This is an absolutely great book and it's too bad it's out of print and nobody seems to have read it! I have been listening to the audio tape in the car. The reader is a little over-dramatic in places...like he makes a walk down the street sound as breathless and ominous as a murder scene...but on the whole, he's excellent, too. It has mystery, wit, excitement, suspense! And Oscar Wilde to boot. It's completely captivating...bring it back!

This was the best bit of historical fiction I have ever read. I can't believe it's out of print. In an attempt to boost his income, Oscar Wilde tours on a lecture/performance circuit across the USA. Unfortunately, as his retinue crosses the West, dead prostitutes start appearing in ever city he and his entourage visit. He becomes a prime suspect, and attempts to solve the mystery himelf with, as he puts it, "...a systematic application of the poetic imagination." It is a wonderful story, with all the elements of great Old West Literature, including horses, trains, gunfights, Doc Holladay, a little sex, and a herd of goats.

I've been looking for an affordable version of this book for YEARS. (Collectible copies of the original hardcovers go for up to $400.) Mr. Satterthwait tackles a century-old conundrum with imagination and humor. Did she or didn't she?

This book was extremely hard to put down! It is perfectly paced and made the characters come to life. Miss Borden was particularly well-defined; she came alive as a person, not just a figure in a dusty old murder trial.

I look forward to reading many more of Mr. Satterthwait's books.

An excellent fictionalized account of what happened to Lizzie Borden after the notorious trial. On one level, it's a bittersweet story of an unlikely friendship between a shunned old woman and a child, and, on another level, it's a compelling tale of a suspenseful summer. The sly ending will surprise you!

Whether you've read a lot about Lizzie Borden or nothing, you'll really like this finely crafted mystery.

This book is a total original. Laugh out loud funny. A fresh mystery. With characters we thought we knew before. I read it twice! Simply great.

Satterhwait's sardonic descriptions and droll characterizations made me roll with laughter and kept me awake far past my bedtime for a school night. I look forward to his next book with Phil Beaumont and the latest Pinkerton, Jane Turner.

The first time I read this book, I could not put it down -- I read straight through and emerged after the last page, dazed, wondering where I was. This book is funny, witty, and well-written. It's a great send-up of the English country-house murder mysteries I used to read. I have given away several copies of *Escapade* and I always keep a spare copy for lending out. I highly recommend this book!

Santa Fe has always been a primary character in Walter Satterthwait's annals of Joshua Croft and Rita Mondragon. In *Accustomed to the Dark* it becomes a bittersweet backdrop to a contemporary tragedy and a poignant past. We learn in flashbacks what happened years ago to cripple Rita and how Joshua tracked the attacker down and put him in jail. As Joshua remembers the past he must take the same journey again. Scenes of his pursuit of the attacker mingle with reminiscences of Croft's early days in Santa Fe and his relationship with Rita. This time Rita is near death's door. Joshua tries to define his life while he flees what he fears will happen. Because of this, he makes a nearly fatal mistake. This is well-written, taut with suspense, as we follow Joshua across Colorado, Kansas, Texas and finally into Florida as he seeks two truly evil men. There is a whiff of the valedictory about this book

this book was definitly a waste of my time, energy and money. although it had good descriptions of the settings, the plot was confusing and the end stunk

It's not his best but it's still a lot better than most of the stuff out there, especially in the historical name-drop genre. If you haven't already, try the top of his form -- "Miss Lizzie" "Wilde West" (remember the cowboy at Wilde's grave?)-- and then see if you don't want to e-mail his publisher begging for another fix. Meantime, there's "Masquerade" an entertaining enough sequel to "Eascapade" and featuring the same characters but not quite up to the same level. With all that thorough research I know he does, I was a little disappointed at what Walter left out of his dance through the seamier side of Paris in the 20s. Oh yes, there's ex-Pinkerton, Phil and the gushingly ambiguous Jane and, oh yes, Walter nails the outrageous American ex-pats but what about the artists, the great lesbian hostesses, what about more pages? Is he saving all of this for the sequel? I hope so. And I hope it happens soon.

This a delightful historical piece, set in the 1920's in Paris. It is, in form, a murder mystery, but the mystery itself is really the least of the attractions of the book. Satterthwait obviously enjoys history, and can dig out the really neat stuff and present it in a delightful, funny and very readable style. I was completely engrossed by the charming characters, each of whom speaks in a unique voice, and all of whom say very funny things. Historical figures including Hemingway and Gertrude Stein (and an equivalent of Agatha Cristie) are encountered along the way, and their depictions are extremely interesting, and from I can tell, quite accurate. Somehow Satterthwait makes the appearance of these characters in his book seem entirely natural, and he makes them come alive with their own concerns and interests.

Satterthwait also provides an insightful and evocative characterization of Paris between the wars, a time that has always interested me. This is the time of flappers in America, and we meet their representative in France as the widow of one of the murder victim (oh yes, this is a murder mystery...) It is a time of desperate fun and vigorous intellectual life, but meanwhile the shades of Naziism are starting to descend on Europe. We learn about a Nazi fundraiser in France, and her friends, lovers, fellow-travelers and contributors. It is a time of relative social freedom, and the book takes us on an interesting side trip into the Parisian lesbian community.

One of the book's narrators is a classic hardboiled American Pinkerton, who is perfectly paired with an verbose and expressive Frenchman, who is a dilletante detective and an obsessive gourmet and bon vivant. Their dialogue is worth the price of the book. The other narrator is a vivid young Englishwoman, well educated but down on her luck and enlisted by the Pinkertons, and she writes of her adventures in delightfully crafted, witty letters to her best friend. You don't see much of the epistolary form of literature anymore, and Satterthwait has taken the opportunity to revive it and put it to his own uses.

Escapade (the predecessor of this book) is very good, but I think Masquerade is even better. I am waiting the next promised installment with bated breath, in which our narrators are scheduled to go to pre-war Germany and hob-nob with the Nazis.