Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 6, 1990 TAG: 9005060278
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: F4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Thomas Noguchi is the flamboyant former chief medical examiner of Los Angeles County. He has collaborated on this medical thriller with Arthur Lyons, the successful author of the Jacob Asch mysteries. The result is an extremely well-written and exciting novel, certainly a cut above (you should excuse the expression) the rest of this popular genre.
Dr. Eric Parker, a former LA County coroner, heads a private business called Forensic Investigations. He and his partner Mike Steenbargen - an investigator - are hired by attorney Leah Wechsler to investigate her mother's death in the Havenhurst Nursing Home. Parker proceeds to uncover a chilling criminal ring that is promoting chronic suspension - the practice of freezing the dead for future revival. The only problem is that this group is a little too impatient to wait until its "clients" are legally expired.
"Physical Evidence" has several intriguing subplots including a serial killer, Parker's unbelievably successful sex life and failed marriage, and his troubled relationship with his son. If Parker seems to be heavily based on Noguchi, that only reinforces Noguchi's image as medical examiner to the stars - Belushi, Joplin, Marilyn Monroe, Robert Kennedy. - JUDY KWELLER\ Passing Glory\ By Reay Tannahill. Crown. $19.95.
Reay Tannahill, known for her definitive works, "Food in History" and "Sex in History," again exhibits her flair for story-telling and characterization in her newest novel. "Passing Glory" is the saga of the Britton family. Set primarily in England and Scotland, the novel begins in 1901 and ends in 1953 at the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The years between contain an enormous number of social, economic and historical events critical to the background of the Britton family. The family's fortune depends on its shipyard on Scotland's River Clyde.
Late in the story, one character muses, " . . . for the last fifty years, the British had gone stumbling, shell-shocked, through the decades of imperial decline and American ascent, trying to pretend that the present really wasn't happening . . . Failing to recognize that, in reality, the glory was passing from their grasp . . . And then it shook him, with a sense of irony and shock, that the history of the Britton family and the Britton shipyard throughout those years had been running in parallel with the history of the country."
The metaphor is a valid one behind an enthralling plot. The splendid characters, though, are the novel's real treasures. They are memorable and believable throughout. - HARRIET LITTLE
\ Something To Hide: A Romantic Mystery\ By Patricia Robinson. St. Martin's. $15.95.
Don't let the "Romantic Mystery" subtitle put you off from Patricia Robinson's delicious serving of modern-day Charleston, S.C. A resident of the city, she obviously knows and loves it. It's here, peopled with an utterly delightful cast of often eccentric characters, set against a fine little mystery that reaches back into the Charleston of the Civil War era.
The central character, Mary Sage Eliot, is also a delight as she struggles to move from her role as a link in her family's long historical connection to Charleston to a more "modern" woman ready for the very different moral and social mores in a changing city and culture.
There is also, as promised, romance, and a couple of engaging men appear on the scene as Sage attempts to adapt to the changes in her life and the times. Author Robinson owes us more delightful adventures. - HARRIET LITTLE
\ Mary Pickford: America's Sweetheart\ By Scott Eyman. Donald I. Fine. $19.95.
While I was reading this definitive account of the life and times of Mary Pickford, I learned that "Pickfair," her home for much of her life, was being demolished to make way way for the new home of Pia Zadora. What irony! What effrontery! What sacrilege!
Mary Pickford was, for many years, thought of in terms of a sweet little angel with golden-blond tresses. But film critic Scott Eyman, of the Palm Beach Post, has taken us behind the scenes to see the real Mary Pickford.
Pickford was 50 years ahead of her times. She was an actor, producer and writer. Along with Douglas Fairbanks, Charles Chaplin and D.W. Griffith, she formed United Artists. She was one of the creators of the Hollywood star system. At the time she did all those unbelievable things - that were far beyond the capacities of ordinary men - women were considered second-class citizens. Her drive and determination brought her success; she was the highest-paid woman of her day, but she paid for that success over and over again.
When she and Douglas Fairbanks divorced they were still in love. In fact, Mary Pickford never stopped loving the man. When Fairbanks was linked to Lady Sylvia Ashley - she became his wife - Mary called him and invited him for Christmas dinner, only to hear him sob that it was too late; he had already become engaged.
Though he was unable to speak to Buddy Rogers, Pickford's husband at the time of her death, Eyman was able to interview Douglas Fairbanks Jr. who provided great insights. "Mary Pickford" is an excellent book, and one that should have been written years ago. All we need now is a good biography of Ida Lupino, another unheralded leader in the Hollywood of the '50s and '60s, who also just happened to be a woman. - ROBERT I. ALOTTA
by CNB