Accomplice HC Hardcover – October 1, 2006

Here is a completely fantastic story involving fleeing aristocrats, an unlikely vamp, an even more unlikely murderess, and you find yourself yielding to it with utter willingness. I just finished the book, and the really odd thing is how it wants to continue in your own mind. You feel sure you know what's likely to happen next, who will fall in love with whom, what will happen to the culprit, how justice will be served, without the author having to finish the story. And you're completely satisfied. A powerful piece of writing.

I see everybody here gave this 5 stars. You can disagree with me but I really did not like this book, especially when compared with Death in the Garden. I felt the author added a lot of unnecessary confusion, and seemed unable to decide whether she was writing a saga of the Russian nobility from the twilight of the Romanov empire to the present or a murder mystery. There is very little murder and mystery and by page 200 you've got nothing but someone's remains found in the garden. It's not even established that a crime was committed, and the eventual outcome is downright lame. I dont know where the author came up with the Russian idea, whether it is her own background or she made it up, but Dr. Zhivago this isn't. She has a lot of characters that don't further the story, and the family relationships are unnecessarily complex (stepchildren of stepchildren?).An example of confusing, as well as making a big deal out of what turns out to be insignificant is the background of Al, the boyfriend of the main character's step-daughter-in-law's stepdaughter. At the start of the book, she refers to him as black. While this was originally published in the UK, to most American readers, this would indicate a person of African ancestry. Later, she tells us Al is Indian. That is Asian, not African. After that, Al tells Xenia he is Muslim and may be Pakistani. Pakistan was once part of India in the colonial days, but not for some time now. Near the end of the book, she refers to him having pale skin. The only point of all this is to show that Xenia, a Russian, has strong racial prejudices and would consider marriage to a non-Caucasian man to be less desirable. I think it should have been left out.Most of the book dwells in the past, sometimes going back 200 years. A mystery (as this is marketed) should be tightly written with a plot that moves and clues for the reader. I got tired of this book long before the middle and I was very disappointed in the ending, which I won't reveal.

This book is quite different from "A Very Private Enterprise" and it is a measure of the author's depth that she wrote two such wonderful, very different books. The mystery here is less about the buried body and more about who the characters really are, and about the nature of responsibility/ being an accomplice and about how we judge people. Highly recommended.

... I actually prefer this one to DEATH IN THE GARDEN. DITG got unwieldy and tiresome; this one, OTOH, I could not put down. True, I tend to skim a bit in Ironside's works, which I normally would not do. (Her descriptions can get loooong); but I found Zita absorbing, even her "European" (as another reviewer wrote) love for shoes. I also found Xenia totally repugnant, yet still had to read about her doings and motivations. Actually, the most repellent character to me would end up being a tie between Stevens and Valentina! (Gack! "Suede" skin on his bald head? I am revolted yet fascinated by that. His obsessions are dangerous, and he is just boorish.)(Valentina is so self-concerned it is almost incredible, and yet, don't we all know people like that?)

Elizabeth Ironside wrote some of the best thought out narratives. This is one her best. It cannot be recommended enough.

Very sharply written in the best of fine English high-style detective fiction writers. All 5 of her novels are well worth it!

Such a good book, one that you hate to see end. It's not your run of the mill kind of murder mysteries and so well written you feel like you know the characters so well.

This book is a complex English mystery that ends surprisingly. I enjoyed it immensely, as did a fellow traveler to Alaska who sat in the deck chair next to me.

Merely my taste in books. Others will enjoy it.