Interesting variety of covers on the different editions. I do think I'd have read the book differently if I'd read it under a modern-looking cover. I'd probably have objected to all the drinking and smoking if I didn't realize what era it was from.

Well it was fun. I, personally, have never read anything like it before.* Even though I know nothing about the cars, the setting, the brand-names, etc., Stewart made me feel like I did, or at least that the understanding that I was getting from context clues were sufficient. Even though it's far from my favorite genre, I may just have to look for more by the author.

*The only things I can think of that approach it would be Agatha Christie (I think I've read two), and [a:Fredric Brown|51503|Fredric Brown|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1234483488p2/51503.jpg] (his mysteries, like [b:The Lenient Beast|439047|The Lenient Beast|Fredric Brown|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1330887434s/439047.jpg|427893], not his SF). ( )

I just love Mary Stewart's books. This one took me on a mystery tour in Paris and Marseilles. The car driving was amazing and had me on the edge of my seat. Everywhere we went the description made me feel as if I was there and experiencing everything. It was a wonderful ride. ( )

4.5* very much enjoyed listening to this book ( )

When Mary Stewart is good, she is really, really good, and this is one of her best. It easily matches the level of suspense that Nine Coaches Waiting has, although in both books you do have to get through a few chapters before you get to the really page-turning stuff.

That car chase in the middle! That hairpin turn of a plot point! I started to suspect, but I didn't think it could really be pulled off...
My clue was the way Mary Stewart had played with a similar idea in Nine Coaches Waiting.

Part of me rolled my eyes a little bit at the quickly sprung up romance, but most of me enjoyed it as part and parcel of this genre of book.

I recommend both of these titles for readers who enjoy some vintage suspense! ( )

Mary Stewart at her best, proving that she sprang upon the publishing world fully formed and ready to go. This novel has everything that separates her from the pack: a quickly paced plot, a mystery that doesn’t solve itself before the end of the book, descriptions of Roman ruins and natural beauty that transport you to the scene, a heroine who is just an ordinary girl but finds within her the strength to rise to the occasion, and just the right touch of love interest.

I do not read Mary Stewart and see what her characters are doing, I sit with them, eat with them, and herald the morn with them:

How long I sat out there, in a coign of carved stone and rough rock, I do not know. Long enough, I suppose, for my vigil did at length bring in the dawn. I saw the first light, forerunning the sun, gather in a cup of the eastern cloud, gather and grow and brim, till at last it spilled like milk over the golden lip, to smear the dark face of heaven from end to end. From east to north, and back to south again, the clouds slackened, the stars, trembling on the verge of extinction, guttered in the dawn wind, and the gates of day were ready to open at the trumpet…

I will admit that part of what makes me love her so much is my long-time relationship with her. She peopled my youth with her characters and stories. When I had graduated from Nancy Drew Mysteries, she was waiting for me, but while Nancy Drew remains a childish adventure, one that it is not even possible to recapture with the same delight, Mary Stewart is as delightful, thrilling and interesting now as she was then. She is a comfort read for me, and this particular book is the writer at the height of her skills and allure.

I am so glad to have read it again after all those years and to have found that, while I have grown old across all those years, it has not.
( )