The Bilbao Looking Glass

by Charlotte MacLeod

Hardcover, 1983

Status

Available

Call number

813.54

Publication

Doubleday & Company Inc (1983), Hardcover

Description

A couple finds an antique mirror that isn't broken, but still brings bad luck--"MacLeod can be counted on for a witty, literate, and charming mystery" (Publishers Weekly). According to Max Bittersohn, he and Sarah Kelling have witnessed enough murder and unhappiness, so it's high time they got married. And though Sarah hasn't yet agreed to such drastic measures, she invites Max to summer with her at Ireson's Landing. But they haven't been in the house ten minutes when they stumble upon summer's first mystery--a mint-condition, antique Spanish mirror that is tremendously rare and valuable. Sarah has never seen it before and she doesn't know how it ended up in the summerhouse, but the sleuthing couple will soon find this looking glass to be more troublesome than anything Lewis Carroll ever invented. As the zany Kelling clan descends on Ireson's Landing, Sarah and her beau try to uncover the mystery of the Bilbao looking glass--a quest that is disrupted when a vicious next-door neighbor is found hacked to death with a woodshed ax. By summer's end, Sarah and Max will learn that some murders can be solved simply by looking in the mirror.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member drruth

The fourth Sarah Kelling mystery. This one takes place outside of Boston at the Kellings summer estate, where Max and Sarah meet the families. As with Macleod's others, this book is not so much a mystery as book to read for the characters and setting and humor.

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LibraryThing member librisissimo

Substance: Murder doesn't out until well along in the story, but there are a few minor mysteries along the way. Dearth of meaningful clues, and very little suspense, however, the characters are fun and the setting well defined.
Style: Although MacLeod is called the "American Agatha Christie" they

have very few points in common, other than writing popular series. Christie's plots are much tighter and the sleuthing more intense, but MacLeod's characters are more entertaining and her narration more humorous.

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LibraryThing member jetangen4571

situational-humor, verbal-humor, family-dynamics, cozy-mystery, murder

Another fun and improbable cozy mystery with Sarah Kelling first published in 1984. The impoverished and rather recently widowed landlady of Boston Brahman heritage is now engaged to the upstanding art theft investigator of

respectable Jewish heritage. They've gone out to the Kelling family summer home to check the repairs and have a little alone time when they are caught up in the whirlwind of Kellings, art theft, intrigue, and murder.
If you are offended by the blatant antisemitism of that day, perhaps you prefer the more subtle form prevalent in this century.

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LibraryThing member catseyegreen

Sarah Kelling has retreated from her boarding house business to her husband's summer home. There have been a series of high-end art robberies that Max has tio investigate. We are introduced to several more wacky members of the Keller clan.
Fun little mystery and good for light reading.
re-read

12/29/2023

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