Miss Melville Rides a Tiger

Miss Melville #4

by Evelyn E. Smith

In the latest Susan Melville adventure, the freelance assassin and socialite artist takes on an international drug cartel. While on her mission, she develops a fondness for a young sultan.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Humor, Novels, Crime, Adventure, Mystery Thriller

341 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Evelyn E. Smith was an American author of Science Fiction. During the 1950s, her works appeared regularly in magazines such as Galaxy and Fantastic Universe. In the 1980s, she wrote a number of novels featuring the character Miss Melville, a middle-aged assassin.

She also wrote as Delphine C. Lyons and Christopher Grimm.

Reviews

[Karla Huebner]

I don't believe that I've read any other books in this series, which is mildly surprising given how much fun it is. Perhaps it didn't stand out as much in my mind the first time I read it back in the distant past. However, now that I've reread a fair number of the mysteries and such that I picked up in the 80s and early 90s, it's clear that all too many, while pleasant reads back then, just don't stand up very well now.

This one, on the other hand, is wickedly amusing and thoroughly idiosyncratic. There's really only room in the world for one series in which the protagonist is not just the scion of an impoverished upper-crust family (potential yawn), but is a professional assassin (!) whose paintings have begun to sell for big money (!!). Not to mention one whose paramour is an anthropologist more likely to send her shrunken heads than flowers, and who by the end of this book has probably been turned into a shrunken head himself. Bottom line: I believe I'll need to examine the library shelves for more of these.

[Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ms. Smith has a wonderful way with words: “At first sight most of the people there seemed unfamiliar, then she picked out a few aged and bewildered-looking Rundles who had apparently been hauled out of their retreats, dusted off, and propped up here and there among the furniture, holding teacups in their shaky hands and smiling vacantly.” (page 76) The first third of the book was totally boring and not to my liking then when I was ready to just close it, put back in my give away pile, the story got good and ended great! It is a well written book, good literature but very old fashioned!

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much better than Miss Melville returns. Witty, urbane, sophisticated and fun. Miss Melville is much more interesting as an assassin than as a retired assassin.

[Nora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sure, you could say this is largely Orientalist claptrap, but it's also very diverting! That genteel artist and assassin Miss Melville is back, in a changing New York City where Altman's and Gimbel's have closed. The story begins at Rundle House, a home for pregnant teens that seems to be a front for criminal activity. The pimp of some of the pregnant girls is on the Board of Directors--but don't worry, Miss Melville soon murders him!

I was wondering if Evelyn E. Smith was inspired by the Covenant House scandal but maybe it was a case of life imitating art, because the book says Rundle House wasn't "a well-known institution like Covenant House, where even a run-of-the-mill chain snatching would have gotten headlines." I did do a little research, and the Covenant House scandal broke in January 1990 and the sex pest priest retired in February. Bloomingdale's went into bankruptcy in January 1990, which is referenced in the book, and the book is copyrighted 1991. So at some point in the writing or the editing process Smith learned about the shady goings-on at Covenant House, & maybe the coincidence helped make her book more topical. (The book is dedicated to Smith's agent Charlotte Sheedy "with gratitude for her patience and understanding," making it sounds like her manuscript took a long time to finish.)

All this talk about department stores is not irrelevant because the long-awaited murder of the Begum of Gandalfistan takes place in Bloomingdale's.

A big surprise is that there is one more Miss Melville book! Goodreads says it was written in 1993, but it was not published until 2006 (posthumously) and there aren't any reviews. If I do read it, I'll keep you posted!

[Marj · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've recently read the other books in this series, and this one seems somehow different. I didn't find it quite as good in some ways, although it was mostly well written, and had a decent if unbelievable plot. But somehow it just didn't seem as good, or as interesting, or as amusing as the others. It's still a good read, but to someone who has enjoyed the previous books, this left me not quite as content when I finished.

Miss Melville, a proper high society woman, who is also a skilled assassin, is the main character. In this story she accidentally gets involved with the mob through one of her high society long time friends. This causes her some distress and she takes steps to extricate herself.

At times this seems to have dropped into farce as things happen, and the ending was...odd.

[Karin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of the better books in this series because it was shorter and the writing was tighter, but still a 3 star like for me, although obviously it's humour so much if it isn't very believable.Susan is forced to deal with a nasty woman from her youth, the older sister of a former friend of hers in this latest installment. HI can see why this series will probably fade from memory since there are newer books about women assassins that are funnier and better if you like this sort of novel. It wasn't hard to figure things out ahead of time, but there were still some fun moments in this book.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mystery about old friends and doing one’s duty to keep the streets safe. The mafia, foreign affairs, and murder-for-hire plot elements are counteracted by a light tone. My main problem with this book, though, is that I didn’t really like any of the characters.

[Serena · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Rating System:
* couldn't finish, ** wouldn't recommend, *** would recommend, **** would read again, ***** have read again.

[Mark Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Weak entry in the series with an oddly abrupt ending.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually three and half stars. Enjoyable book but seemed to have a lot of loose ends, maybe should read the previous books

[Eileen Joyce-Donovan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very unsatisfying ending

[Beth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like this book. Maybe you're supposed to have read previous Miss Melville books to understand the overarching plot, or her past in general, but there were so many references which didn't have any context or didn't move the story forward. I couldn't get a feel for the character, the people she was working with, the friends she ran into, etc. Overall I'd say this book could be good for readers who are already familiar with Miss Melville, but otherwise you're best looking into a different book.

[Mesembryanthemum · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. The first book was great, and the next two were pretty good. This last one is confused, annoying slapstick. The ending is so abrupt that it made me think there was a deadline before the story was done.

[Helen Fleischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

wonderful mirror maze climax in Bloomingdale's

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am enjoying this series more with each book. So sad that there is only one left for me to read.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its interesting...