• Letters from CAMP Rehoboth
    • Current Issue
    • Past Issues
    • Advertising Information
    • Where Can I Get Letters?
    • The Write Stuff
  • Events
    • Featured Events
    • SUNFESTIVAL 2022
    • Women's FEST
    • Block Party 2022
  • Programs
    • Arts & Culture
    • Education & Advocacy
    • Health & Wellness
    • Community Building
    • CAMP Facilities
  • About Us
    • Membership
    • Volunteers
    • Board of Directors
    • CAMP Rehoboth Staff
    • Reports and Financials
    • History
    • Employment Opportunities
    • Press
  • Resources
    • Beach Guide Directory
    • LGBTQ Resources
    • LGBTQ Providers
    • LGBTQ Delaware Data
    • Trans & Nonbinary Resources
    • BIPOC LGBTQ Resources
    • LGBTQ Local and National Resources Guide
  • Contact
  • Shop
close× Call Us 302-227-5620
close×

Search form

July 26, 2013 - Booked Solid by Terri Schlichenmeyer

Maxie Mainwaring, Lesbian Dilettante
by Monica Nolan
c.2013, Kensington Books;
$15.00; 288 pages

You’ve had it. 

You’re about ready to quit your job—again—and that bothers you. Job-bobbing isn’t what you wanted to do as a career but there you are, feeling like an ill-employed rubber ball, ready to bounce to the next workplace.

Maybe you just don’t know what you’re good at yet. Or maybe, as in the new book Maxie Mainwaring, Lesbian Dilettante by Monica Nolan, you need to try your hand at a bunch of different things.

Debutante Maxie Mainwaring hated when Mumsy made her go to those society-ladies luncheons. Those events were stuffy and begged for excitement, so Maxie obliged by making out with Elaine Ellman in the bathroom at the Bay City Women’s Club.

Big mistake: Mumsy was so scandalized that she made good on a perennial threat and cut off Maxie’s allowance. It was 1964—what kind of a job could a deb do?

Quickly, Maxie decided that it was time to move in with her girlfriend, Pamela. Pam had been hinting about that for awhile, even though she often complained about Maxie’s lack of stick-to-it-iveness and her wandering eye. Unfortunately, those subjects instantly came up, and the on-again-off-again girls were off for good.

On her way back home to the Magdalena Arms, Maxie stopped at Francine’s Bar to nurse her wounds and meet her friends for a drink. Lovely Lois, delightful Dolly, Janet the lawyer, and practical Phyllis all promised to help Maxie find a job. Career Counselor Doris Watkins even wanted to do a job assessment study with her.

And so Maxie tried employment at a magazine, but learned that there was no pay. She had a brief stint as a Recreational Aide before getting fired for snooping. She worked for a magazine publisher who loved her snooping but hated her tardiness.

But Maxie was tardy for good reason: she’d met a beautiful butch, Lon, who seemed to be involved in organized crime and Maxie was tailing her, intrigued. Then Maxie learned that her mother was also mixed up in the mob. Could that be why Francine’s was raided by the police?  Was Lon’s life in danger?  Was somebody following Maxie, too?

How do I describe thee, Maxie Mainwaring, Lesbian Dilettante? Let me count the ways: it’s rompish, first of all. Humorous, but not hilarious. Contrived, but not off-puttingly so. And silly—very definitely silly, but not bad.

I actually liked this book for its frivolity. I’m normally not a big fan of an over-filled cast of characters, yet I didn’t mind it in this novel. What started out as fun, though, but didn’t stay that way, was author Monica Nolan’s weirdly excessive use of identifiers instead of monikers. Repeatedly referring to someone by job description or former job description rather than by name became tiresome and often quite confusing. 

Still, this fluffy whodunit, this marshmallow mystery, is entertaining enough if you can ignore that abrasion. It’s surely something that’s perfectly made for summertime reading. And if that’s what you want, then Maxie Mainwaring, Lesbian Dilettante is what you should have.

Email Terri Schlichenmeyer

‹ July 26, 2013 - Before the Beach by Bob Yesbek up July 26, 2013 - Amazon Trail by Lee Lynch ›

Past Issues

Issues Index

  • February 8, 2013 - Issue Index
  • March 8, 2013 - Issue Index
  • April 5, 2013 - Issue Index
  • May 3, 2013 - Issue Index
  • May 17, 2013 - Issue Index
  • May 31, 2013 - Issue Index
  • June 14, 2013 - Issue Index
  • June 28, 2013 - Issue Index
  • July 12, 2013 - Issue Index
  • July 26, 2013 - Issue Index
    • July 26, 2013 - Acknowledgments
    • July 26, 2013 - The Way I See It by Steve Elkins
    • July 26, 2013 - Letters to Letters
    • July 26, 2013 - In Brief
    • July 26, 2013 - CAMPmatters by Murray Archibald
    • July 26, 2013 - CAMP Out by Fay Jacobs
    • July 26, 2013 - View Point by Richard Rosendall
    • July 26, 2013 - Sundance 2013 by Nancy Sakaduski
    • July 26, 2013 - CAMP Stories by Rich Barnett
    • July 26, 2013 - CAMP Talk by Bill Sievert
    • July 26, 2013 - Before the Beach by Bob Yesbek
    • July 26, 2013 - Booked Solid by Terri Schlichenmeyer
    • July 26, 2013 - Amazon Trail by Lee Lynch
    • July 26, 2013 - Thinking Out Loud by Abby Dees
    • July 26, 2013 - Hear Me Out by Chris Azzopardi
    • July 26, 2013 - Buzz Worthy by Deb Griffin
    • July 26, 2013 - Eating Out by Howard Menaker
    • July 26, 2013 - Volunteer Spotlight by Chris Beagle
    • July 26, 2013 - Volunteer Thank You
    • July 26, 2013 - Ask the Doctor by Michael J. Hurd, Ph.D.
    • July 26, 2013 - CAMP Dates
    • July 26, 2013 - CAMP Profile by Fay Jacobs
    • July 26, 2013 - CAMPshots Gallery Index
    • July 26, 2013 - CAMP Arts by Doug Yetter
    • July 26, 2013 - Gray and Gay by John Siegfried
    • July 26, 2013 - The Out Field by Dan Woog
  • August 9, 2013 - Issue Index
  • August 23, 2013 - Issue Index
  • September 13, 2013 - Issue Index
  • October 11, 2013 - Issue Index
  • November 15, 2013 - Issue Index

Follow Us

Follow us on Social Media!

RECEIVE WEEKLY EMAIL

Information

  • Letters
  • Events
  • About Us
  • CAMP Center

Support CAMP

  • CAMP Membership
  • Volunteer
  • Contact Us
  • Donate
Copyright © CAMP Rehoboth, 2023
  • p. 302-227-5620
  • info@camprehoboth.com
  • 37 Baltimore Avenue, Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971