as such. Carter helps him with names and keeping in touch so, without Carter, his global web of connections is in jeopardy. Perhaps one could make the case that it overwhelms him to even consider it so his mind never gets too close to the magnitude of his loss, which is fair enough considering he’s drugged up through most of the riskiest portions of Carter’s recovery.
When everyone comes to visit for their big party we only see them in passing as most of their activities take place off-page. I get it, the party has nothing to do with the plot so that’s fine but I think it underscores a core problem with this series. It is so epic and sprawling that the characters we’ve come to know and love don’t have much to do in the day-to-day adventures unfolding on the page. I understand that reflects a sense of realism as everyone has their own jobs to do in their various locations but previous installments did a much better job of integrating the older cast as each book seems to collect new ones. For all of Nick’s seemingly compassionate kindness towards others, at this point, it seems so shallow to ring hollow and disingenuous. I mean when people would swing into his orbit and Nick would shower them with life-changing opportunities it was endearing but now it’s beginning to feel a bit selfish or at least self-serving as so many people are ‘out of sight, out of mind’ for him.
Okay, that’s enough for the niggling little bits of sand in my oyster. As the series progresses, they’ve become burgeoning little pearls but there’s still the whole ocean of possibilities to explore. The main thing that keeps me reading is the love story at the core of the series. As a ‘one-man man’ like Nick and Carter, I enjoy how devoted and in tune they are with one another. The mysteries have never really played a large part of the mix. No matter what the series is called, the mystery elements never really drop in the first 25% of any of these and are often so weak that they’re either unresolved or tied up neatly with the death of the culprit. In those regards, cozy mystery fans will be disappointed and for all of its prose, its never been a hard-boiled procedural either. Those might be a minus to some but to me, they’re a huge plus as it’s so unique and quirky to the mystery genre. At some point, I hope Butterfield realizes that he’s writing a character-driven narrative and focus on some of the character issues I’ve mentioned above.
Whether that happens or not, I’ll keep reading as I still want to find out what happens next and to read what new challenges the boys will face together.
March 27, 2020
Another fantastic addition to an already great series. Love the MCs and all of their exploits.
For those who are interested, I highly recommend reading these books in order. There are so many references to past storylines and characters that you’d risk being lost otherwise.
For those who are interested, I highly recommend reading these books in order. There are so many references to past storylines and characters that you’d risk being lost otherwise.
February 3, 2020
This is my fave book of the series. I’m a Francophile so this book was right up my alley. We learn some more of Nick’s family history (that include a few surprises) as Nick and Carter settle into their life in Gay Paree. We meet new endearing characters and some not so likable. Gustaf, Ferdinand, and Nora make the move with them and are treated more like family than household staff. It starts out with Nick and Carter setting eyes on their new house, more like a mansion albeit run down, bought sight unseen for them by Nick’s stepmom. It comes with its own corpse, yeah! We all know it would not be a Nick Williams Mystery without a corpse, lol. But it’s brought to life, the house not the corpse, as Nick and Carter lovingly bring it back to its glory. This delightful mystery is chock full of everything I’ve come to love about my two fave guys! And the fact that it was set in France made me love it even more. Vive la France!
December 30, 2018
Go Nick go
By now, everyone has figured out that nick is psychic. Especially in money matters. I love his dream meetings with uncle Paul. How he escapes death at every turn and what a wonderful, honorable giving man he is. Wish I could meet a man like him who wasn't gay and marry p
By now, everyone has figured out that nick is psychic. Especially in money matters. I love his dream meetings with uncle Paul. How he escapes death at every turn and what a wonderful, honorable giving man he is. Wish I could meet a man like him who wasn't gay and marry p
September 18, 2025
More Drama than Usual
The storyline for this installment has a few more twists and turns and has Nick and Carter covering several thousand miles once more. Drama in France, NYC, Boston and areas in between keep the plot developing, though some story resolutions are shorter than desired. The book ends with one last scene, via two similar letters, and some connected memories.
The storyline for this installment has a few more twists and turns and has Nick and Carter covering several thousand miles once more. Drama in France, NYC, Boston and areas in between keep the plot developing, though some story resolutions are shorter than desired. The book ends with one last scene, via two similar letters, and some connected memories.
May 24, 2018
French escapades
Beautiful settings in Paris and the South of France make for a fun and diverting story with Carter and Nick
Beautiful settings in Paris and the South of France make for a fun and diverting story with Carter and Nick
August 27, 2018
Awesome as always. Well written with well developed characters.
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