A Review: The Pigeon Pie Mystery by Julia Stuart

The Pigeon Pie Mystery is Julia Stuart's third novel and another favorite on my list. After reading The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise a while back, I was pretty excited to see that she had released another recently. I was lucky and found the sole copy on a trip to Malaprop's in Asheville, North Carolina. Note: I read this last year - so shame on me for waiting so long to finally post this review. Definitely one of my favorite reads of 2012!

Mink is left with more debt than she can manage when her father, the Maharaja of Brindor, is found dead. To make matters worse, the scandal surrounding his death is sure to promise that she'll be left in a very compromising situation. Before things actually hit rock bottom, the Queen of England allows Mink to move into one of the apartments at Hampton Court Palace (thought to be haunted by numerous historical figures) and her comfortable life is suddenly filled with awkward conversations and taxing financial planning. Just when she begins to accept her new situation, Pooki, her beloved maid, is accused of the murder of a fellow neighbor by serving him a pigeon pie at a luncheon. Mink must work to prove that Pooki is innocent by learning intimate details about her new neighbors, while also staving off a humorous budding romantic relationship.

Stuart doesn't disappoint. I'm quickly becoming one of her biggest fans. While this novel wasn't as strong as The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise, it certainly contained all of the quirk that Stuart so brilliantly weaves in her often outlandish stories. Most events are so very absurd, but funny and quite clever, that it all works to create a fun story a reader can get lost in. While the characters' appearances are quite brief, effectively creating an awkward atmosphere, Stuart brings each of them to life with their own peculiar habits and histories. Overall, the novel was an enjoyable read that I recommend to readers looking for a little fun and loads of laughs.

I recently picked up Stuart's debut novel: The Matchmaker of Perigord, so look out for another review featuring this author in the future.

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A Review: The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart

I was initially drawn to The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise when I spotted the cover art on a new release email ages and ages ago. I added it to my enormous TBR list on Goodreads and didn't think much about it. Recently, however, I started going through the list and choosing titles pick up at the library, and this just happened to make the cut. When I read that it was compared to Amelie (one of my favorite movies ever) and pretty much anything by Wes Anderson, I had a good feeling.
 
Balthazar and Hebe Jones (and their 180-year-old tortoise) live in the Tower of London on account of Balthazar's job as a Beefeater. Once responsible for the keeping of the prisoners (and some acts of torture), present day Warders provide their extensive knowledge of the Tower's intense history in the form of a tour guide (apparently all employed at the Tower of London live in the space in the non-fiction world). Sharing the Salt Tower, a space with circular walls that don't making decorating too easy, Hebe and Balthazar carry on a painfully silent existence after the loss of their young son, Milo. Meanwhile, Balthazar is dealing with the responsibilities that come with the Queen's decision to appoint him overseer of the Royal Menagerie on the Tower grounds.

This well-developed cast of characters is quite entertaining. The Reverend writing erotic fiction under a female pen name. Valerie, Hebe's co-worker and best friend, reading mystery novels borrowed from the office and quietly replacing them each morning. The tattooed train officer who manages to visit Valerie at the most inconvenient times. And so on...

I found myself laughing aloud and struggling to hold back tears. The prose evoked the feelings I had when I first encountered the depth and magic of Nicole Krauss's The History of Love. I'll admit that I expected a novel of fluff, something fun to add a little laugh to my life, but found it offered so much more. Stuart is truly a talented writer who makes actions seem so natural to the characters despite the absurdity. The struggle to maintain a relationship despite loss added a serious tone that really added necessary balance without seeming like just another abused plot device. While the events leading up to the transferring of the animals from the London Zoo, and all events dealing with the animals thereafter were completely farfetched, I feel it added a sense of imagination I hadn't felt since I was a child. A time when anything was possible.

If you haven't given The Tower, the Zoo and the Tortoise a chance, please do. I don't think you'll regret it. I loved it!

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