Dolly and the Bird of Paradise

Johnson Johnson #6

by Dorothy Dunnett

Also known as Tropical Issue

The narrator is a Scots-born flower child who has become a celebrity make-up artist despite seemingly insurmountable handicaps. She becomes involved with Johnson Johnson in a sometimes deadly, sometimes hilarious, romp across the Atlantic Ocean and various Caribbean islands in pusuit of drug smugglers, who use murder and piracy to gain their ends.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Espionage, Mystery Thriller, Contemporary, Portugal

315 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Dorothy Dunnett OBE was a Scottish historical novelist. She is best known for her six-part series about Francis Crawford of Lymond, The Lymond Chronicles, which she followed with the eight-part prequel The House of Niccolò. She also wrote a novel about the real Macbeth called King Hereafter and a series of mystery novels centered on Johnson Johnson, a portrait painter/spy.

Her New York times obituary is here.

Dorothy Dunnett Society: http://dorothydunnett.org
Fansite: http://www.dorothydunnett.co.uk/

Reviews

[Algernon (Darth Anyan) · Rating 4 out of 5]

[7/10]

Madeira, so my mother said, was a place you used to take your aunty to in the winter.
It depends what sort of aunty you’ve got, but I wouldn’t take one in April: not if she’s easily shot.

I was supposed to leave tomorrow for an island in the Mediterranean sun. Being forced into a stay at home vacation, I switched instead to follow Dorothy Dunnet on one of her lightweight murder mysteries featuring the bi-focals of master spy-catcher Johnson Johnson, his luxury yacht ‘Dolly’ and the spunky lady in distress that is usually the narrator of these adventures.

Rita Geddes, the bird of paradise from the title, is actually perfectly capable of taking care of herself, despite her diminutive stature ( Being four feet eleven is a bugger. ) . Her colourful goth fashion style, Scottish stubborness and sense of humour make Rita a likable lead character. Like previous visitors on ‘Dolly’ , Rita is a professional accidentally mixed up in a high stakes game of murder.

As a rising star in the make-up industry, Rita has access to the jet set people who traipse around the fashion capitals of the world, movie sets and luxury villas in posh island hideaways. She meets Johnson Johnson during a high-fashion photoshoot in his apartment, followed by an invitation to a new job in Madeira, where she gets kidnapped and assaulted shortly after her plane lands.

Unfortunately things go worse from here, with murder attempts on herself, followed by the death of her best friend from an apparent suicide. Her employer, Johnson Johnson and a bunch of other suspects all follow the leads from Madeira to more islands in the sun, this time on the other side of the Atlantic, around Martinique, Barbados and St Lucia.

>>><<<>>><<<

This episode may not be the best in the ‘Dolly’ series, but it was still fun due to the Dunnett skill at combining witty dialogue with exotic places, bursts of high octane action and complicated, clever plots.

Ask me about tropical storms.

The patient reader will get over the slower build-up chapters and be rewarded with a tempestuous finale, filled with hurricane winds, danger, hidden identities and reversals of fortune.
I plan to continue to read the rest of the books in the series, especially since I apparently skipped one in the publishing order. No big deal, since each episode is self contained, with only Johnson Johnson and the yacht ‘Dolly’ as recurring features.

[Lois Bujold · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, hm.

Page turner, good writing and exciting set pieces, great though somewhat unreliable narrator's voice, suitably quirky and well-drawn cast of characters, but it seemed to fall apart for me at the end due to a pile-up of a few too many twists and revelations and palmed cards. Ideally, such surprises should be greeted by the reader with an "Oh, wow!" not a "Say what...?"

I would have to read it again to see if it really all made as little sense as it seemed, which I am not quite on for just now. We'll see.

I have read about three others in this series so far, which has an interesting structure. In each case we follow a different heroine, who has an encounter with our painter-yachtman hero in the course of his undercover work and who gets drawn in to the assorted chicanery. We never see his viewpoint, though he proves the mastermind behind much of the action. I vaguely recall all the others were first-person narratives as well. Of all the heroines so far, I liked Rita, here, quite the best.

Recommended with reservations. I may end up reading the rest to round out whatever I can piece together of the hero's backstory, and see if it adds up to a story-arc in its own right. This is another series with reading-order challenges -- the biter bit, perhaps, in my case -- but that's what Wikipedia is for, I suppose.

This book has been reissued with a new title, Tropical Issue, which is found on the Kindle edition. (I had an old 1983 hardcover out of my local library.)

Ta, L.

[jrendocrine at least reading is good · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am one of the most fervent DD adherents in the entire world, proud to have read the Niccolo series at least 3x and pushed them on family and friends, and Lymond twice. And King Hereafter twice with the highest of admiration for Dame Dunnett, Mistress of all she wishes to survey.

But it's a no to the Dolly books. I'm not a mystery fan first off. But the reissue and the Kindle daily deal at some minor dollar, and I said, I ought to try.

And there is plenty of Dunnett here, wit and style, extensive interesting teams hoisted round her main man - the sphinx-like Johnson Johnson. But it didn't work. Too much plotting, a murder that I didn't care about. 20 pages of exposition at the end just to describe all the plot points that were completely a mystery, even when mapped out. Exhausting. I get that if I knew Johnson the way DD wants me to know Johnson, I'd jump just for the chance to ride along with him. But I don't, and I won't.

I will read Niccolo again though! Maybe after I finish all the Aubrey Maturin series...

[Fern Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not too sure how to go about rating this one. It started off strongly and ended fairly well but there was a long bit in the middle where I did find myself having to reread pages where I’d drifted away. This is a very different read to Dunnett’s Lymond and Niccolo series which I hadn’t expected, however it still has all the brilliant twists and turns that leave you slightly in awe of the writers ability to work everything into the plot. I think I will reread it at some point now I know what happens to see if I like it more second time round.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read all of Dorothy Dunnett's six-volume Lymond Chronicles, eight-volume House of Niccolo series and her standalone novel, King Hereafter, I suppose it was only a matter of time before I picked up one of her Johnson Johnson mystery novels. I wasn't entirely sure that I was starting with the right book, as Tropical Issue (originally titled Dolly and the Bird of Paradise – Dolly being the name of Johnson's yacht and the 'bird' being the female narrator of the story) was actually the sixth to be published. I had discovered, though, that it is also the first chronologically, so it seemed like a good place to start.

Our narrator is Rita Geddes, a Scottish make-up artist with a punk hairstyle (the book was published in 1983 and I should point out here that unlike the rest of Dunnett's books, these were contemporary novels rather than historical ones). Rita's latest client is the journalist and celebrity Natalie Sheridan and at the beginning of the novel Rita is in London preparing Natalie for a photo shoot with the photographer, Ferdy Braithwaite. Ferdy has borrowed his friend Johnson Johnson's studio flat to use for the session and in this way, Rita meets Johnson for the first time. Not that she learns much about Johnson during this first meeting, other than that he is recuperating after being seriously injured in a plane crash – and that he is a portrait painter, has black hair and wears bifocal glasses.

Joining Natalie for another job on the island of Madeira, Rita learns that the life of her friend and fellow make-up artist Kim-Jim Curtis could be in danger. And when Johnson and his yacht, Dolly, also arrive in Madeira, a mystery unfolds which is complex, surprising and takes the reader through a range of exotic locations from the banana plantations of Barbados to the volcanic craters of St Lucia. As with all good mystery novels, you'll need to pay attention as things which may seem irrelevant at first turn out to be important later in the book.

I liked the character of Rita from the beginning. She has a very distinctive narrative voice, with her strong personality coming across in every sentence – how can you not love a character who thinks, when disturbed by an intruder in the night, "I rather wished I was wearing something handier than a quilt, but if all else failed, I could smother the guy if I caught him"? As for Johnson, it was difficult not to want to make comparisons with Dunnett's other heroes, Lymond, Nicholas and Thorfinn, but really, while they do all share some characteristics, there are also some big differences between them. However, I do think there were a lot of similarities in the way Dunnett introduces his character to us – viewing him only through the eyes of other people (in this case Rita), with his true thoughts and motives often being obscured and misinterpreted.

While I love all of Dorothy Dunnett's other books, I can't really say that I loved this one – but I did enjoy it. It took me a while to really get into the story, but after a few chapters I was won over by a wild and wonderful sledge race to rival the ostrich ride in Niccolo Rising. It made a nice change, in a way, to be able to read a Dunnett novel without becoming too emotionally involved in the lives of the characters! I don't feel the same compulsion to immediately read the rest of the series as I did with Lymond and Niccolo, but it's good to know that there are still another six books to look forward to.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rita Geddes -- from Troon in Scotland -- is a dyslexic punk who's made her way up to become one of the best-regarded makeup artists in the world. Her friendship with flamboyantly randy photographer Ferdy Braithwaite brings her into the ambits of enigmatic portrait painter and undercover government agent Johnson Johnson and public intellectual/documentary-maker Natalie Sheridan. Soon Rita (who tells the story) finds herself in the midst of an adventure involving murder, drug-running and who knows what else that takes her to Madeira and then the West Indies, where she and her friends, aboard Johnson's luxury yacht, Dolly, must face down a hurricane, pirates and gangsters . . .

Published in 1983 by Dunnett under her maiden name, Dorothy Halliday, this was the first, according to internal chronology, of the seven books in her Dolly/Johnson Johnson mystery series, even though the sixth to be published. I gather that each of the novels has a different narrator; what tie them together are the character of Johnson and the yacht. The books have been variously retitled; although I read this as Dolly and the Bird of Paradise it is perhaps better known under the (re)title Tropical Issue. I can remember seeing some of the Dolly novels in the bookstores when they came out in paperback, way back when, but I don't think at the time I connected Dorothy Halliday to Dorothy Dunnett. I'm also pretty certain I never read any of them, but who can tell.

I do know I'm unlikely to read any more of them after this experimental exploration. The narration (by Rita) of Dolly and the Bird of Paradise has a sort of relentless lightness, a determined flippancy that soon becomes wearing. The plot itself is pretty ramshackle, with at least one longish episode seeming to be, so to speak, an out-take that Dunnett couldn't bear to throw away even though it led nowhere. I'm also not quite clear as to why the criminal conspirators chose to wear animal masks as disguises for their meetings when they all knew who the others were.

I was also unconvinced by Rita's Scottishness, despite occasional Scotticisms (most commonly the use of the adjective "wee") stuck into the text to keep us reminded, not to mention references to her aunt in Troon. The oddity here is that Dunnett was herself Scottish (as indeed am I); you'd have thought she could have done a better Scot. In other respects, to be fair, I found the characterization of Rita quite credible.

The novel is also scarred by a sort of off-handed racism. There's nothing that's outright repulsive -- nothing that made me throw the book at the wall -- just stuff at the level where, were this a 1930s or even a 1950s novel, one would grimace and shrug at the benighted attitudes of the past. But this isn't a 1930s or 1950s novel: to encounter descriptions like "darkies" and "wogs" in a book from the mid-1980s comes as something of a jolt, and not a pleasant one.

I'm well aware that some people enjoy the Dolly series a great deal, but for various reasons this book rubbed me up the wrong way. I don't regret the experiment, but I'll not be repeating it.

[Andrea]

Dunnett's strength in this series is the interesting and unusual protagonists. This one is a makeup artist, with punk-styled hair, and dyslexia (along with an auditory processing disorder and also an odd tendency to use incorrect words in speech such as castle instead of campaign, etc).

Rita is determined, highly independent and very good at her job. She has career ambitions, and won't be pushed around. Nor will she just let it lie when a good friend is murdered.

Over-all a well told story, although some of Dunnett's (or the era's) problematic points are in strong display. Some of the language is mildly racist. There is an instance of black face (and terrible islander patois). And there are all the attempted assaults and rapes.

This book has the most by far of the Johnson series, never taken to the point of actual rape (even in a situation where it strains belief that it didn't happen). Most problematic is that most of the assaults are "social". Men who are constantly feeling up or trying to coerce female acquaintances to have sex with them. In particular, good friends of the protagonist do this, constantly, as in:

As ever, we had a fair struggle, and then as ever he took No for an answer...

And, as ever, I wonder "why the hell do you consider this person a friend"?

[Curlemagne]

A deft mystery with an appealing girl wonder protagonist, but also a novel in which Johnson Johnson and his spunky make-up artist heroine both don blackface to spy on drug lords while sporting fake Creole accents to boot. He performs at a nightclub with a reggae band, still in blackface and accent and wig, and everyone claps. Appallingly racist.

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

[Mrs Chaz McAskill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh

[Leah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started out great, I love the modern 90s-woman detective. Short hair, spiky attitude, fierce fashion, really good at her job. Like Anabel Donald's Alex Tanner, like Stella Duffy's Saz Martin, like a whole bunch of 90s feminist private detectives that I'm only just learning about now.

Then we reached approximately page 200 and the suspects were only just introduced, and it began to drag. Dunnett is best known for her sweeping historical fiction, and I think she forgot to leave the 'sweeping' at the door for her detective stories. The plotting was so bogged down in following the timeline and leaving nothing out that she forgot to keep the reader engaged with, you know, a modicum of empathy for the victim or the other characters. Or clues.

And I suspect Dunnett may veer slightly into Allingham territory when it comes to 'simpering affection for her own detective', who is not Our Heroine, but rather a distant and irritating Man in Spectacles who knows too much and Owns a Boat.

I could barely care enough to finish it, even it reached its denouement in one of my favourite styles: emergency situation where Our Heroes are trapped and forced to confront each other in an emergency situation and also rescue others, inevitably leading to both the Revelation of the Murderer, and a Significant Death. See also The Nine Tailors.

[Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another treasure from Dorothy Dunnett. Rita Geddes, leading makeup artist, is extraordinary from the top of her spiky blue-and-orange hair to the tips of her clever fingers. Lovely white yacht Dolly will never be the same after taking feisty Rita aboard.

We travel from London to Madeira to the Caribbean, trailing the badly shattered artist-yachtsman Johnson Johnson, an exotic photographer, an animal trainer plus parrots and gerbils, and the glamorous Curtis family, rich from making up the faces of Hollywood stars and movie casts. A string of collisions between these characters ends suspensefully during a West Indies hurricane.

The deep, fascinating, and colorful Rita is unveiled gradually along with murders, attempted murders, and an international drug ring.

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now I was what I had always resisted being in private life: part of a team. For a moment, on board the Princess, I had thought the team had gone, and I might be on my own. And instead of feeling free, I'd felt the opposite. [p. 261]

For a description of the underlying scenario of the 'Dolly' series, see my review of Dolly and the Nanny Bird . This is the second of the two hardcovers gifted to me last Easter: like the other novels in the series, I've read and reread it before, but not for a couple of decades.

In Dolly and the Bird of Paradise (first published 1983: republished as Tropical Issue), the narrator is Rita Geddes, a successful makeup artist working in the film industry, who is four foot eleven inches tall and whose personal look includes brightly-coloured Mohawks and makeup in the style of Adam Ant. She is also dyslexic. And she doesn't suffer fools lightly.

Though this was published rather late in the series, it's possibly the earliest in terms of chronology: Johnson has just survived the plane crash ('plane crash') that killed his wife. Rita ends up walking his dog, sailing on his yacht the Dolly, and involved in a murder case and an international drug-smuggling operation.

I think Rita might be one of my favourite of the Dolly heroines: she is thoroughly competent, self-possessed and witty. And this time around, I started to wonder if Dunnett deliberately wrote Rita as queer. There are a lot of 'teasing' comments, from people who know Rita well, about lesbians, beautiful women et cetera. And she shows no interest in anything more than a kiss from any man, even from her old friend Ferdy 'who would take no for an answer, after a struggle'. (See under 'period-typical sexism'.) Her sexuality's irrelevant to the plot, of course: but I like to think that this was Dunnett's attempt at depicting a positive, likeable queer female character.

[LeahBethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dolly and the Bird of Paradise is the 6th book in the Johnson Johnson mystery series and my love for this quirky series continues to grow. Do I have to re-read some of the passages several times only to still not grasp what the heck is going on? Yes. But that doesn't detract from the overall enjoyment of these books. The bird in this story is a diminutive make-up artist and the setting goes from Madeira to Barbados to St. Lucia. I was fortunate enough to visit both Barbados and St. Lucia earlier this year so the novel really came to life for me (and the author's description of the road from Marigot Bay to Soufrière is spot on). The mystery had a lot of twists and turns and went a bit darker with certain situations than previous installments but overall it was a great ride.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a big fan of Dorothy Dunnett's historical novels but this was my first read of one of her "modern" mysteries. It wasn't as successful, to me, as her historical novels, but I did enjoy it - primarily because of Dunnett's witty writing.
So I put "modern" in quotes because this book was originally published in 1980. It has been pubished under different titles since and is being re-released again. There were a couple of plot points that haven't aged especially well. The story was twisty and engaging, though. And I smiled and laughed admiring throughout the book at Dunnett's writing. Just one example: "... she still wouldn't let us come in. She had no English at all, and none of her words were in the dictionary, being made, it seemed, entirely of bullets." I'm a lover of long, complicated sentences with lots of commas, concluding with the precisely right word.

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book completely floored me. I knew that Dunnett was a masterful writer, adept at characterization, description, pacing, and plot. But I had no idea how versatile her tone was. In both the Lymond and the Niccolo books, she had a very erudite tone that aptly reflected the periods she wrote about. Apparently, she was a far more flexible writer than I had thought.

Dolly and the Bird of Paradise begins, "To most of my clients, bifocal glasses are asthma. All those words are spelled correctly. I looked them up." Thus, Dunnett introduces Rita Geddes, the protagonist of the book who possesses a wildly different voice, viewpoint, and set of skills than anyone in either of the Lymond or Niccolo worlds. This book is fast-paced, well-planned, and steeped in the sort of detail that only becomes significant hundreds of pages later. The mystery is so well-played that I didn't figure out anything until she revealed it to me. The characters are extremely well-drawn and sympathetic. All in all, this was an astonishing book. It's like getting an early Christmas present: There are six more of these!

[Vasilia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it to bits, despite a) struggling to keep up with a wildly shifting plot, and b) Rita's dyslexia which meant she used wrong words for things and I didn't always pick up on it.

Great character, definitely of the 80s - it confused me the first few times she mentioned striping her face, but apparently that was a thing. She's small and tough and deals with casual sexism in an odd but fair-enough kind of way. Did not guess the murderer and still am not entirely sure why they dunnit, but it was a fun ride all the same.

[Sue Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tropical Issues by Dorothy Dunnett.
Dolly Book 1.
Rita, a small, tough Scottish make-up artist is on Madeira trying to find out who killed Kim-Jim, an American make-up supremo. Also anchored off the island is Dolly, the yacht of Johnson Johnson with whom Rita teams up to get to the bottom of this foul deed.
I really enjoyed this book. So refreshing. I loved Rita. She was tough. I found her to be hilarious. Very well written. I will be looking at book 2. 5*.

[Mackay · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me, Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles rate among Best Books Ever; I knew she had some mysteries but had never found them--then, thank heavens for Kindle. Alternatively titled "Tropical Issue." Love how she can hide the ball in plain sight and keep things from the reader w/o this reader feeling cheated. A fun book.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first of the Dolly/Johnson Johnson novels I read and I've lost count of how many times I've done so since. Which didn't prevent me feeling compelled to sit all day to devour it all over again, despite have half a memory of who were the baddies, who the goodies. Tension racks an already teasing story higher and higher with each succeeding page.

[Alex Crozier]

A lot of complicated thoughts about this one, I think partly because this has been republished as book 1 in the series despite being book 6. I still enjoyed it a lot and looking forward to reading the others, but feel like I’ll have a better idea of how I feel after a reread.

[Lynn Latimer · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 STARS

Scottish makeup artist Rita Geddes is a tough little cookie who gets roped into some murder and mayhem by her mentor, Kim-Jim, an American famous in her field. She ends up at a London apartment helping the oddly named Johnson Johnson, a portrait artist who is recovering from some devastating injuries. Rita makes a lot of initial assumptions about Jay, as his friends and associates call him, some of which are wrong or misguided. Rita’s main work is in movies, but she also takes on rich clients who need their make-up done to perfection for social and business events. When Rita goes to Madeira with her client, Natalie Sheridan, who has a close connection to Kim-Jim, she is surprised that Johnson is there on his very well-appointed yacht called Dolly.

Rita experiences quite a bit on the island including the loss of someone dear; she is determined to track down the perpetrator with the help, although grudgingly on her part, of Johnson who seems to know everyone and has some mysterious talents and connections. After Madeira, Rita and Johnson end up in the Caribbean connected to a project of Natalie’s while they to continue efforts for Rita’s crusade, and to uncover a linked plot that involves drug smuggling and other perfidious activities.

As usual with Lady Dunnett’s complex writing, this story has a lot of perplexing clues that are slowly revealed through Rita’s first-person point of view. As someone with dyslexia, Rita has several coping strategies for dealing with the written word as well as taking messages, some of which would seem anachronistic now but are period appropriate. Rita sports an unusual style, especially for the time period, of “punk” multicolored hair and the propensity to paint stripes her face, apparently to a make-up artist that makes sense. She keeps Johnson on his toes which considering some recent events in his life, is a good thing as well as being entertaining to read.

Fans of the other Dorothy Dunnett works will be interested to note that while this series is not a version of a light-hearted Lymond or a machinating Niccolò, Johnson certainly has their intelligence, acerbic wit, and enigmatic personality. There are a lot of big and surprising reveals at the end which may cause readers to read it again to see if it is possible to figure out the clues. This book was originally published last of the Dolly tales; however, with the re-issue listed as the first in the series, it serves as a sort of prequel giving salient facts about Johnson and contextual information for the other books.

[Elaine Tomasso · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would like to thank Netgalley and Farrago Books for a review copy of Tropical Issue, the first novel to feature artist and international man of mystery, Johnson Johnson and his boat, Dolly, originally published in 1980 under the title Dolly and the Bird of Paradise.

Rita Geddes, “a small, tough Scottish make-up artist” is in Madeira, substituting for her friend Kim-Jim Curtis, when he arrives unexpectedly and promptly gets shot to death. Rita teams up with the mysterious Johnson Johnson to uncover a killer and soon finds herself with problems, not only is Johnson maddening to deal, but she finds herself investigating an international drug smuggling ring.

I thoroughly enjoyed Tropical Issue, which is a fun read with an indomitable protagonist, plenty of twists and an action packed plot. It is a caper with glamorous locations (it soon moves from Madeira to the Caribbean) and several unlikely events, but it also has a real, unguessable mystery attached and is highly entertaining.

I was disappointed to see after looking at the synopses for the series that Rita Geddes doesn’t appear to be involved and that Johnson Johnson and his boat appear to be the series protagonists. That seems like a waste to me as Rita is a wonderful creation and, not only that, she hails from my hometown of Troon. It gets plenty of mentions, but, sadly, no action. She’s not tall, but she’s feisty and unafraid of saying what she thinks of having a go when required, or not. Her many secrets come tumbling out as the novel progresses and I was amazed at every turn. She’s a wonderful creation.

The novel is chock full of detail of how the characters intertwine and who did what. I’m not sure I followed all of it, but I got the highlights and that’s all that really matters. The novel is relatively straightforward at the beginning with Rita meeting Johnson and not getting on too well with him and them gradually starting to work together, albeit with her chafing at his secrecy and high handedness, but it’s the end of the novel that really shines with all sorts of revelations and twist upon twist in addition to some exciting action scenes.

It should be noted that some of the attitudes in the novel are not quite acceptable forty years later.

Tropical Issue is a fun read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

[Seriesbooklover · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Lymond Chronicles (review here) and The House of Niccolo ( review here) by Dorothy Dunnett are some of my favourite book and the author ability to spin an amazing story is evident in the Tropical Issue, book one in the Dolly mysteries.
The Dolly Mysteries have been rereleased under different names and in chronological order rather than its original publication date and Tropical Issue is the first in the Dolly book series featuring Johnson Johnson.
I received a copy of the book for a free and unbiased opinion.
Interestingly the books are told from the point of view of several strong women characters and our view of Johnston is formed through their eyes.
Rita, the main point of view of character in Tropical Issues, is tough, short and has made a name for herself in the competitive world of make-up artistry despite her dyslexia. Rita drives the plot and action though her sheer force of character. I found some of her descriptions hilarious.
The other characters are quirky in their own right and as suspects. The plot races through from one action scene to another- very reminiscent of the grand action scenes in Dunnett’s historical fiction. The scene with runaway sledge/cart/banana boat thing is a highlight!
This is a book of its time. I gather it would have been written in the 70’s or 80’s so there are some aspects to the book that feels a little uncomfortable such as the good-natured acceptance by the women to be constantly groped by some men.
The mystery is complicated and the identity of the murderer as well as the final denouement took me by surprise. Although the overall mystery of Johnson and his backstory remains untold but I look forward to reading the rest of the series to find out more.

[Daisy Blacklock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tropical Issue by Dorothy Dunnett is an absolute masterpiece.

I loved how all of the characters each had their own quirky personality that all worked so well together and bounced off each other so well despite their bold differences. I loved the intrigue surrounding Johnson Johnson and the contrast of Rita as a bold (perhaps a little controversial in today’s day and age), strong woman. I really loved how Rita was represented as I love strong female leads, but she also wasn’t all perfect. She did have her own difficulties, for example her dyslexia, but her ‘flaws’ weren’t always seen as a negative which was refreshing.

There was a great sense of setting in terms of the actual place and the historical feel (it was published in the 1980s, so it has a kind of nostalgic feel which I personally really liked).

The writing is absolutely exemplary and was just so brilliant to read. The writing style may not be to everyone’s taste as there are a lot of complicated, long sentences with plenty of commas which you don’t tend to see often today, but there’s no doubt they were all faultlessly crafted. I’m not often a fan of this kind of writing myself either, but when it comes to classics they just work, and this writing just worked.

The writing is also incredibly witty and there was a real sense of humour shining through. It was just so clever.

This was my first book by Dorothy, and it certainly won’t be my last! I’m already so excited to get reading the next one in the series (I’m lucky to also be a part of that blog tour in July!)

Overall, it was such a treat: this is how you do murder mystery!

Thank you, Farrago Books and Anne (Random Things Tours), for my copy.

[Jennie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Version: Published as Tropical Issue and labeled by the publisher as #1 in the series even though it was originally last. Whatever; apparently they don’t have to be read in order.

The first-person narrator is not Johnson, who makes relatively few appearances in the book (and when he does, he’s mysterious and vague and infuriating). I love Dunnett and have read all of the books in her Lymond Chronicles and The House of Niccolò series, as well as King Hereafter, several times each, so I’m no stranger to only seeing the central character through the eyes of the people around him - that didn’t bother me, and neither did the Dunnett-ish convoluted plot. I suppose I was just thrown a little because I think I was expecting a little more cozy and a little less rifles-in-the-bushes action. Still, I enjoyed it.

My favorite part was this gem, which I’m spoiler-tagging because of the unexpected (delightful) delayed payoff:

Page 116: “Braithwaite can get on with his brothanical snaps and his girlfriend.”

Here I paused for a google search of the word “brothanical” and, after I came up empty, I messaged a friend who works in a university library to ask her to search the library’s giant-dictionary-onna-stand for the word. Her search of a 1956 dictionary yielded nothing, so she roped in another co-worker to search a dictionary that had been published in 1818. That co-worker also struck out, so I resigned myself to never finding out.

After all this, I continued to read. 30 pages later, at the bottom of page 146: “There is no such word as brothanical.”

42 years after publication and 24 years after her death, Lady Dunnett is still pulling legs and I love it!

[Eugene · Rating 3 out of 5]

As published this is the sixth of the seven Johnson Johnson mysteries, although according to the author it should be taken as the first. I’d previously read one, but skipped ahead to this one after learning that. Frankly, I’m of the opinion that it won’t matter a bit what order you read them in, as they are both frenetic and schizophrenetic, and you’d be hard pressed to put any one in context to any other, or at least I believe that will be the case in the end.
This is not to be taken as a criticism, I’ve enjoyed both I’ve read thus far. And as the plots are truly complicated, involved, and tortuously wound, I’ll not bother to try to explain this one as it would run to book length itself. Just know that author Dunnett has adopted a very interesting story convention: each book is narrated first person by a young woman who hadn’t previously known Johnson Johnson, but who becomes quite involved with him for the one book, and then cedes her place to the next. Here we are introduced to Rita Geddes, the diminutive makeup artist to movie, stage and public personae. She is also dyslexic, and her narration often reflects that, making the plotline even more byzantine; but if you enjoy crossword puzzles, you’ll enjoy these books.
I surely do, I’m certain it won’t be long ere I’ve read them all. And if you’re looking for something to divert you from your humdrum everyday, look no further…

[Sonja Charters]

This is book 1 in the Dolly Mysteries series and I'm so, so pleased that I've also got book 2 to review in a few weeks time.

It was actually the cover that initially drew me in to reading this one - so bright and colourful - it really stood out!
I believe that this may be a revised issue and cover as it was originally published in the early 80's.
And this showed in the settings and way the characters interacted - plus the home phones (as opposed to mobiles) and note taking....which all brought back fond memories of that era.

I did find this a little hard to get into, the presentation and writing style was a bit different to what I'm used to - but that only lasted a couple of chapters before I got used to it and became totally immersed in the drama and mystery.

I loved our characters - Rita, strong and sassy contrasting perfectly against the moody and quiet Johnson, a man of not too many words!

This was your classic murder mystery style - when Rita is invited to take the place of the famous make-up artist Kim-Jim, who was recently killed - she can't help but wonder what really happened.
She teams up with Johnson and together they dig up secrets that put them in danger....and the action begins.

I really enjoyed this and loved the introduction of Johnson and Dolly! and can't wait to see what adventures like ahead in book 2

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sharp and snappy writing, exotic locations and colourful characters make this murder mystery/thriller very enjoyable and great fun to read. You wouldn't believe that it was first published about 40 years ago apart from a few cultural references which are still meaningful - to someone of my age anyway! Like Dorothy Dunnett's historical writing this story is packed with meticulous detail, red herrings abound, and the plot twists and turns so that at one minute you think you know what's going on only to be bamboozled on the next page. Rita is a wonderful leading lady, inventive and courageous and if at times a little afraid of the consequences of her actions never shows it. It reads a bit like a James Bond story - the writing is witty and intelligent, the plot is oh so carefully planned, there is plenty of action but the characters always remain real, their behaviour credible and human.
It is a book I would read again just to enjoy the experience.
I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward very much to the re reissue of the rest of the series.

Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book.

[Sharyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to be in Edinburgh at the Dorothy Dunnet Centenary and bought the new reissue of Tropical Issue. Originally published in 1983 as Dolly and the bird of Paradise, the new issues will be in chronological order rather than publishing order.
Although the Dolly books are about the enigmatic figure of Johnson Johnson, the narrators are strong, often funny female narrators. The heroine of this book is Rita, a Scottish makeup artist.
The twists and turns as we travel from London to Madiera to Barbados in search of a killer is fun and exciting. After reading Dunnett's incredible historical fiction, sometimes a break for a mystery is called for. I look forward to more reissues. As I wait, I will reread some of the originals I own.

[Maria Beltrami · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first it is a little difficult to see where the story is going: Rita's entry into the house and into the life of the strange character named Johnson Jonson is somewhat forced. Equally forced is the beginning of the working relationship between the young make-up artist and the journalist Natalie Sheridan, with whom she goes to Madeira. Rita's adventures in Madeira, which end with the death of her friend and colleague Kim-Jim, are just as wacky, but in the meantime Rita has become likeable to us, thanks to the writing style, which makes one relax and enjoy whatever the author writes, even the most far-fetched. In short, a novel that, told like this, is as far from what I like to read as possible, but which I enjoyed very much.