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Rating: 
Summary: The Gypsy antique dealer hunts down a murderer.
Review: I enjoyed this early Martin Cruz Smith mystery. The main character, Roman Grey is fascinating in many of the same ways Smith's later heroes are... quiet, humble, competent, quick, enigmatic. As with his later novels, Smith gives some interesting information about a group of people that the mainstream U.S. doesn't usually think or know much about; in this case, gypsies in the U.S. in the 70's, v.s. later novels inhabited by Native Americans, or Russians, or miners. In this case, I think the circumstances of the Gypsy are sometimes more interesting than the story itself. Not that the story is dull. But I found some of the plot to be a bit stretched.Martin Cruz Smith is a fantastic writer, and I'd like to hear more of Roman Grey, though I don't really expect we will.
Rating:
Summary: The Gypsy antique dealer hunts down a murderer.
Review: I enjoyed this early Martin Cruz Smith mystery. The main character, Roman Grey is fascinating in many of the same ways Smith's later heroes are... quiet, humble, competent, quick, enigmatic. As with his later novels, Smith gives some interesting information about a group of people that the mainstream U.S. doesn't usually think or know much about; in this case, gypsies in the U.S. in the 70's, v.s. later novels inhabited by Native Americans, or Russians, or miners. In this case, I think the circumstances of the Gypsy are sometimes more interesting than the story itself. Not that the story is dull. But I found some of the plot to be a bit stretched. Martin Cruz Smith is a fantastic writer, and I'd like to hear more of Roman Grey, though I don't really expect we will.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating material, but ultimately collapses
Review: Martin Cruz Smith has a real knack for rooting his stories within really fascinating backgroups. The Russian police in GORKY PARK, bats in NIGHTWING, the development of the Bomb in STALLION GATE, etc. etc. This very early novel of his is no exception. We get to delve into the life of an American Gypsy, something few of us have any background in. And we learn a lot about antique furniture, which I never thought I'd be interested in, but it was so well done, I found myself quite drawn in. But the actual plot, the mystery, if you will, is pretty thin, and quite frankly, the "final showdown" is really not very good. There's a lot of stuff with "hippies" that seems painfully dated today. The book is a must for people who read Smith avidly, as I do, but I wouldn't recommend it as a starting point for delving into Smith (just plunge right in to GORKY PARK for that), nor would I recommend it to the casual mystery reader, because the mystery itself is not much.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating material, but ultimately collapses
Review: Martin Cruz Smith has a real knack for rooting his stories within really fascinating backgroups. The Russian police in GORKY PARK, bats in NIGHTWING, the development of the Bomb in STALLION GATE, etc. etc. This very early novel of his is no exception. We get to delve into the life of an American Gypsy, something few of us have any background in. And we learn a lot about antique furniture, which I never thought I'd be interested in, but it was so well done, I found myself quite drawn in. But the actual plot, the mystery, if you will, is pretty thin, and quite frankly, the "final showdown" is really not very good. There's a lot of stuff with "hippies" that seems painfully dated today. The book is a must for people who read Smith avidly, as I do, but I wouldn't recommend it as a starting point for delving into Smith (just plunge right in to GORKY PARK for that), nor would I recommend it to the casual mystery reader, because the mystery itself is not much.
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