Tuesday, May 20, 2008

The Streets of Babylon-Carina Burman

The Streets of Babylon
Carina Burman
Marian Boyers, Jul 2008, $16.95
ISBN: 9780714531380

In 1851, fortyish Swedish authoress Euthanasia Bondeson accompanied by her young niece Agnes Bjork completes her research in Paris for her next writing. The two females cross the Channel to London where they plan to attend the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace. The English police gentlemen help the two ladies make it to the Golden Cross Hotel

The next morning after settling for insipid tea instead of coffee for breakfast, the Swedish pair goes to the exhibit. Outside is mobbed and they separate with Euthanasia telling Agnes to wait for her inside. When Euthanasia enters, her niece is not there. She searches everywhere, but cannot find her niece. She tells the police and cop Owain Evans investigates with Euthanasia at his side.

The vivid picturesque Victorian London will have readers believe they are there exploring the Great Exhibition and much more as THE STREETS OF BABYLON is an excellent historical mystery that makes the time and place seem so alive. The story line is brisk with a fabulous superstar as Euthanasia takes charge of the plot in skirts and pants (undercover as a male going where no respectable female has gone before except incognito). Carina Burman provides an exhilarating mid nineteenth century kidnapped thriller with Sarah Death’s translation from Swedish to English remarkable.

Harriet Klausner

No comments: