The Masque of the Black Tulip

January 2, 2006
With its shifts between past and present, and between a British protagonist and an American one, this larger-than-life romantic caper demands a narrator with extreme versatility and a strong handle on dialects. Reading is such a narrator. Since the bulk of the book follows the humorous spy-chasing escapades of a 19th-century couple in England, it's fitting that Reading is a native of the land. But as the consummate performer she is, she moves with ease from the clipped, bright tones of the book's aristocratic protagonists to the colloquial voice of American grad student Eloise Kelly, whose research into historical spy activities in France and Britain during Napoleon's reign provides the story's framework. Reading conveys each personality with elan, from the seductive drawl of a suspected villain, to the jovial, vacuous tones of a clueless aristocrat named Turnip. Indeed, it's such a joy to hear Reading's various interpretations that one can almost overlook the audio's length. At nearly 15 hours, it isn't staggeringly long, but the story, with its extraneous details and unnecessary padding, could have benefited from abridgement.

November 1, 2005
The second part of Willig's French Revolutionary -era adventure/romance takes up where her charming debut, "The Secret History of the Pink Carnation", left off. Harvard graduate student Eloise Kelly is still in England researching the archives of the Selwick family. Richard Selwick was revealed to be the British spy the Purple Gentian, and his wife's cousin Jane Wooliston follows in Richard's -colorful - footsteps in the personage of the Pink Carnation. We return to 1803 through the journals of Henrietta (Hen) Selwick, Richard's sister, and his friend Miles Dorrington. News arrives that the dastardly French agent, the Black Tulip, is wreaking havoc among the British intelligence community. Can Hen discover the Tulip's identity and aid in the war effort? Can Hen suddenly be falling for longtime family friend Miles? Is Miles on the right track by suspecting Lord Vaughn, or does Miles just want to kill Vaughn for looking leeringly at Hen? Though it seems obvious who the Tulip is, there is enough ambiguity to keep readers guessing until the final un-"Masquing". Willig's new work is again terribly clever and funny, though a bit more cliché d than her first. The Pink Carnation makes few appearances here, but perhaps she is being saved for her own romance in a promised third novel in the series. "Carnation" fans especially will want to pursue this one. Recommended for public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 9/1/05.] " -Bette-Lee Fox, Library Journal"

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.