Barbara Paul (1)Rezensionen

Started off slow, but really picked up - in a weird way it was as though there were two halves of the book: the half where the Sackers were "monsters" and the half where, you know, they were interesting beings. Uhura's fear of fire was not the most subtle storyline in the universe, but I liked it nevertheless, as well.

This was an outstanding adventure featuring all of the original cast, but focusing especially on Kirk, Scotty, Uluru, and Chekhov. The novel kicks right in with action as the Enterprise discovers a fiery, raging universe that threatens to devour every world in its ever-expanding path. Behind this campaign to crush all the known worlds under Federation control are a mysterious race of grotesque beings known as the Sackers. It's up to the aforementioned foursome to convince the Sackers to stop their plan to destroy our universe. But Kirk and his team find out much more about the Sackers then they bargained for once they are kidnapped and taken aboard the Sacker starship. Maybe these hideous beings aren't really who Kirk and crew think they are.
Fans of the series will enjoy this adventure and the true-to-character way that they are drawn.

A Killing in Malta/Jonathan Gaunt

"The galaxy is on fire." With these words, James Kirk summarizes the latest threat the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise is forced to address: an expanding wave of heat that has already annihilated an entire solar system, including the home world of the Zirgosians. Their investigation takes them to the remaining Zirgosian colony, where they find a massive spaceship in orbit controlled by the "Sackers," a species so physically repulsive that sentient beings cannot stand to be in their presence. The crew soon discovers that the Sackers are at the center of the mystery, with a plan that effectively holds the entire universe hostage unless their demands are met.

Barbara Paul's novel offers readers what is many respects a textbook Star Trek story: the crew faces a seemingly insurmountable challenge, then proceeds to save the day through a mixture of intuitive psychology and teamwork. It's an interesting tale both for the species she introduces and the unusual combination of Kirk, Scotty, Uhura, and Chekov working to deal with the situation in which they find themselves. Yet too much of the novel comes across as contrived, with the Sacker threat both epically dangerous yet in the end ridiculously easy to resolve. Squaring the difference between these two contrasts might have made for a truly excellent Star Trek novel, but as it is the book's strengths can't quite overcome its flaws.

A light-hearted, funny historical mystery starring Enrico Caruso as the slightly bumbling amateur detective. It's 1910 and opera composer Giacomo Puccini is visiting New York for the world premiere of La fanciulla del West. A small-time impresario, who is trying to blackmail Puccini, is murdered; Puccini is suspect number one. Determined to clear the talented composer, Caruso investigates. Short, amusing, fun.½

Not quite what I expected. This mystery does not revolve around murder, but instead around corporate shenanigans. As always Barbara Paul's writing is breezy and enjoyable.½

I consider myself reasonably well-informed on women sf writers of last century, particularly novelists, but Barbara Paul was one that had completely slipped by me. She had five novels published between 1978 and 1980, and one Star Trek novelisation in 1988. Only her first novel, An Exercise for Madmen, and this one, Bibblings, were published in the UK – and the first was in hardcover only by Robert Hale (whose books are notoriously hard to find). Paul also wrote crime novels; the last was published in 1997. She has an extensive website here. My review of Bibblings is on SF Mistressworks: https://sfmistressworks.wordpress.com/2016/03/23/bibblings-barbara-paul/

Read all the way through, but was a bit disappointed.
Hesitate to give anything a 1 star, but this is not one I would read again.
Read in 2005.

This is the third in a set of three books set in the Metropolitan Opera in the "Golden Age," but you won't miss anything if you haven't read the prior two books--this can stand alone. The books aren't standouts stylistically nor are they a whodunnit with a jaw-dropping solution worthy of a Christie. In those respects the books are quite ordinary, and it wouldn't occur to me to list Paul's Opera Mysteries as the best of mystery fiction. But they are fun, and have a secure place on my bookshelves. I'm sure a great deal of the reason I love them is that I am an Opera fan, and can't help but be greatly entertained by a mystery set in the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in the early 20th century that so vividly renders its time and place. The first book, which I haven't read, was centered on Caruso as detective, and the second was told by American opera soprano Geraldine Farrar. In this mystery, where members of the Metropolitan Opera chorus are being murdered one by one, the young Rosa Ponselle is added to the mix of characters.

I liked this novel less than the previous book, which was told first person, while this is third person with multiple perspectives. Even though she's present and prominent as a character, I missed Farrar's gossipy voice which leant so much humor to Prima Donna at Large. This is also not as light-hearted as the previous book. Set in 1920, the first World War has been over for two years, but "resentments and hard feelings" from it still linger in the international company and the careers of Caruso and Farrar are close to their end--this outing has a more melancholy tone as a result. But this is still a very entertaining mystery, particularly if you're an opera fan.½

This is the second in a set of three books set in the Metropolitan Opera in the "Golden Age" around the beginning of the 20th Century. I never got a hold of the first book, A Cadenza for Caruso, but I didn't feel I missed anything by it--this can stand alone.

This was so fun to read I'm tempted to give it full marks really--it was one that was a pleasure from beginning to end, even if it's not a standout stylistically or as a whodunnit. In those respects it's quite ordinary, and it wouldn't occur to me to list Paul's Opera Mysteries as the best of mystery fiction. I'm sure a great deal of the reason I love it so much is that I am an Opera fan, and can't help but be greatly entertained by a picture of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City circa 1915, as told by American diva Geraldine Farrar and featuring as characters the great conductor Toscanini and singer Enrico Caruso. I loved "watching" golden age performances of Carmen and Tosca.

Farrar as depicted here is larger than life--witty, funny, flirtatious, outrageously egotistical even if good-hearted. A blurb from the New York Times Book Review inside avers that "if you think the portrait of Farrar is exaggerated, it isn't. She was exactly as depicted here." Well, she's great, gossipy company as she and Caruso try to untangle the murder of an obnoxious baritone.

Shelby Kent is a human lie detector. Although it causes problems in her personal life, she is of great service to the police. When a United Nations task force recruits her to aid in hearings, her life gets even more complicated.

Loads of fun.½

[2006-11-25] Early mystery from Barbara Paul, set in a New York theatre in the present day. A modern take on the Jacobean revenge tragedy, it's harsh and a traumatic read, but one hell of a book. One of my all-time favourite mysteries, and I'm pleased to see that it's recently been brought back into print.

This takes place during the so-called "Golden Era" of the Metropolitan Opera House, when stars like Enrico Caruso and Geraldine Ferrar were singing. Tensions are running high among the multinational member of the cast after World War I. Members of the chorus die in apparent accidents and a suicide, which is upsetting enough, but then a death occurs that can only be a murder.

I find it fascinating as a look at the era, but somewhat mediocre as a mystery. It is intended as a rather comic mystery, with the opera stars earnestly bumbling around playing at being detectives, but I got a bit tired of them. It is quite well done as a historical novel, and I recommend it to those who would be interested in it for that reason, rather than as a mystery.½

quick read, some gruesome, some funny

An intriguing Star Trek novel about a much-maligned race called the Sackers, who are so offensive to all the senses that they sicken human beings. The sackers have stolen a revolutionary scientific device, murdering a race in the process, and are using it to open a hole in our universe, consigning it to certain doom unless Kirk can defeat the Sackers and stop the process. A good adventure, but the idea of developing friendly relations with a race that could do what the Sackers have done is somewhat unsettling.½