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A review by sjgochenour
Devil May Care by Elizabeth Peters
4.0
This was one of my favorites in high school, and upon rereading (relistening), it's clear why -- it's very funny, with broadly sketched characters and a lot of entertaining and satisfying scenes. (The opening chapter!)
It holds up better than I expected; there is one gay character who is a beloved friend of the family, who feels quite real and detailed as a person even if he leans into a few stereotypes. (He has a heart attack during the course of the book, but he is very much alive and well at the end of it.) While the heroine's beloved aunt owns a regal Virginia mansion, she is an interloper from somewhere else, and all of the ~old money~ ~fine old family~ types in the town are revealed to be the descendants of literal devil-worshippers. I doubt this was at all a nod to the violent racial history of the South, but it's less uncomfortable to read than some other takes.
It holds up better than I expected; there is one gay character who is a beloved friend of the family, who feels quite real and detailed as a person even if he leans into a few stereotypes. (He has a heart attack during the course of the book, but he is very much alive and well at the end of it.) While the heroine's beloved aunt owns a regal Virginia mansion, she is an interloper from somewhere else, and all of the ~old money~ ~fine old family~ types in the town are revealed to be the descendants of literal devil-worshippers. I doubt this was at all a nod to the violent racial history of the South, but it's less uncomfortable to read than some other takes.