THE MASQUERADES OF SPRING

Reviewed by Steven H Silver

Ben Aaronovitch tends to use novellas to explore the world of his Rivers of London series when Peter Grant is not directly involved in the story Aaronovitch wants to explore. He focused on Tobias Winter in Germany in The October Man, Abigail Kamara in What Abigail Did That Summer, and Kimberly Reynolds in American in Winter's Gifts. In The Masquerades of Spring, Aaronovitch sets the action in jazz era Manhattan seen through the eyes of Augustus Berrycloth-Young, an expatriate British wizard turned ne'er-do-well who is living in America to allow himself access to the burgeoning musical scene and to escape Britain's draconian laws against homosexuality. Berrycloth-Young's life is going pretty well until an old school chum shows up unexpectedly in the form of Thomas Nightingale, searching for the origin of a magical saxophone.

In many ways, the novella feels like an homage to two other authors. While Nightingale is tring to discover the instruments origin and how it fits into the world of magic, Berrycloth-Young spends his time chronicling the case, often separated from Nightingale (although not as often as Berrycloth-Young would like) and equally in the dark as to what is really happening. This aspect of the novella gives the feel of one of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, which are related by Watson, who never has the information needed to actually solve the case. At the same time, Berrycloth-Young comes across as a young and vapid man whose only purpose in life is to seek the pleasure of music while maintaining a relationship with the music critic Lucien Gibbs. Berrycloth-Young's retention of a super-competent valet, Maximillian Beauregard, further cements his character as an homage to P.G. Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster.

In many ways Nightingale's investigation seems to be merely a mcguffin, a way to connect the story to Aaronovitch's main narrative. The Masquerades of Spring really is the opportunity to explore jazz age New York, both the African American culture and the homosexual culture of that time and the way both groups were on the borders of White American culture, Accepted within certainly parameters and available for abuse by the authorities and individual citizens when they strayed from those parameters.

The Masquerades of Spring takes Aaronovitch's world to a new place. Not only is the location unique to the series, but the only previously introduced character, Thomas Nightingale, is frequently off scene. The magic that occurs is down-played. Nevertheless, the story fits into the series perfectly and has the vibe of a Rivers of London story, even if set in Manhattan. For a story set on an island, it is interesting that Aaronovitch didn't work in the spirits of the Hudson, Harlem, or East River, however since there is no indication that Berrycloth-Young has an affinity for the river spirits, that lack does make a certain amount of sense.

The Masquerades of Spring expands Aaronovitch's world and offers insight into a period of Nightingale's life which has only been hinted at in the previous novels. Ancillary to the main series, the novella, like the other novella's Aaronovitch has published, does not feel ike merely a bone to tide the reader over until the publication of the next novel about Peter Grant, but is a literary work to be anticipated and enjoyed in its own right.

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