Dolly&bird of Paradise

by Dorothy Dunnett

Book Overview

Rita, a small, tough Scottish make-up artist is on Madeira trying to find out who killed Kim-Jim, an American make-up supremo. Also anchored off the island is Dolly, the yacht of Johnson Johnson with... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394523776
• ISBN13: 9780394523774
• Release Date: February 1984
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
• Length: 315 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.

Customer Reviews

'To most of my clients, bifocal glasses are asthma.' ..

With these words, we are drawn into the world of Rita, make-up artist to the stars. The Dolly series are Dorothy Dunnett's contemporary mysteries: a world away from the intrigues of Niccolo (fifteenth century) and Lymond (sixteenth century). Or are they? Dorothy Dunnett brings the same energetic, descriptive writing to the Dolly series as is evident in her historical novels. The action is fast, the hero is enigmatic and intelligent. The setting is exotic, and the characters? Judge for yourself. Recommended as both great fun and as an example of Dorothy Dunnett's versatility. There are seven novels in this series. Jennifer Cameron-Smith

This one is a Prequel to the other Dolly books!

Once you realize that the book is a prequel to the other Dolly books, a lot of it starts to make more sense. In this book we hear a little bit about the accident that killed JJ"s wife and the damage it did to him. We also meet a very interesting Bird - a makeup artist no less. Her hair colour changes with the weather in the book, and that is where she gets the name "bird of Paradise". Rita is quite a gal! As she says "wee", but mighty. There is a lot of confusinon in the story, and it takes some sharp interpretations to stay ahead of the enigmatic Johnson, and I have to admit that I didn't succeed when it came to the discovery of Rita's origin. But we visit Madeira, Barbados and St. Lucia and that is wonderful thing. The book bears the Dunnett trademarks - bright dialogue, exotic settings, cheerful characters (though with more secrets than we can imagine. A pretty wild ride overall!