Review: Dreamland

 If you liked Robert Altman’s Gosford Park (and I loved it) chances are you’ll love Nancy Bilyeau’s Dreamland. In both mysteries foreground and background are switched, so that while the bodies pile up in the background, in the foreground are the various tangled relationships among a very wealthy (or perhaps not so wealthy?) family which rivals the Rockefellers for both fame and fortune. But where it differs from Gosford Park is that the action takes place not at a typical country house but at a Coney Island you probably never knew existed circa 1911: when there were three magnificent hotels for the wealthy set right against three magnificent amusement parks for the working man, and where the wealthy can slum and cast off their outward shows and indulge their ids.

It’s this magnificent realization, full of detail, of the two worlds side by side, and the edffect it has on each character that make this a truly exceptional, fully realized novel. Seen through the eyes of an older daughter who already suspects the rottenness of her wealthy life and dares to plunge into the world of Dreamland, one of the three amusement parks, she finds herself in love with and defending the number one suspect of the murders. Either she’ll get him off or be killed herself. This is mystery in the hands of a master of the historical novel. I’ve read Bilyeau’s other novels—this is the one to start with.

Dreamland can be found here on Amazon.

Historical Novel Society review of the Dutch Painter

 From the Historical Novel Society:

"While the book contains deft Holmesian plotting and a plethora of historical tidbits, the real draw for me is the extraordinary voice of Miller’s narrator: hilariously pompous, erudite, and evocative. The
sheer riot of his descriptions captivates and invites readers to linger over the sentences rather than rush headlong through the story."

For the entire review, check out the Historical Novel Society:

Launch Day!

 Run, do not walk, to your nearest bookstore, kibrary, computer or cellphone--

It's out!

Interview with Nerds that Geek/The Dutch Painter

 

NTG: Do you think Sherlock Holmes would have good taste in art? Why / why not?

 Timothy Miller: Watson claimed that he had dreadful taste in art, but then Watson was something of a Philistine himself. But I think Holmes would have been more apt to analyze art, to try to derive clues from it rather than simply enjoy it. I think he would have been more comfortable with abstract art, Kandinsky, for instance, which would have allowed his mind. to release its grip, the same way that improvisation on the violin did.

For the full interview on The Strange Case of the Dutch Painter, visit 

Nerds That Geek.