Comments for Touchstone

Touchstone: 08/24/14

Just before the release of The Bones of Paris by Laurie R. King, I was offered an egalley to review. Now while Touchstone and The Bones of Paris stand alone, I felt like I didn't understand and Harris Stuyvesant's personality and motivation. To avoid giving The Bones of Paris a rushed and unfair review, I decided to start at the beginning, namely Touchstone.

Agent Harris Stuyvesant, American, is working in London, following a string of bombing from the United States, across the pond. Now he's being called into the countryside to work with a man who could break the case open, except that he's too shell shocked.

Stuyvesant ends up at the Hurleigh House, belonging to one of the oldest and most influential families. Some one there is responsible for the politically motivated violence.

In terms of tone and basic mystery plot, the book mostly reminds me of the Arncliffe Puzzle by Gordon Holmes (1907). Both focus on the power that the oldest nobility have (for good or bad) and the way the 20th century was a difficult transition as the well established (for better or worse) class structure had begun to buckle.

Five stars

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