Last Tango in Aberystwyth

Aberystwyth Noir #2

by Malcolm Pryce (Artist)

Book by Malcolm Pryce

Genres: Fiction, Crime, Humor, Mystery, Fantasy, Noir, Comedy

263 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Malcolm Pryce is a British author, mostly known for his noir detective novels.

Born in Shrewsbury, England, Pryce moved at the age of nine to Aberystwyth, where he later attended Penglais Comprehensive School before leaving to do some travelling. After working in a variety of jobs. including BMW assembly-line worker in Germany, hotel washer-up, "the world's worst aluminium salesman", and deck hand on a yacht in Polynesia, Pryce became an advertising copywriter in London and Singapore. He is currently resident in Oxford.

Pryce writes in the style of Raymond Chandler, but his novels are incongruously set on the rainswept streets of an alternate universe version of the Welsh seaside resort and university town of Aberystwyth. The hero of the novels is Louie Knight, the best private detective in Aberystwyth (also the only private detective in Aberystwyth), who battles crime organised by the local Druids, investigates the strange case of the town's disappearing youths, and gets involved in its burgeoning film industry, which produces What The Butler Saw movies.

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

My second visit to Aberystwyth, after Aberystwyth Mon Amour, and it was even better than the first. Finished the book today and have already begun the next one.

It is just as fast-paced, the type of book that you pick up intending to read a few pages and end up reading a hundred before you realize it. Pryce's writing is darkly funny and endlessly inventive, yet also highly philosophical in parts,and spot on about it. The understated surreal element to the novels turns these noir gumshoe stories into something even greater.

Louie Knight, the series' unlikely hero, is hilarious and effortlessly manly. It never seems like Pryce is trying too hard and Louie just exudes coolness. I was rooting for him from the start. Looking forward to reading more!

[Mike Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

I went to university in Aberystwyth and therefore have an affinity for the place that I cannot seem to shake.

A huge part of my enjoyment of the 'Aberystwyth Noir' novels are the fact that I know the locations that are being referenced throughout them and this allows me to visualise the action - but also gives me a shot of nostalgia.

It's like when a comedian asks "is there anyone in from Stourbridge?" and I get all excited and shout "Yes!" Only it occurs throughout the novel... as they drive from Aberystwyth to Borth via Bow Street, I have literally driven that route and it reminds me of living there in the mid to late nineties and, somehow, that's enjoyable. (However much it has me thinking "Why don't they take the B4572 through Llangorwen?")

The narrative itself is a little silly and far fetched in a number of places - but this is a novel that's aware of what it is and does not take itself too seriously.

I'll definitely be reading the rest of the series.

[Neil · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the second in the Aberystwyth Noir series of books featuring Louie Knight. Whilst I thought the pacing of the plot line was better in this one, it does seem to have veered away from the Noir genre, and more into the realms of the absurd. I can understand why these books have a slight cult following, but I can't seem to get to grips with these books. These are certainly original books, but if it were not for the absurdity I am not sure that they would work. Everything seems to be stereotypically Welsh, the types of things which Wales is trying to move away from, so does this lampoon things or re-emphasize that stereotypical viewpoint. I am just about to attempt the third in the series, so who knows where that might lead.

[Richard Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Malcolm Pryce's 'Aberystwyth' reminds me a little of Jasper Fforde's 'Swindon', although Fforde mines his town for purely comic effect while Pryce mines for deeper, darker stuff. His noir has all the right ingredients - dames, cynical heroes, tough cops, bizarre villains, a seedy town - and the comedy comes from the bizarre twisting of Wales and Welsh culture. I love that prostitutes dress in national dress, that druids run crime, that there's a 'what the butler saw' porn industry. It's all twisted and whacky but the earnestness of the prose and the right following of noir conventions makes it all seem strangely believable.

[Aphie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Odd little noir fiction piece set in an alternate reality Wales (why do the oddest books always come from Wales, to be set in alternate realities?)
Sam Spade with druids, talking ventriloquist's dummies and prostitutes with hearts of gold. Good to know some old tropes don't change. :p

[Jam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twisted detective noir set in a dark version of Aberystwuth, still dealing with the ramifications of Meals on Whales taking over the underworld from the druids. Cannibalism, murder and revenge are only the start.

Definitely a good book, if not one I've felt a particular desire to reread. For me, the style was spot on, the twisted nature was good, but all that was so strong the characters, even the narrator, felt secondary to it.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second in the Aber Noir series and this is another brilliant read that weaves the joys of the seaside uni town and the dark underbelly of Aber and the surrounding area. This time Knight is investigating the disappearance of a professor from nearby Lampeter who seems to have gotten himself embroiled in something far beyond his expertise (or is it). During this Knight has to deal with losing a few of his nearest and dearest and make a hugely difficult choice about who to save when he is faced with the villain behind it all. Throw in Dai Custard, several ventriloquists, Druids, toffee apple dens, and Judy Juice then you have another complex Dick Tracey style romp in mid-Wales dripping with dark, dry humour that tickles me to my core.

[Claudia · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF-ed after two chapters. Could not get into the style at all, unfortunately.

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like the first in the Aberystwyth Noir series, Aberystwyth Mon Amour, this is a rather odd, very dark and quirky novel. The writing is great, and the characters peculiar yet engaging. The whole world created really does have the dark-shadowed feel of a Raymond Chandler novel set in a bizarre alternative reality. It's been a long time since I read the first one, though, and I did feel that I would have found it easier to get into this one faster had I recapped on Mon Amour. That said, I don't think it's 100% necessary to have read #1 to read this - just that it probably ould require a little more perseverance to get to a point where it carries you along. I didn't remember very much about #1 but at least I had some vague half-remembered context about Myfanwy which did help.

So I did enjoy this, and will definitely read others in the series (of which there are many - Goodreads seems to be listing 6 of them at the moment), but it's perhaps more a read which rewards perseverance rather than one to easily dive into.

[Nick Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

The joke is very good, but this is a one joke book. Welsh seaside town of Aberystwyth reimagined in terms of the mean streets of hardboiled noir. The detective is thrown into the case following in the footsteps of Marlowe and the Continental Op, the humour coming from the incongruity of the iconography of the Welsh seaside town: the hardboiled detective eating ice cream cones on the front, an ex-copper running the donkeys on the beach, the What the Butler Saw movie industry, the Druid assassin, the dark side of Meals on Wheels, etc, etc. It is all handled with skill. I’ve only been to Aberystwyth once and that was back in the late 1970s for an old school friend’s 21st birthday party: I don’t remember much about it, so for all I know Pryce’s depiction is accurate. (And there is a scene at Lampeter University: I also visited a friend in Lampeter in the late 1970s and I remember it as a college divided between the students preparing for a career in the Church and the other students who were stoned on the drugs they bought from the hippie communes up in the hills: the reality was probably stranger than Pryce’s reimagining.)

[Shanti · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second book in Malcolm Pryce's Aberystwyth series. Pryce has essentially created his own genre (Welsh noir) and has a great time playing with the conventions and expectations of the noir genre, with plenty of plot twists, gags, and girls in stovepipe hats... and not much else. I enjoyed Aberystwyth, Mon AmourAberystwyth Mon Amour more, but this one is still a fun read. I think I would have preferred it if Pryce hadn't brought back so many of the characters from the first novel (clearly he will have ongoing battles with the evil Mrs. Llantrisant and her cronies) and had instead created new foes. The "fallen woman" characters are probably the most interesting and compelling figures (Bianca in Mon Amour, Ionawr and Judy Juice in Last Tango) so here's hoping Pryce gives them more attention in future books.

[Derek Holmes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book mainly for the title, but it proved to be an engaging, occasionally funny read. As the title and the cover art suggest, this is a tongue in cheek tribute to film noir / hard boiled detective stories. it's not hilarious, but it made me smile a lot and there were some classic lines. For example, when talking about the local holiday camp, containing a zoo, the female sidekick says to the private detective something along the lines of, "I heard that local charity raised some money and bought toys for the monkeys. The monkeys gave them to the tourists out of pity." It's all silly, daft and highly convoluted, but still a very enjoyable read. You don't have to have read the first one to make sense of this one.

[Ophelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I pulled myself up, steadied my balance, and walked across the room to the old sea-chest. My face was carved from frozen stone, my heart cold and black like a sea-creature that lives on the ocean floor where the light never penetrates.

Just as fun as the first one! Pryce continues to use language to his advantage - dramatic, over the top prose that hides real feelings.

Love the world-building and how in the end, it's always about the dames and the girls. Everything is life or death in this universe and everybody plays a part - they may try to run from it, but it catches them in the end. Very Tragic, very Greek. Hope to find the next one in the charity shop soon.

Started Duolingo Welsh because of these books and I'm having a grand ole time.

Hwyl!

[Iah · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a weird world in Aberystwyth, Pryce makes it sound normal! No that's not right it's weird in Pryce's Aberystwyth and nothing like the reality of a small seaside town! It's kind of fun reading a book in this style and quite unlike other detective books which is probably why I will read book 3. Small British seaside towns are in fact raghrr weird and other worldly places, I know I live in one and I know at least 2 druids and one bard and would not put it past Aberystwyth town council to have put Pryce up to writing these book so as to distract people from the real goings on! Or maybe this is documentary disguised as fiction!

[Jamie Bowen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second book in the Aberystwyth Noir series, whilst it doesn’t immediately follow the events of book one there are strong links, although you could still potentially read this as a stand-alone book. Our hero, private detective, Louie Knight is approached to find Dean Morgan of the Faculty of Undertaking who has gone missing. The case develops in the dark and murky underworld of Aberystwyth, a Druid assassin lurks and something more dangerous than Louie can imagine is about to re-emerge. A much darker book than the first, which whilst I enjoyed the book it did make it a harder read, the signature Welsh humour was still sprinkled through the book although not as evident as book one.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like the first in the series, Last Tango in Aberystwyth is an unusual book, blending noir, the surreal and farce, all immersed in the backdrop of Welsh culture. It suffers from a somewhat incoherent plot, but the narrative is engaging, the humour fun, and above all the atmosphere created by Pryce's distorted reflection of the world remains magical and full of melancholy.

While it irked me in places, I'm looking forward to my next trip to back to Aberystwyth.

[Rhys Causon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn’t finish this book, not because I didn’t have the time to read it and have just given up on it but because what I have read of this book so far has barely held my attention when I’ve spent almost a whole month on the book already.

So while it may be a good story for some, I have found that this sequel is nowhere near as good as the first book.

[Hermien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wacky but highly entertaining.

[Pauline Moseley · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was OK; I finished it but did not get where it was 'hilarious'. Must be my lack of a sense of humour

[Plio Cas · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don’t read this book. Do yourself a real favour and move on to something else that is either wholesome or entertaining or original or funny because this book is none of these.

Written as a parody, the author has the skeleton of the original genre to hang his story on, but should do enough work to cover the bones with his own flair. You won’t find that here. Neither will you find any relatable characters, by the end you just couldn’t care less who lives and dies.

I read it all in the hope it would turn better, but no.

[Mike Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm re-reading the series, ahead of reading the latest book, to re-acclimatise myself with Aberystwyth.
Book 1 was brilliant, one of my ten all-time favourite books and this, whilst not quite at that peak, is a very good book. Lots of intrigue and clever plot, with multiple storylines, but a darker feel, with less humour than the previous book. Once again, there's a mix of real and imaginary places, which is always a draw for me.

[Chris Howland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pryce's Aberystwith is a fantastic place. Certainly a fictional universe on a par with that of Harry Potter, and maybe a shade darker.
After foiling the plot to flood Aberystwith in the previous novel, Louie Knight is back doing what he does best - rooting out the bad guys and saving the damsel in distress.

[Alyson Walton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it! Excellent second book in the series and can't wait to read the others!
Characters are spot on, individual yet common enough to be recognisable.
Amazing expamle of the genre and well worth a read.

[Yves Lefevre · Rating 4 out of 5]

The characters are a little too grotesque to my taste, and the plot seems a little too extravagant. But the protagonist, a hard-boiled detective who's seen it all is very good, and the parallel Aberystwyth described int the novel is quite good too.

[Kent Hayden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as entertaining as the first in the series, Aberystwyth Mon Amour, but it held its own. There is spillover from the first book as characters and plot evolve in this second book. I'll be looking forward to reading the rest of the series if they can live up the standards of the the first.

[Nicola Nunney · Rating 5 out of 5]

CW: vomiting, stabbing, blood, death

Another great Louie Knight story. I was kept glued to the pages as usual, with his adventures with Calamity and the other usual characters.

I can't wait to read the next book in the series.

[Alannah Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great story but a bit confusing at times particularly following through from each chapter. Story and drawing on welsh myth and legends in the 1st book kept things going but this one seems a bit lost at times with almost being thrown around with the plot to be “mysterious”.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clever but not ready for volume 3 yet

[Carol Down · Rating 2 out of 5]

Abandoned this book.

[Wilbur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not completely successful.