The Love Talker

Laurie is working on her dissertation in chilly Chicago when she receives an alarming letter from her Aunt Ida, hinting at oddities afoot at the old homestead in rural Virginia, peculiarities that involve Laurie's other aunt, Lizzie. Eccentric Lizzie is well known for her flights of fancy already and no one has ever taken them too seriously, so the fact that Ida felt perturbed enough to write to Laurie is bothersome enough, and Laurie can't help but worry. Her whimsical old aunt is apparently, incredibly, seeing fairies in the woods, and they don't appear to be entirely benevolent. After a serendipitous phone conversation with Doug, the half-brother Laurie hasn't seen or spoken to in years, the siblings head home to the secluded Idlewood estate to find out exactly what's going on. The aunts and their brother, Doug and Laurie's Uncle Ned, all live together in the old house, and Laurie is uncomfortably aware that at their advancing ages they may not be able to live entirely on their own for too much longer. In fact, she becomes convinced that while she's been away, someone or several someones have been taking considerable advantage of the old people, particularly of Lizzie. She has some astonishingly realistic photographs of what do indeed appear to be fairies, which have even Laurie - who is well aware of the notorious Cottingley hoax - perplexed. In addition, there is a mysterious young man living in a guest house on the property who seems to have weasled his way firmly into the lives and hearts of the old people, and both Laurie and Doug are suspicious of his motives. As the malice seems to step up with the siblings' arrival, Laurie begins to wonder who she can trust. Everyone seems to be keeping secrets as they all dance around each other with frustrating, reticent half-truths, and it's only when Laurie finally gets a little too close to the heart of the matter that the whole pot boils over. The odd title refers to Gan Ceanach (Gancanagh, Ganconer, Gan-Ceann), an Irish fairy whose name literally translates to `Love Talker' in English. He's known for hanging about in woods and glens, smoking his clay pipe and seducing young maidens with his enchanting voice before departing in a swirl of mist, leaving them to pine after him the rest of their days. As a character he doesn't play any real role in this book so I suspect it was just an intriguing title to use. Vintage Elizabeth Peters (although it seems more along the Barbara Michaels line and I wonder why she wrote it under the Peters name), fun and satisfying as always.

Unlike some previous reviewers, I thoroughly loved this story. True, Aunt Lizzie is a bit "much," the romance a bit too low key, and a trio of spinster/bachelor siblings odd, but the weaving of Lizzie and Laurie's love of fairy tales into the plot is both delightful and chilling. The author keeps you guessing up until the very end, while building suspense and dread. Elizabeth Peters/Barbara Michaels can always be depended on to deliver a good romantic and/or gothic mystery.

There's something juicy and yummy in the feeling of reading "The Love Talker," just reprinted from a cache of excellent standalone Elizabeth Peters books. Sometimes this novel feels a bit like a Barbara Michaels novel under the wrong pseudonym, with the (discreet) sexy content and supernaturally loaded storyline, but it's an excellent read nonetheless.Laurie is invited back to the secluded family hold of Idlewild, where she grew up with puritanical Aunt Ida, animal-loving Uncle Ned, and fluttery whimsical Aunt Lizzie (who once tried to get signals from Arcturus, decided she was a reincarnated Egyptian princess, etc). Also coming back is her half-brother Doug; the reason why is that Lizzie's latest whim is somehow alarming -- she claims there are fairies in the woods.The problem is, she isn't acting as she usually does during "whims", and she has photos with eerie-looking humanoids that do look alarmingly like malevolent fairies. There is also a newcomer nearby: the tall, dark and sexy Jefferson, the handyman/author who lives with the old people. And there are "old friends": a repressed religious fanatic who maltreats his family (because his daughters, especially the beautiful eldest, are "vessels of iniquity" and fiction is "lies") and most horribly of all, Hermann, the suitable, dull, pompous guy that Ida spends the whole book trying to fix Laurie up with.But Hermann is not the primary problem on Laurie's mind. She's heard and seen mysterious lights and sounds out in the woods. Then, Lizzie's photos are stolen, and someone tries to run Laurie down. She and Doug must unravel a bizarre mystery with roots back in their respectable family -- but can Laurie even trust Doug? Can she trust Jefferson? And what dark secrets lurk in the woods?Most Elizabeth Peters novels are pretty clean; this one rises a bit further, including Doug's ridiculous porn book (no excerpts, just the cover art), incest jokes, an underage love affair, dark family secrets, etc. And there is a bit of a weird feeling when Doug's secret is revealed (and Laurie's reaction to it). We are also given outrage, in the form of the obsessively religious woman-hater. At the same time we are graced with humor that few books can rival: we get those hilarious interludes with Hermann and his heavy-handed flirtations, as well as his sister flashing her bosom in poor Doug's face.Laurie is practically trademarked as an EP/BM character, strong and self-reliant, with a barbed wit and none of that swooning business. Doug and Jefferson are a bit harder to classify, as both are ambiguous in the trust area in different parts of the book; they do, however, possess characteristics of the usual EP/BM hero (wit, intelligence, deception, big flaws yet are lovable), making it even more difficult to tell. Old fashioned Aunt Ida and Uncle Ned are endearing in their quieter parts, while Aunt Lizzie may get on the readers' nerves occasionally, with her relentless fluttering and faked innocence.Overall, a big thick

Don't be deceived by its pulpy-sounding title --- this is an intelligently written mystery. If you know the author's works written under the pen name Barbara Michaels, then you will know what I mean when I say that this novel reads more like a Barbara Michaels than an Elizabeth Peters. I've read it several times and it never loses its hold on me. The Love Talker has a particularly well-delineated cast of characters --- the old folks are especially appealing and believable. If you (like me) happen to be interested in fairy lore, so much the better. Peters' keen treatment of an often-misunderstood subject is sure to delight readers who share her abiding interest in eerie legends and those macabre fairy tales that scared us all as kids.