An Uncertain Currency

Clyde Lynwood Sawyer, Jr. and Frances Witlin

Average Rating 8/10 (1 Review)

In the Georgia mill town of Floraville, the dog days of August bring an unlikely, but charming visitor. Mario Castigliani, an aging, down-on-his-luck Italian aristocrat possessed of erratic psychic gifts, passes through on his low-rent, last-ditch effort of making a living as a professional clairvoyant.

He is pressed into service by the young, raw-boned police chief, Beaufort Tyler, to help investigate a strange series of apparent suicides. The offbeat partnership between the European connoisseur and the small-town law enforcer yields surprising and far-ranging results.

"From its unwilling psychic, to its willing killer, to its laconic evocations of such indigenous Southern Horrors as Georgian/Italian cuisine, An Uncertain Currency is as sure of itself as the fiction we call 'legal tender'."

"What a wonderful mix of characters - and what a wonderful read."

"A provocative melange of sharp murder mystery and vividly drawn characters... a rich landscape imbued with people and events that feel at once familiar and unique."

"A beautifully crafted and sophisticated mystery, engaging and ultimately poetic... an absolute pleasure to read."

Review by Chrissi (270900) Rating (8/10)

Review by Chrissi
Rating 8/10
Well, what can I say? This was the book that we were very kindly asked to read and review by co-author Mr Clyde Lynwood Sawyer Jr, and I must say that I really enjoyed it.

An Uncertain Currency is a beautiful two tier story, with the past and the present intertwined. Our main character is Mario Castigliani, an erratically gifted psychic who arrives in small town America, where he is asked by the local lawman to lend his talent to a series of suicides. The suspicions remain to the end, as to whether there have been any untoward happenings. This is linked with some very strange relationships and undercurrents among members of this small community.

It is a very low key mystery story, almost an aside to the man himself, his talent and how he came to the small town from rural Italy. There is a certain pathos to Mario, how his talent has shaped his life, from the first discovery to the honing of the show-business charlatans act, to the circumstances which led him so low as to be in this small town in America.

His relationship with his talent is the Uncertain Currency of the title, and it would have been very easy I think to allow the talent to be the story, as opposed to the man himself. I liked Mario, he is a lovely, flawed character, very human. It was a nice counterpoint to the superhuman power of his talent.

I have never been to America, nor have I been to Italy, but the authors have a great affection for the rural communities of which they write, and it communicates very well to the reader. The Italian meal on the menu would have tempted me, but the end result I agree with Mario would have left me unable to clear my plate.

The book, however, leaves me with no such problem, "Give Me More!" .
Chrissi (27th September 2000)