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Trouble with Product X
Martha works for an advertising agency, filming a TV commercial on location in Cornwall. Her boss's new client is the eccentric owner of a chemicals company that has invented a new, almost irresistible perfume, and Martha is in charge of shooting the romantic ads - unfortunately starring his difficult daughter-in-law.
In a witty parody of the classic gothic, Martha soon becomes embroiled in a conspiracy over the missing perfume formula as the increasingly incredible plot strands - which include an amorous sheikh, a series of exploding soup cans and a kidnapped baby - mount to a hair raising climax around her.
'Witty and acute . . . a nice romantic thriller' Punch
In a witty parody of the classic gothic, Martha soon becomes embroiled in a conspiracy over the missing perfume formula as the increasingly incredible plot strands - which include an amorous sheikh, a series of exploding soup cans and a kidnapped baby - mount to a hair raising climax around her.
'Witty and acute . . . a nice romantic thriller' Punch
Hardcover
First published December 14, 1966
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About the author
Joan Aiken
331 books599 followersJoan Aiken was a much loved English writer who received the MBE for services to Children's Literature. She was known as a writer of wild fantasy, Gothic novels and short stories.
She was born in Rye, East Sussex, into a family of writers, including her father, Conrad Aiken (who won a Pulitzer Prize for his poetry), and her sister, Jane Aiken Hodge. She worked for the United Nations Information Office during the second world war, and then as an editor and freelance on Argosy magazine before she started writing full time, mainly children's books and thrillers. For her books she received the Guardian Award (1969) and the Edgar Allan Poe Award (1972).
Her most popular series, the "Wolves Chronicles" which began with The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, was set in an elaborate alternate period of history in a Britain in which James II was never deposed in the Glorious Revolution,and so supporters of the House of Hanover continually plot to overthrow the Stuart Kings. These books also feature cockney urchin heroine Dido Twite and her adventures and travels all over the world.
Another series of children's books about Arabel and her raven Mortimer are illustrated by Quentin Blake, and have been shown on the BBC as Jackanory and drama series. Others including the much loved Necklace of Raindrops and award winning Kingdom Under the Sea are illustrated by Jan Pieńkowski.
Her many novels for adults include several that continue or complement novels by Jane Austen. These include Mansfield Revisited and Jane Fairfax.
Aiken was a lifelong fan of ghost stories. She set her adult supernatural novel The Haunting of Lamb House at Lamb House in Rye (now a National Trust property). This ghost story recounts in fictional form an alleged haunting experienced by two former residents of the house, Henry James and E. F. Benson, both of whom also wrote ghost stories. Aiken's father, Conrad Aiken, also authored a small number of notable ghost stories.
She was born in Rye, East Sussex, into a family of writers, including her father, Conrad Aiken (who won a Pulitzer Prize for his poetry), and her sister, Jane Aiken Hodge. She worked for the United Nations Information Office during the second world war, and then as an editor and freelance on Argosy magazine before she started writing full time, mainly children's books and thrillers. For her books she received the Guardian Award (1969) and the Edgar Allan Poe Award (1972).
Her most popular series, the "Wolves Chronicles" which began with The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, was set in an elaborate alternate period of history in a Britain in which James II was never deposed in the Glorious Revolution,and so supporters of the House of Hanover continually plot to overthrow the Stuart Kings. These books also feature cockney urchin heroine Dido Twite and her adventures and travels all over the world.
Another series of children's books about Arabel and her raven Mortimer are illustrated by Quentin Blake, and have been shown on the BBC as Jackanory and drama series. Others including the much loved Necklace of Raindrops and award winning Kingdom Under the Sea are illustrated by Jan Pieńkowski.
Her many novels for adults include several that continue or complement novels by Jane Austen. These include Mansfield Revisited and Jane Fairfax.
Aiken was a lifelong fan of ghost stories. She set her adult supernatural novel The Haunting of Lamb House at Lamb House in Rye (now a National Trust property). This ghost story recounts in fictional form an alleged haunting experienced by two former residents of the house, Henry James and E. F. Benson, both of whom also wrote ghost stories. Aiken's father, Conrad Aiken, also authored a small number of notable ghost stories.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
March 29, 2018
This was similar to but not quite as cracktastic as Aiken's A Cluster of Separate Sparks: an adult suspense/Gothic thriller featuring irritating "humorous" racial stereotyping or possibly parodies of racial stereotyping, I seriously could not tell which, that keeps the form of a thriller while subverting the tone of one at every step, and has a completely and deliberately ridiculous plot and a pro-forma romantic subplot, though possibly its pro-forma nature was also part of the joke.
Martha works at an advertising agency, a job which provides some pricelessly funny bits involving explosive self-heating soup cans and Bom the Meat'n Milk drink. The eponymous bouquet refers to the new perfume she concocts an advertising campaign for, and which somehow leads her a decaying Cornwall castle, her long-lost insane ex-husband who is now a monk, more monks, one repulsive baby, one adorable baby, a phosphorescent dead seal, a black widow spider whose bite proves that Aiken did not even attempt to research its actual effects, and some ravenous slugs which, like the wind in Treasure of the Sierra Madre, destroy the McGuffin that the entire plot revolved around.
If this is the kind of thing you like, you will certainly like this book.
Martha works at an advertising agency, a job which provides some pricelessly funny bits involving explosive self-heating soup cans and Bom the Meat'n Milk drink. The eponymous bouquet refers to the new perfume she concocts an advertising campaign for, and which somehow leads her a decaying Cornwall castle, her long-lost insane ex-husband who is now a monk, more monks, one repulsive baby, one adorable baby, a phosphorescent dead seal, a black widow spider whose bite proves that Aiken did not even attempt to research its actual effects, and some ravenous slugs which, like the wind in Treasure of the Sierra Madre, destroy the McGuffin that the entire plot revolved around.
If this is the kind of thing you like, you will certainly like this book.
January 5, 2011
When a friend on Goodreads commented favorably on Joan Aiken's Jane Austen inspired books, I remembered having read her in the past and went digging through old paperbacks in one of my many yet to be purged bookcases. I found a ragged second-hand Ace Gothic paperback published in 1966 with the silly title of Beware of the Bouquet and pulled it out to read over the holidays. Now I know why I am loathe to purge my bookshelves. This book was fun! Published in the heydey of gothics -- I prefer the term romantic suspense -- this stands apart from the mainstream with its humor and intelligence. The dialogue is accented with ironic wit and while some of the characters are caricatures -- the Emir of Turkinistan, what a hoot! -- the protagonist, Martha Gilroy, is sympathetic and well-drawn. Martha is a hard-working copywriter for an ad agency and is working on a campaign for a new perfume, Product X, for a new client. The UK title of the book gives more of a hint of the plot -- Trouble with Product X -- which certainly sounds less gothic and cheesy, but perhaps more fifties' sci-fi thriller, prompting the American publisher to give it a more sinister title. While there is a gloomy castle on an island, its ruins are the setting for a commercial film shoot in sunny weather, so this dispels any dark brooding gothic atmosphere. The feeling is rather modern, in fact, though it's a world without cell phones, internet or personal computers (and the plot would never have worked were those present). However, there is plenty of suspense, and, yes, it does kick in when she's lost on the moor in the fog, certainly a nod to the gothic genre. She ends up rescuing a kidnapped baby girl whom she christens "Shrubsole" - gotta love it. The tension steadily builds and our heroine does find herself in a rather tight scrape near the end. I found I could not put the book down. There is not much in the way of romance. Martha discovers the whereabouts of her husband who mysteriously disappeared seven years earlier. Will that old love rekindle? Or will she give him up for Tom, her likable suitor, who is out of the picture for most of the story? Joan Aiken, who is most known for her books for children, writes in this genre with a bit of tongue in cheek, and it reads like she had fun writing it.
August 30, 2011
this is the first Joan Aiken book I've read, and it will not be my last. Although it didn't take off until page 70, from that point forward it was a roller coaster...the plot was similar to what you might find in a Mary Stewart novel. Modern working girl (1966, that is!) at ad agency getting embroiled in a situation that brings menace, danger, gothic chills (yes, by the end, yikes!) but what I find unique about Aiken's writing is that the heroine is so funny..clever and witty...I more than once laughed out loud at her "ponderings" about Bom drink, (she tended to construct copy mentally and frantically when in the middle of the most perilous of situations, and they were always hilarious!) You cannot skip those first 70 pages, as they set you up for the rest of the book, but if you get to that point, you will be happy you held out!
December 30, 2011
Fun! Though a few plotlines were left to dangle a bit, or resolved too quickly. I enjoyed the peek into the world of a 1960s London ad agency, just like I enjoyed the 1920s London ad agency in Dorothy Sayers's "Murder Must Advertise." It gave the book a breezy feel that was unexpected in a Gothic thriller, and made the heroine seem more intelligent and capable than many Gothic heroines, since she's often working even while escaping evildoers. Gotta do something on the train.
June 6, 2019
(Well, first of all, this is not the library-bound hardcover edition I have, but it's the same book...)
This is another of the relentlessly cheerful, whimsical murder mysteries, in which we never see the dead body but we see plenty of other evidence of the baddies' badness, that made Conrad Aiken's daughter famous in her own right. It's much more comic romance than novel of suspense. The plot is so preposterous you know the heroines aren't in real danger (though one of them is hospitalized in time to keep her from providing any security for her friend), and the only male character anybody wants to marry is so nice you know he's not seriously tempted by the vulgarly flirty model, too.
It lacks what was to become Joan Aiken's trademark, the pair of gifted children. In this novel there's a bright, cute infant, and a dull, lumpy infant, and a bright but misguided little girl (a sort of precursor to Dido Twite), but there's not a speaking part for a little boy.
It has vivid descriptions of a romantic Cornish castle on a beach, a big dark scary warehouse, and an interesting sort of New Age monastery, through which a merry band of advertisers romp through a vacation-like photo shoot marred only by minor details, like the way the self-heating soup cans tend to explode and the possibility that the company producing Product X perfume don't have a legal right to produce it.
It is, in short, a fun read. If the mystery were any cozier there'd be no murder at all. As it is, there's a murder, but it's taken place long before the story starts and is reported secondhand to the narrator only toward the end of the book.
This is another of the relentlessly cheerful, whimsical murder mysteries, in which we never see the dead body but we see plenty of other evidence of the baddies' badness, that made Conrad Aiken's daughter famous in her own right. It's much more comic romance than novel of suspense. The plot is so preposterous you know the heroines aren't in real danger (though one of them is hospitalized in time to keep her from providing any security for her friend), and the only male character anybody wants to marry is so nice you know he's not seriously tempted by the vulgarly flirty model, too.
It lacks what was to become Joan Aiken's trademark, the pair of gifted children. In this novel there's a bright, cute infant, and a dull, lumpy infant, and a bright but misguided little girl (a sort of precursor to Dido Twite), but there's not a speaking part for a little boy.
It has vivid descriptions of a romantic Cornish castle on a beach, a big dark scary warehouse, and an interesting sort of New Age monastery, through which a merry band of advertisers romp through a vacation-like photo shoot marred only by minor details, like the way the self-heating soup cans tend to explode and the possibility that the company producing Product X perfume don't have a legal right to produce it.
It is, in short, a fun read. If the mystery were any cozier there'd be no murder at all. As it is, there's a murder, but it's taken place long before the story starts and is reported secondhand to the narrator only toward the end of the book.
January 11, 2017
Despite the fact that Joan Aiken is my favorite children's author of all time, this book was not for me. I think I'm just of the wrong era to appreciate this romp - instead of finding it nostalgic and campy (which I understand it was rather meant to be), I thought it was dated and honestly rather offensive in its stereotypes. That being said, I was invested in the story and anxiously sped towards the resolution. I have a few more of her out of print novels I purchased used that I will still read, but this one was disappointing.
November 22, 2022
A really well written, thoroughly enjoyable thriller, it is a little old fashioned but that does not at all detract from the book, I would say it enhances it
June 15, 2025
This romantic thriller’s North American title, Beware of the Bouquet, refers to a new perfume, Product X, which has tentatively been given the name Avalon by an advertising agency.
A commercial is being filmed on the North Cornwall coast, to be ready for whenever the scent is finally launched; the April weather is perfect, the location – island, castle, beach – is perfect, and so are the Pre-Raphaelite looks of the star.
With everything so ideal in place what could possibly go wrong? Well, for Martha Gilroy – whose project this is – everything of course, otherwise this wouldn’t be a thriller. But is the choice of a brand name with such strong Arthurian associations any indication of the tragedies to come?
With titles like The Silence of Herondale (1964, set in Yorkshire) and Blackground (1990, set in Dorset) Aiken established herself as a noted writer of modern Gothic fiction. Her romantic thrillers customarily featured a female protagonist somehow coping with rugged landscapes, wild weather, mysterious men and convoluted plots. Trouble with Product X is classic Aiken in that vein, set in a Cornwall which she was familiar with in the early 1950s from running a guest house for a year or so, and featuring a fictional advertising agency which she warns the reader is nothing like the one she used to work for.
The agency wins a contract to advertise and promote a distinctive new scent known only as Product X, but soon discovers there are hiccups with getting the formula right. Despite Gareth Dunskirk, the chemist son of the cosmetics company’s owner, presenting as a shifty character from the off, the agency goes ahead with Martha’s plans to film an advert at Trevann, not far along the coast from Tintagel, where there is an offshore island with picturesque castle ruins.
However there are, as it were, flies in the ointment, as well as ulterior motives at play: Gareth’s new Italian wife, Cara Marcello, is to play the lead; while Martha has chosen this location because she suspects her former husband Lucian is part of the Brotherhood of the Pierced Stone, a strange community resident in the monastery overlooking the island.
And let’s not forget the other assorted but distinctive characters: the twinkly Brother Stanislas, and Martha’s close friends and colleagues, including the Russian Mimi and Martha’s boyfriend Tom; Gareth’s associates Tigger and Mait, who with him make up what I see as the Three Racketeers; and Gareth’s makeshift family – his indulgent father, the whining Laureen, the spoilt child from his first marriage, plus the wayward Cara and the mysterious but delightful baby, whom Martha calls by the Kentish name of Shrubsole but whose true origins soon become clear. It’s a measure of the author’s skills that at the novel’s finish I really wanted to know what the future would hold for more than one of the principal characters.
Aiken marshalls these memorable individuals within a complex plot in her own inimitable way, a plot which may appear pedestrian at first but then accelerates to an exciting conclusion. Local colour is suggested by names like Trewidian Farm, and the offshore island is reminiscent of places like Tintagel Castle and St Michael’s Mount. Also, Cornwall has a few examples of the wartime concrete landing barges that feature in the story. Even the ‘pierced stone’ of the monastery’s brotherhood recalls the standing stone near Penzance known as Mên-an-Tol, which in Cornish means ‘the stone with a hole’.
She also teases the reader with Arthurian motifs and names: Gareth was a Round Table knight, Camelot must be a stand-in for the Cornish town of Camelford, and the fairy isle where the wounded Arthur was taken is Avalon (incidentally, this name for Product X recalls cosmetics company Avon, a nod by its founder to the town of Shakespeare’s birth, Stratford-upon-Avon). However, Product X, the alluring object which is most like the Holy Grail because its formula is the object of everybody’s quest, may well turn out to be a MacGuffin. Or will it?
Finally, the UK title Trouble with Product X is a good example of Aiken’s playfulness. Does it mean that manufacturing thenproduct is proving troublesome (which it is) or that its mere existence is causing trouble (which it also is), or could it be both simultaneously? This is a question which Aiken cunningly leaves to readers to discover for themselves.
A commercial is being filmed on the North Cornwall coast, to be ready for whenever the scent is finally launched; the April weather is perfect, the location – island, castle, beach – is perfect, and so are the Pre-Raphaelite looks of the star.
With everything so ideal in place what could possibly go wrong? Well, for Martha Gilroy – whose project this is – everything of course, otherwise this wouldn’t be a thriller. But is the choice of a brand name with such strong Arthurian associations any indication of the tragedies to come?
‘The light was a little better now; overhead the clouds were still only, but to the east a belt of yellow sky above the sea cast a pale theatrical glow over the little hummock of ground.
I couldn’t see Gareth, but there was plenty of cover: jagged rocks down by the water, the castle wall, higher up, and the Victorian gazebo inside it, on the topmost point. He might be anywhere.’
— Chapter IX.
With titles like The Silence of Herondale (1964, set in Yorkshire) and Blackground (1990, set in Dorset) Aiken established herself as a noted writer of modern Gothic fiction. Her romantic thrillers customarily featured a female protagonist somehow coping with rugged landscapes, wild weather, mysterious men and convoluted plots. Trouble with Product X is classic Aiken in that vein, set in a Cornwall which she was familiar with in the early 1950s from running a guest house for a year or so, and featuring a fictional advertising agency which she warns the reader is nothing like the one she used to work for.
The agency wins a contract to advertise and promote a distinctive new scent known only as Product X, but soon discovers there are hiccups with getting the formula right. Despite Gareth Dunskirk, the chemist son of the cosmetics company’s owner, presenting as a shifty character from the off, the agency goes ahead with Martha’s plans to film an advert at Trevann, not far along the coast from Tintagel, where there is an offshore island with picturesque castle ruins.
However there are, as it were, flies in the ointment, as well as ulterior motives at play: Gareth’s new Italian wife, Cara Marcello, is to play the lead; while Martha has chosen this location because she suspects her former husband Lucian is part of the Brotherhood of the Pierced Stone, a strange community resident in the monastery overlooking the island.
And let’s not forget the other assorted but distinctive characters: the twinkly Brother Stanislas, and Martha’s close friends and colleagues, including the Russian Mimi and Martha’s boyfriend Tom; Gareth’s associates Tigger and Mait, who with him make up what I see as the Three Racketeers; and Gareth’s makeshift family – his indulgent father, the whining Laureen, the spoilt child from his first marriage, plus the wayward Cara and the mysterious but delightful baby, whom Martha calls by the Kentish name of Shrubsole but whose true origins soon become clear. It’s a measure of the author’s skills that at the novel’s finish I really wanted to know what the future would hold for more than one of the principal characters.
Aiken marshalls these memorable individuals within a complex plot in her own inimitable way, a plot which may appear pedestrian at first but then accelerates to an exciting conclusion. Local colour is suggested by names like Trewidian Farm, and the offshore island is reminiscent of places like Tintagel Castle and St Michael’s Mount. Also, Cornwall has a few examples of the wartime concrete landing barges that feature in the story. Even the ‘pierced stone’ of the monastery’s brotherhood recalls the standing stone near Penzance known as Mên-an-Tol, which in Cornish means ‘the stone with a hole’.
She also teases the reader with Arthurian motifs and names: Gareth was a Round Table knight, Camelot must be a stand-in for the Cornish town of Camelford, and the fairy isle where the wounded Arthur was taken is Avalon (incidentally, this name for Product X recalls cosmetics company Avon, a nod by its founder to the town of Shakespeare’s birth, Stratford-upon-Avon). However, Product X, the alluring object which is most like the Holy Grail because its formula is the object of everybody’s quest, may well turn out to be a MacGuffin. Or will it?
Finally, the UK title Trouble with Product X is a good example of Aiken’s playfulness. Does it mean that manufacturing thenproduct is proving troublesome (which it is) or that its mere existence is causing trouble (which it also is), or could it be both simultaneously? This is a question which Aiken cunningly leaves to readers to discover for themselves.
January 28, 2019
Even though it has been more than 50 years since I last read it, I loved the "Bom" references more than ever.
March 7, 2018
Note: also known as "The Trouble with Product X"
...that last climactic scene! So much over the top authorial creativity; definitely impossible to forget. I'm glad I was able to find a copy of this for my very own. It's a frequent re-read.
...that last climactic scene! So much over the top authorial creativity; definitely impossible to forget. I'm glad I was able to find a copy of this for my very own. It's a frequent re-read.
November 5, 2023
I bought Beware of the Bouquet for three reasons. One, I was in the mood to read something gothic during October. Two, the premise sounded interesting and different than your usual gothic fare. Three, let's be honest, the cover is peak gothic fiction cover art.
Beware of the Bouquet starts with an interesting setup. An advertising agency goes to a seaside village in Cornwall in order to shoot commercials for two companies they are running ad campaigns for. On this remote part of Cornwall, we get the gothic atmosphere promised in a gothic novel. There is a ruined castle, a strange group of monks in a dilapidated monastery, and many foggy nights to add to the atmosphere as our heroine becomes further entangled in a mystery.
The back of the novel promises that our heroine is going be stalked by a madman...and that's kind of true. As other reviewers have pointed out, one of the things that makes Beware of the Bouquet unique for the gothic genre is its contemporary setting-the mod 60's. You really get the feel for the period by some of the characters present in the novel, including the heroine and her best friend and the villain and his henchmen. In fact, other than the novel's setting and some of the scenes set in fog, Beware of the Bouquet does not read like gothic fiction. It reads more like a caper, which makes Beware of the Bouquet something different in its genre, but it also wound up being not at all what I was hoping for. I commend Joan Aiken for breaking away from the standard formulas, but I just wish she would have given her readers something fresh but still wholly gothic.
At the 60% mark, I realized that I was already over this novel. The only thing that kept me reading was our lead heroine and her best friend. For some reason I kept picturing Janet Leigh as Martha Gilroy, our heroine, and Edie Sedgewick or Twiggy as her best friend and colleague Mimi. Martha is not-thankfully-your average gothic heroine. She is clever, capable, resilient, and absolutely hilarious. Martha can be acerbic at times but still remain lovable. I loved tagging along with her. She was a true heroine, but without being kickass. She saves the day, but while remaining a very grounded character. I honestly wish I could read more novels with heroines like Martha- capable, witty, but also relatable.
Beware of the Bouquet starts with an interesting setup. An advertising agency goes to a seaside village in Cornwall in order to shoot commercials for two companies they are running ad campaigns for. On this remote part of Cornwall, we get the gothic atmosphere promised in a gothic novel. There is a ruined castle, a strange group of monks in a dilapidated monastery, and many foggy nights to add to the atmosphere as our heroine becomes further entangled in a mystery.
The back of the novel promises that our heroine is going be stalked by a madman...and that's kind of true. As other reviewers have pointed out, one of the things that makes Beware of the Bouquet unique for the gothic genre is its contemporary setting-the mod 60's. You really get the feel for the period by some of the characters present in the novel, including the heroine and her best friend and the villain and his henchmen. In fact, other than the novel's setting and some of the scenes set in fog, Beware of the Bouquet does not read like gothic fiction. It reads more like a caper, which makes Beware of the Bouquet something different in its genre, but it also wound up being not at all what I was hoping for. I commend Joan Aiken for breaking away from the standard formulas, but I just wish she would have given her readers something fresh but still wholly gothic.
At the 60% mark, I realized that I was already over this novel. The only thing that kept me reading was our lead heroine and her best friend. For some reason I kept picturing Janet Leigh as Martha Gilroy, our heroine, and Edie Sedgewick or Twiggy as her best friend and colleague Mimi. Martha is not-thankfully-your average gothic heroine. She is clever, capable, resilient, and absolutely hilarious. Martha can be acerbic at times but still remain lovable. I loved tagging along with her. She was a true heroine, but without being kickass. She saves the day, but while remaining a very grounded character. I honestly wish I could read more novels with heroines like Martha- capable, witty, but also relatable.
September 10, 2022
( Format : Audiobook and paperback.)
"A giraffe with a gazelle in.tow."
According to the introductory chapter, Joan Aitken was primarily a successful children's author and it shows in the well delivered prose, with just enough detailed description to make it fast moving and visual. I had not read anything by this author, adult novel or children's, prior to The Trouble with Product X, buying it because of the advertised Cornish setting, and, though a little dated, I enjoyed it very much. Written in the first person by the main protagonist, a young woman, abandoned seven years before By her husband, now an executive advertising writer, whose most recent campaign is to publicise a new perfume about to be launched. A castle in Cornwall is selected as the filming venue of the commercial, the new wife of the client company to be cast as lead actor. The filming goes well, but behind the scenes, all is chaos.
Clear, fun, but with heavily sinister undertones, this is a book very much of it's time - the mid sixties - and very enjoyable. Audio narration is by Lizza Aiken, her unpolished English voice initially disconcerting, like mum reading the story. At first I doubted that I would be able to listen to the end but speeding playback a little greatly improved the overall tone, conveying an appropriately 'homely' feel to the writing which thus made an even more pleasurable read.
Like an amusing film, this is a gentle, near farcical thriller, and recommended.
"A giraffe with a gazelle in.tow."
According to the introductory chapter, Joan Aitken was primarily a successful children's author and it shows in the well delivered prose, with just enough detailed description to make it fast moving and visual. I had not read anything by this author, adult novel or children's, prior to The Trouble with Product X, buying it because of the advertised Cornish setting, and, though a little dated, I enjoyed it very much. Written in the first person by the main protagonist, a young woman, abandoned seven years before By her husband, now an executive advertising writer, whose most recent campaign is to publicise a new perfume about to be launched. A castle in Cornwall is selected as the filming venue of the commercial, the new wife of the client company to be cast as lead actor. The filming goes well, but behind the scenes, all is chaos.
Clear, fun, but with heavily sinister undertones, this is a book very much of it's time - the mid sixties - and very enjoyable. Audio narration is by Lizza Aiken, her unpolished English voice initially disconcerting, like mum reading the story. At first I doubted that I would be able to listen to the end but speeding playback a little greatly improved the overall tone, conveying an appropriately 'homely' feel to the writing which thus made an even more pleasurable read.
Like an amusing film, this is a gentle, near farcical thriller, and recommended.
July 5, 2019
This is a fun neo-gothic -- I wouldn't quite call it a parody, there is some real danger to our heroine at times, but she is definitely no stereotypical shrieking, fainting flower. Martha works for an old-fashioned advertising company where the clients are more like family than customers, so when one of their long-standing clients suddenly develops an exciting new perfume the entire firm is drawn in to creating a campaign worthy of the product. There are mysterious semi-monks, unexpected babies, menacing Italian sports cars, sneaking around R&D labs, etc etc etc. Through it all Martha determinedly tries to do her job, keep herself and others safe, and thwart the bad guys. It was an enjoyable read, but mostly for how sensible Martha is and how much she enjoys the chance to get her own back at the men who've been menacing her. Even at the end, when she's
December 8, 2019
This quasi-gothic industrial spy romance novel was entertaining in places and I do like Aiken's dialog. But when all was said and done, I found it quite dissatisfying.
I didn't find the romance believable. The motivations of the character who sets much of the conflict up are obscure, at best, beyond the first or second incident. The most interesting element (to me) of the tale is barely touched upon, which might be okay had she ever returned to tell us more of this setting, but... no.
I recommend you read any other book by her that I have rated ahead of this one. I was skeptical when I started it and nothing in it changed my mind.
I didn't find the romance believable. The motivations of the character who sets much of the conflict up are obscure, at best, beyond the first or second incident. The most interesting element (to me) of the tale is barely touched upon, which might be okay had she ever returned to tell us more of this setting, but... no.
I recommend you read any other book by her that I have rated ahead of this one. I was skeptical when I started it and nothing in it changed my mind.
January 21, 2017
Although a period piece - it must have been written 50 years ago, and is of its time - this is one of those books you just can't put down. Beautifully written, with interesting characters and incredible twists, "Trouble with Product X" is great fun to read.
PS I have posted a longer review in my blog at http://aaabbott.co.uk/2017/01/thrille...
PS I have posted a longer review in my blog at http://aaabbott.co.uk/2017/01/thrille...
February 12, 2024
Given that they don’t make books like this any more, I’m very glad they chose to rerelease this. It’s a vintage “pretty career-girl” mystery of the kind Mary Stewart made her trademark. But in Joan Aiken’s capable hands, it becomes almost a parody of the genre, to good effect. Like Stewart. Aiken wrote in a wide array of genres. This may not be her best work but it’s jolly good fun.
June 8, 2023
Martha works for an advertising agency which is making a series of commercials for a new perfume called Avalon. This means going down to Cornwall, but it is not as much fun as it sounds, as various problems arise, and Martha may even be in danger. This is a very entertaining mystery with some good characters and a likeable heroine, One of the things I like best about Martha is that even in moments of extreme peril, she is so soaked in the advertising business that she can’t help turning the things happening to her into advertising copy in her head. There is some romance, but it is secondary to the mystery surrounding the perfume which causes trouble for a lot of people. Very enjoyable.
October 3, 2021
3,5 Sterne - vorhersehbar aber trotzdem spannend und unterhaltsam.
February 25, 2025
Fun read with quirky characters on a roller coaster of an almost kidnapping.
April 3, 2025
Solid mystery/adventure yarn from Aiken set in Cornwall, rips along at a rapid pace with Aiken's standard strong and intrepid female characters and a dollop of humour thrown into the mix.
File this one with your Mad Men fiction collection. Here an advertising firm attempt to film commercials for a perfume company on an abandoned island with a brooding monastery overlooking the scene on the mainland. The perfume itself has some murky origins and sets the scene for the ne'er do wells.
"Shrubsole" for a baby's name, absolute genius. I did get a chuckle out of Pocket Books' trumpeting their "not a word has been changed from the original Doubleday edition", there were quite a few typo's in this edition!
File this one with your Mad Men fiction collection. Here an advertising firm attempt to film commercials for a perfume company on an abandoned island with a brooding monastery overlooking the scene on the mainland. The perfume itself has some murky origins and sets the scene for the ne'er do wells.
"Shrubsole" for a baby's name, absolute genius. I did get a chuckle out of Pocket Books' trumpeting their "not a word has been changed from the original Doubleday edition", there were quite a few typo's in this edition!
April 21, 2012
Joan Aiken (1924-2004) began her writing career with YA fiction as a 16-year-old contributor for the BBC Children's Hour. Aiken's efforts at mysteries and suspense novels won her an Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Novel (Night Fall) in 1972. The same touch of the quirky, whimsical inventiveness in her writing for young people often found its way into her adult crime fiction. She once said, "Stories are like butterflies, which come fluttering out of nowhere, touch down for a brief instant, may be captured, may not, and then vanish into nowhere again."
Trouble with Product X (aka Beware of the Bouquet) dates from 1966 and is one of the author's earlier novels for adults. Product X is a new perfume to be manufactured by a small company aiming to go upmarket. The ad agency hired to handle the promotion is Salmon & Bucknell, including employee Martha Gilroy, who suggests shooting a television commercial in the same remote Cornish castle where she spent her honeymoon—before her husband had a nervous breakdown and left her.
Another bad idea is to use the beautiful young Italian wife of the client as a model, as it soon becomes clear she's at the heart of a conspiracy regarding the origin of Product X. The remote TV shoot soon turns into a parade of nightmares and intrigue, including the kidnapping of a baby; monks who oppose the filming and one particularly mysterious monk who Martha thinks she recognizes; a venomous spider mailed as a "gift"; exploding soup cans; and an assortment of gothic thrills and chills that will please fans of Mary Stewart.
As The Telegraph said in Aiken's obituary, you could usually count on "slightly scatty but independent-minded young women who end up marrying slightly scatty but charming young men. Mysterious, corridor-ridden Gothic houses figure prominently, along with a variety of curses and enchantments. And there is always a strong sense of right and wrong." Although bits of that formula are present in Product X, so too is Aiken's trademark humor:
"I spent a moment or two wondering where the devil I was, who the devil I was, in a weak and lackadaisical way...My mind wobbled about like a half-set jelly, full of unrelated fragments: the address of a man I'd meant to write to about detergents before coming down to Cornwall, lines from Twelfth Night, the fact that my library subscription needed renewing, a series of slogans for Bom which I'd been trying to hatch on the way down. 'Whether you're coming or going, mending or mowing, scything or sewing, reading or rowing...you need Bom, the meat'n milk drink, made from pure fresh milk and lean juicy beef. Bom, tiddly, om BOM!' I can't offhand think of any nastier beverage than Bom, but at that moment, I felt hazily that I might even have accepted a cup of the stuff if someone had offered it to me, hot."
Martha tends to muse perhaps a bit too much on Bom promotions while she's in the midst of danger, but ultimately she proves to be an insightful sleuth, even as she fights her feelings for her ex and for a fellow employee who seems to be taking a suspiciously keen interest in the client's beautiful wife. The plot isn't so much a whodunit as a pleasant modern (albeit 1960s) Gothic romp.
Trouble with Product X (aka Beware of the Bouquet) dates from 1966 and is one of the author's earlier novels for adults. Product X is a new perfume to be manufactured by a small company aiming to go upmarket. The ad agency hired to handle the promotion is Salmon & Bucknell, including employee Martha Gilroy, who suggests shooting a television commercial in the same remote Cornish castle where she spent her honeymoon—before her husband had a nervous breakdown and left her.
Another bad idea is to use the beautiful young Italian wife of the client as a model, as it soon becomes clear she's at the heart of a conspiracy regarding the origin of Product X. The remote TV shoot soon turns into a parade of nightmares and intrigue, including the kidnapping of a baby; monks who oppose the filming and one particularly mysterious monk who Martha thinks she recognizes; a venomous spider mailed as a "gift"; exploding soup cans; and an assortment of gothic thrills and chills that will please fans of Mary Stewart.
As The Telegraph said in Aiken's obituary, you could usually count on "slightly scatty but independent-minded young women who end up marrying slightly scatty but charming young men. Mysterious, corridor-ridden Gothic houses figure prominently, along with a variety of curses and enchantments. And there is always a strong sense of right and wrong." Although bits of that formula are present in Product X, so too is Aiken's trademark humor:
"I spent a moment or two wondering where the devil I was, who the devil I was, in a weak and lackadaisical way...My mind wobbled about like a half-set jelly, full of unrelated fragments: the address of a man I'd meant to write to about detergents before coming down to Cornwall, lines from Twelfth Night, the fact that my library subscription needed renewing, a series of slogans for Bom which I'd been trying to hatch on the way down. 'Whether you're coming or going, mending or mowing, scything or sewing, reading or rowing...you need Bom, the meat'n milk drink, made from pure fresh milk and lean juicy beef. Bom, tiddly, om BOM!' I can't offhand think of any nastier beverage than Bom, but at that moment, I felt hazily that I might even have accepted a cup of the stuff if someone had offered it to me, hot."
Martha tends to muse perhaps a bit too much on Bom promotions while she's in the midst of danger, but ultimately she proves to be an insightful sleuth, even as she fights her feelings for her ex and for a fellow employee who seems to be taking a suspiciously keen interest in the client's beautiful wife. The plot isn't so much a whodunit as a pleasant modern (albeit 1960s) Gothic romp.
December 17, 2024
UK title: The Trouble with Product X; US title: Beware of the Bouquet
IMHO the best of Joan Aiken's Gothic romantic novels. It's a pity it wasn't reissued as an ebook along with some of the others.
The 1960s London ad agency setting makes for a witty set of characters and surreal, hilarious scenes as they attempt to film several ads in a remote location, full of decaying castles, misty moors and craggy beaches. It's great fun as the plucky heroine stumbles from one improbably desperate situation to the next. Like all the rest of these titles, don't read for the romance (which is slight) but for the delightful turns of phrase, the absurd humor, and the sharp-eyed satire.
IMHO the best of Joan Aiken's Gothic romantic novels. It's a pity it wasn't reissued as an ebook along with some of the others.
The 1960s London ad agency setting makes for a witty set of characters and surreal, hilarious scenes as they attempt to film several ads in a remote location, full of decaying castles, misty moors and craggy beaches. It's great fun as the plucky heroine stumbles from one improbably desperate situation to the next. Like all the rest of these titles, don't read for the romance (which is slight) but for the delightful turns of phrase, the absurd humor, and the sharp-eyed satire.
May 6, 2009
I'm a fan of Joan Aiken's work, but this book was a bit disappointing. Nothing really wrong with the plot, and many small clever details, but I didn't buy the behavior of most of the characters, especially the protagonist — who seemed to be capable and idiotic by turns. That made the book less appealing by a large margin. I'd recommend trying other work of Aiken's before this one.
August 1, 2009
A mystery unlike anything else I'd ever read by Joan Aiken. (I was introduced to Aiken by way of "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase" and other juveniles). Suspenseful and interesting. It made me go look to see what other mysteries of hers I could find.
November 30, 2016
Also known as "Beware the Bouquet".
I do love Aiken's Gothics. So fun, creative and weird!
...that last climactic scene! So much over the top authorial creativity; definitely impossible to forget. I'm glad I was able to find a copy of this for my very own. It's a frequent re-read.
I do love Aiken's Gothics. So fun, creative and weird!
...that last climactic scene! So much over the top authorial creativity; definitely impossible to forget. I'm glad I was able to find a copy of this for my very own. It's a frequent re-read.
February 25, 2015
Enjoyed this romance and the dip into the advertising world. A nice, clean and suspenseful read.
April 2, 2016
This was another gem by Joan Aiken full of adventure and interestingly different characters.
December 3, 2016
Enjoyable
November 9, 2023
This was a quirky little book but entertaining and surprisingly relatable in parts.
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