Homage to Paris

Masquerade. By Walter Satterthwait.
Paris in the 1920s is the setting for this sequel to "Escapade" featuring Pinkerton detective Phil Beaumont and his newly hired co-worker Jane Turner.

"Masquerade"is a notch above most historical mysteries for a couple of reasons. Satterthwait does a fine job of recreating post-WWI Paris, where its devalued franc made the city an attractive haven for American expatriates such as Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway. Second, Satterthwait is a mystery writer who infuses his books with winks and nods to the mystery cognoscenti. Beaumont, named in homage to the Hammett hero, talks lightly in Hammettsque dialog, but never so heavily that the scent of parody becomes overwhelming.

Satterthwait pens a fine portrait of Stein, capturing the personality that made her a cult figure, while for Hemingway he dipped his pen in acid, overdoing his clumsiness, his boorishness and bullying behavior.

As for the mystery, well, that's a mess of scrambled eggs in the tradition of Chandler's "The Big Sleep." Beaumont is hired to look into a suicide-murder of a wealthy expat and his mistress. Without his knowledge, Turner is assigned to the same case, playing the role of nanny to a side branch of the family. They describe their adventures in alternating chapters, he speaking directly to the reader, she in witty and observant letters to a girlfriend.

The investigation grows more complex, and sorting it all out seems impossible, and a deus ex machina is called on to rescue the sleuths. But any grumpiness over the story is soon soothed. Satterthwait paints a fine portrait of Paris, setting some tense scenes in its extensive sewers and catacombs, and Beaumont and Turner are attractive detectives to follow.