Jan 15, 2011

THE MARX SISTERS By Barry Maitland

taken from Felony and Mayhem

Mrs. Thatcher’s London is bristling with the newly rich bankers, and property developers who have declared the city their personal playground. but on tiny Jerusalem lane, time seems not so much to have stood still as to have slipped backwards. Its shabby houses are home to a clutch of elderly emigres, refugees from a once war-torn Europe who are still fighting ancient political battles, the Trotskyites thumping their canes in fury, the Leninists bellowing into the anarchists’ hearing-aids. To many outsiders, the lane’s enmities look like some quaint geezers’ hobby, a louder version of canasta. But then the geezers start dying.

This magical book – and a passionate desire to bring it to U.S. readers – was the reason behind Partners & Crime’s decision, in the early 1990s, to begin importing books from the UK. Felony & Mayhem is delighted to give it the second life it so richly deserves.
“Intricate and crafty…a true pleasure” — Los Angeles Times
“Maitland writes astonishingly well, with a wonderful ear for dialogue and a finely attuned sense of both character and place…extremely impressive” — Sydney Herald (Australia)

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