Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Lousia the Poisoner

I just finished Louisa the Poisoner, by Tanith Lee. It's a really slight book, only 75 pages including illustrations, but she's always excelled at the short story, so that's not really such a bad thing.

It's the story of Louisa, who, armed with a phial of undetectable poison, worms her way into a rich family, proceeding to kill all of its members, and leaving herself the rich heiress. The amoral protagonist working her way on corrupt others has been a theme that Lee has mined deeply over the years. In, say, the Flat Earth tales, her protagonist grows out of his early selfishness, although he doesn't really change. Louisa, though, is much more one-dimensional, aiming for with rather than depth.

As a rather perverse comedy of manners, though, Louisa succeeds perfectly.

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