| |
The Critics Have Their Say
Praise for Relative Danger
- 2005 Benjamin Franklin Award for Mystery/Suspense Book of the Year, Publishers Marketing Association
- 2005 Glyph Award, Best Fiction (Mystery), Arizona Book Publishers Association
- 2005 nominee for the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best First Mystery, Mystery Writers of America
- 2005 Barry Award nominee for Best First Mystery, Deadly Pleasures Magazine
- Nominated for the Mystery of the Year award, ForeWord Magazine
- Top 10 Mysteries of the Year - Deadly Pleasures Magazine
- Top 10 New Mysteries of the Year – Booklist Mystery Showcase
- Named one of seven Hot Debut Novels of the Year – Publishers Weekly
- Starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and Booklist
"Benoit's smashingly good, action-packed first novel leads Douglas Pearce, a young brewery worker from Pottstown, Pa., on a quest for information about his long-dead uncle that takes him from Toronto to Casablanca, Cairo, Bahrain and Singapore, before returning him to Toronto. He gets on the trail of a huge stolen gem, and along the way finds rascals, thugs, thieves and vamps among the archeology scholars, ex-museum directors and encyclopedia publishers who appear to be his guides. With much wit and invention, Benoit convincingly portrays the Middle East. A hilarious account of chaos in the Cairo airport reads like an updated scene from Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad. Benoit adroitly contrasts the modern features of North Africa and Asia with the remnants of their ancient pasts. Two murderous chases through urban and rural Egypt build to a resolution that remains well concealed until the final pages. Some readers may find the sex scenes too brief and a bit strange, but this is a quibble. Benoit is a rare discovery, and one hopes that he plans to produce more adventure-oriented mysteries with the same skill and energy that propel this excellent debut."
Publishers Weekly
Starred review
* * *
"Relative Danger, Charles Benoit's derring-do debut mystery, is as exhilarating as a magnum of Dom Perignon. Benoit writes with wit, panache and guile. The non-stop pace, exotic locales, exuberant sex, and swashbuckling hero combine for splendid entertainment."
Carolyn Hart
* * *
"A rip-roaring mystery novel that spans the globe. Benoit has written a colorful story of sultry babes, dangerous souls, imperial legacies, greed and murder. From Pottsville to Singapore, every page drips with realism and verve."
John Robinson, author of The Sapphire Sea
* * *
"Where has Charles Benoit been hiding? With a debut novel this good, it's hard to believe he hasn't published at least 10 previous books. Every element of this rollicking adventure shines, from its suspenseful, globetrotting plot to its nicely rounded characters. Unlikely young hero Doug Pearce, most recently of Pottsville, PA, leaves his small town at the request of Edna, an exotic older woman who knew his black-sheep uncle, Russell Pearce. It seems that Russell was murdered in 1948, apparently while trying to smuggle an outrageously big red diamond out of Singapore. Edna thinks Russell was framed and wants Doug to help clear his uncle's name; he agrees, mainly because he's never been out of the U.S. and because Edna is footing the bill. Beginning in Casablanca and continuing through Morocco and Egypt, Doug eventually lands in Singapore, where his uncle's life ended. Along the way, he meets a stately museum curator and a stunning heiress, among other exotic characters, and unwisely trusts both of them. This captivating debut makes great use of familiar gambit: throwing a naïve, untraveled hero into foreign climes and forcing him to hit the ground running. Readers will eagerly await more from the very talented Benoit."
Jenny McLarin
Booklist starred review
* * *
SPACEY SLEUTH TROTS GLOBE SEEKING CLUES
John Orr
It's easy to imagine the glee felt at Poisoned Pen Press when editors there discovered the manuscript for ''Relative Danger,'' a first novel by Charles Benoit, ''a compulsive traveler'' who has ''worked in education and advertising.''
Poisoned Pen has a stable of some so-so writers and a few stars, such as J.M. Hayes, whose ''Prairie Gothic'' was one of the best mysteries of 2003.
Benoit is definitely star material, this first novel blending elements of a good mystery with the boyish, wanderlust charm of Mark Twain and a goofy but brilliant humor that reminds me a little of Dave Barry.
Relative Danger (Poisoned Pen Press, 260 pp., $24.96) is the tale of one Doug Pearce, a not especially bright young fellow who has recently been laid off from a dead-end job at a brewery in Pennsylvania. At loose ends, he gets a letter from a stranger in Canada who'd known his Uncle Russ. ''Crazy Uncle Russ. Wild Uncle Russ. Dead Uncle Russ.''
It's the killing of Russ -- by gunfire in the New Phoenix Hotel in Singapore, in 1948 --that opens this book.
The stranger, Edna Bowers, tells Doug some stories about his black-sheep uncle, introduces him to wine, then offers to pay Doug to look into his uncle's killing.
''I phased out there a second,'' Doug says, introducing us to a key element of his brain -- its inability to focus for more than a few minutes at a time, if that -- ''What's this about bills?''
''I was saying," said Edna, "that if you wanted to travel around the world a bit, I'd pay the bill."
"Whoa, I really tuned out. Can you go over it one more time from the top?'"
Well, the deal is, Doug, who is young and strong, begins an odyssey in Casablanca, on Edna's tab, to ''solve everything,'' Edna tells him. ''Your uncle's murder, for starters.''
Doug gets to Casablanca, where he can't stop humming ''As Time Goes By,'' and begins the attempt to retrace the path his uncle followed that led to his killing in Singapore. Edna doesn't give him much information at first. Is it because she doesn't trust his attention span?
Or is it because, as Doug learns, his black-sheep uncle, who'd been a high school baseball star before running off, had become a thief and a murderer? And the key theft of his life may have been a large red diamond worth a truly ridiculous amount of money? A diamond that many other people, including some with guns and knives, would really like to find.
One dapper older gent Doug meets decries Casablanca's lack of charms. ''This is about as exotic as it ever got. It still has the red light district, but the old quarter -- the medina -- is all but gone and they still don't have a single decent museum'' and on and on for several sentences. Then:
''They have a red light district here? thought Doug.'' The old fellow continues talking, about other cities, about Islam in Morocco, about this and that, but, ''Doug had never paid for sex before and was deciding if he had any strong moral code that prevented him from starting now.''
Doug's lack of attention makes for a not very effective detective, but that's OK -- the old fellow, Sergei, seems willing to point Doug in some directions, and then there is Aisha Al-Kady, the stunningly beautiful young woman he meets who also seems willing to help direct Doug's activity.
And gee, lucky for Doug, it turns out that both of them know about the jewel his uncle apparently stole.
Before long, Doug is being chased across rooftops by massive thugs, having the best sex of his life with Aisha, and being arrested and thrown into a horrid prison in Cairo -- where he meets another helpful fellow -- before finally getting to Singapore, where his uncle died.
I particularly enjoyed Benoit's descriptions of Casablanca, Cairo and Singapore, which are more like what I've been told by friends who've been to those places than what is described in most travel stories written by people who seldom stray from Americanized hotels. Benoit's obviously been to the gritty places as well as the tourist traps. Sergei's reflections on the disappointment on tourists' faces when they reach the inside of a pyramid, for instance, is a brilliant essay in itself. And Doug's experience on an airliner:
''To maximize profits Egypt Air had done away with unnecessary frills, like leg room, air conditioning, no-smoking signs and repairs to things like tray tables, arm rests and bathrooms. . . . This was a non-smoking flight, so children under ten were forbidden to smoke unless accompanied by an adult. They were, however, permitted to run up and down the aisles, screaming, as the need came upon them. Just like their parents.''
Doug slowly comes to realize that some of his new acquaintances are using him dangerously, and just as slowly figures out the hiding place of the red diamond. Most readers -- especially fans of the Philadelphia Phillies -- will figure it out long before Doug.
Doug's one moment of brilliance in other than sexual situations is in how he figures out what to do with the diamond and survive the experience.
It is a gem of a novel.
* * *
From the Sleuth of Baker Street’s November 2004 Newsletter
“One of the authors I met at BoucherCon was Charles Benoit. I had been invited to the Poisoned Pen Press party and at one point, finding myself alone and not wanting to look like a total git, I sidled up to a small group of people and tried to horn in on the conversation. I did my best to look interesting and attractive, and, I guess I must have managed as they didn’t tell me to take a hike. But being authors and kind people, they have learned to not do that. Although, when I let on that I was a mystery book monger they wanted my bona fides–the noive–and they quizzed me rather well. Having passed the test, they deigned to accept me into the group and we spent a happy twenty minutes talking mysteries. Fast forward to a few weeks later and casting about for something to read I happened on Relative Danger ($34.95 Canadian) by the one and same Charles Benoit. What a delight it turned out to be. I have started so many awful books, uninteresting, uninspired, badly written, that anything even approaching mediocre would have been acceptable. This one leaves mediocre so far behind, that I, like Booklist , which gave it a starred review, asked “Where has Charles Benoit been hiding? With a debut novel this good, it’s hard to believe he hasn’t published at least 10 previous books….” Booklist put it rather more elegantly than I would have. Here he’s been, lurking, on the other side of Lake Ontario and I had no clue; maybe they were right to question my bona fides. This was such a fun romp through Casablanca, Cairo and Singapore, full of such great characters, and so witty, that I just didn’t want it to end and I’m eagerly awaiting his next offering. Another great thing about the book: Charles knows when to end it. It’s not your bloated, here we go again, five hundred page tome. It’s half that and, for my money, just the right length. A debut novel that you should have in your collection. I’ve made arrangements for twenty signed first editions, so get ‘em while they’re hot.” JD Singh
So is it really that good? Only one way to find out – pick yourself up a copy or two and give it a read.
|
|
