- Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (Jan 1 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0446609218
- ISBN-13: 978-0446609210
- Product Dimensions: 17.3 x 10.7 x 2.2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 191 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Olivia Brown, the heroine of this launch of a new series from the author of the Smith and Wetzon novels (The Big Killing, etc.), is the "it" girl of 1920s Greenwich Village. "Inspired," as the galley copy reads, by Edna St. Vincent Millay, Olivia is cultivating a reputation as a bohemian poetess and a ravishing "good-time girl," with puppy-eyed artists and writers proposing marriage to her at every turn. But Olivia is staunch in her commitment to her heart and to her free-spirited lifestyle ("Stop, Edward. You know I love you, in my way. But it is I who would be morally dishonest if we stayed together"). Besides, she's preoccupied with discovering who among her devoted circle may be stalking her, and whether that stalker is responsible for murdering her "doppelg?nger"Aa transvestite made up to resemble Olivia, found in a soggy courtyard outside a popular speakeasy, his throat carefully slashed. When the police start asking Olivia impertinent questions, she turns to her tenant Harry Melville, a boozy PI with underworld connections and a limited vocabulary ("Bloody hell!"). Then Harry is attacked, presumably by the stalker, leaving the intrepid poet on her own to solve the apparently related crimes and to write her solipsistic, seemingly unironic poetry ("Abandon mind? There's no rebate/But death, who'll take us in mid-dance"). Meyers deftly evokes Prohibition Era Greenwich Village, a jittery, gin-soaked place infested with "romantic fever." But with its silly plot, interchangeable characters and pretentious dialogue, this series opener is as lightweight as the heroine's flapper physique. Agent, Stuart Krichevsky. Mystery Guild featured alternate; 3-city author tour. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
In this new series, gorgeous, daring Olivia Brown, who's enjoying life in 1920s Greenwich Village, starts sleuthing when she stumbles upon a dead body on the way to the local speakeasy. Meyers's Smith and Wetzon series does so well in libraries that titles have been picked up for Baker & Taylor's print-on-demand Replica Books.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty good debut!,
By meiringen "meiringen" (the Midwest) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Free Love (Mass Market Paperback)
Pretty good mystery set in 1920's Greenwich Village. Olivia Brown is a poetess whose fiancee was killed in WWI. She inherits a house in the Village, and, along with it, a tenant, Harry, a P.I. One night, she stumbles across a dead body that looks suspiciously like her, and she enlists Harry's help to find out what's going on.Good depiction of flappers, Prohibition, and the Jazz Age. The character development was a bit shallow, and I hope the second book will improve on that. There's a lot of potential here!
4.0 out of 5 stars
New York City in the 20's-- Booze, Bohemianism, and Mystery,
By Sires "I like mysteries (particularly British... (Chesapeake, OH, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Free Love (Hardcover)
World War I has just ended. The men who are coming home have come, Prohibition is in place. Women have the Vote, bob their hair and are trying all of the new freedoms open to them including the right to pursue casual sexual liasons. Olivia's fiancee died in the War, her remaining family killed by the influenza, finds herself the possessor of a house in Greenwich Village that had belonged to her Great Aunt Vangie. There she resides with her maid Mattie and her downstairs tenant, Harry Melville, a private investigator. She writes poetry successfully, drinks and smokes to excess and enjoys men with an almost frenzied heedlessness. But one day while on the way to meet with some of her other friends she discovers a body lying in pool of water in the street. In the days that follow she receives threatening messages, Harry is beaten up in an alley and, as she tries to discover what is happening, a trail of deaths follow her. There's one annoying moment when Olivia has a lapse of intelligence, other than that, the book does a good job of creating a believable picture of Jazz Age Greenwich village, from it's Irish gangsters to the Provincetown Players.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Different,
By Reader "Blue Crab Books" (Detroit, MI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Free Love (Mass Market Paperback)
Annette Meyers delivers a wonderfully different mystery and an egregarious eccentric in the Flapper era poet, Olivia Brown. Olivia might not match Sherlock Holmes but the writing style of FREE LOVE is a delight and the plot satisfying. I enjoy quirky books, and FREE LOVE captures the Jazz Age's daring people, clothing and lifestyles. Looking forward to Olivia's next adventure in the series.
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