A review by paul_cornelius
The Budapest Parade Murders by F. Van Wyck Mason

3.0

A surprise, because it's so colorless. I expected much more. Usually, Van Wyck Mason's earlier works capture the atmosphere and sense of place where his mysteries are set. Budapest and Hungary in 1935 should have been spectacular. But it wasn't. Perhaps it was the feeble story. Captain Hugh North has the task of recovering a series of letters that outline international industrialists and their plot to rearm the world. A Peace Conference is at risk! Yeah, in retrospect it seems lame indeed. Even in the mid 1930s, the idea must have seemed naive. By this time, another world war seemed inevitable. Mason's attempt to breathe life into "peace" and disarmament looks wrongheaded beyond all imagination. This novel just didn't work.