Throwback Thursday: The Love Talker by Elizabeth Peters

Author: Elizabeth Peters
First published in 1980  by Dodd Mead

Laurie has finally returned to Idlewood, the beloved family home deep in the Maryland woods where she found comfort and peace as a lonely young girl. But things are very different now. There is no peace in Idlewood. The haunting sound of a distant piping breaks the stillness of a snowy winter's evening. Seemingly random events have begun to take on a sinister shape. And dotty old Great Aunt Lizzie is convinced that there are fairies about — and she has photographs to prove it. For Laurie, one fact is becoming disturbingly clear: there is definitely something out there in the woods — something fiendishly, cunningly, malevolently human — and the lives of her aging loved ones, as well as Laurie's own, are suddenly at serious risk.

 I'm a fan of Barbara Michaels aka Elizabeth Peters, so I thought I would see if The Love Talker was like the other Barbara Michaels books I have read in the past.  It was very similar, but it ended up being just an OK read for me  It may have been the narrator of the audiobook.  Her voices blended together too much so that it was sometimes hard to figure out who was talking.  I may have liked it more if I had read it instead.


The mystery was easy enough to figure out.  Even the reveals/twists at the end were nothing earth shattering. Although, I thought that one of the reveals was weird and not really needed.  Especially since there was no follow-up with it. It had a major ick factor. The characters were just so-so.  Laurie is kind of a flake and makes some dumb decisions.  It also got frustrating that the whole reason that Laurie goes back home is because weird things are happening, yet no one wants to talk about it. 

I'd say skip this one unless you have read all of her other books under both names.  You won't be missing anything.