The Camelot Caper (1969)

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Listening: Sugar Sugar

Vicky Bliss # 0.5

 Jessica Tregarth's trip to England is meant to mend some long-burned family bridges and give her a chance to indulge in a wild bout of tourism. But there are two mysterious figures haunting her footsteps, apparently seeking the ugly old family ring she's brought with her. As the menace mounts, so does her fear and desperation...until she careens into the life of novel-writer David Randall. What started as thriller becomes madcap as the two try to outwit their pursuers and solve the mystery of the pursuit, finally concluding in a highly entertaining show-off in the ancestral home of the Tregarths.

Spoilers Below


Jessica and David's hijinks are pure fizzy delight, hence the music. As a couple, they have the bickering chemistry that comes to define MPM's best romances--if the hero and heroine aren't quarreling while dodging their kidnappers' shooting, then could it really be called love? Because, as long promised, we've finally arrived at the beginning of the really appealing pairings. No more violent paternalism, lots of bickering partnership based on the tenets of second-wave feminism.

Further, their adventures are delightful fun, racing through a drunken druidic orgy at Stonehenge to the dim and dusty rooms of a London museum and on, to cathedrals and pubs and decrepit Cornish manor houses. Best of all, MPM has developed a tongue-in-cheek attitude towards the cliches of the Gothics she's been writing. By making David a purveyor of Gothics himself, she's got a great mouthpiece to laugh at, upend and use the old cliches to new and hilarious effect. Caper never takes itself seriously, and for that, it's merry use of Arthurian lore and old family legends makes something new and fresh that tends to be old and tired.

But best of all, this couple is up against one of MPM's best hero-villa ins, the mischievous and charismatic John Tregarth, alias Sir John Smythe, who returns in her later Vicky Bliss mysteries to be a nemesis and love interest all at once. His role here is relatively minor. but he steals the book whenever he's present, with his witty dialogue and oddly endearing self-interest. It's easy to see why MPM brings him back, and ultimately connects him to her beloved Emerson family.

There's love and treasure, a crumbling family mansion and Arthurian legend, shivers of fear and howls of laughter...and even a little tribute to The Lord of the Rings. MPM is coming into her own, and what a writer she is.

Favorite Line: "Cousin John reads Tolkien. No man who does that can be wholly evil."

Rating: ****

Notes:
*As mentioned above, John will appear again in later MPM books--namely, Street of the Five Moons, Silhouette in Scarlet, Trojan Gold, Night Train to Memphis, and The Laughter of Dead Kings.
*He'll also be confirmed as a great-grandson of Ramses Emerson in Laughter. Knowing he and Jessica are part Emerson might help make their shenanigans more understandable!

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