January 1, 2001
Unbelievable and Unlikable might serve as alternate titles for Kellogg's latest, billed as the start of a new series from the author of the popular Lilly Bennett books (1998's Bad Manners, etc.). But American Jacqueline di Fidelio, a society portrait painter, and her British butler, Nigel Weatherby-Smythe, a former safecracker and convict, would not, from the evidence presented here, appear to have any of the qualities that give series characters longevity: some degree of credulity and at least a bare minimum of empathy. Nigel, a bitchy bisexual who serves as unreliable narrator ("Basically, I'm sexless... I'm truly very happy living vicariously"), is at first amusing as he flaunts his snobbery and hypochondria, but both attitudes quickly grow stale. As for Jackie (or "Madam," as Nigel calls her), she is never convincing in any of her roles: abused daughter of a mad painter; glamorously enigmatic lover of the rich and famous; and finally the accused murderer of rivals, husbands and potential clients. Kellogg's descriptions of the lush life in contemporary Virginia, Paris, Nepal and other haunts of the privileged do have a certain fascination; would that she had spent as much time coloring in her human landscapes. Agent, Nick Ellison. (Jan. 16) Forecast: Readers of Kellogg's Lilly Bennett books might grab enough early copies of this to cause a stir, but disappointment and bad word-of-mouth are almost certain to limit its sales.