Madeleine's Ghost is a well-regarded first mystery

Mystery fiction

Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...

 novel by Robert Girardi

Robert Girardi

Robert Girardi is an American author, writing on the themes of mystery or detective fiction, and religion, like an American Graham Greene, and loser narrator, like Sam Lipsyte....

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Publishing history

An editor for Delacorte Press found the manuscript for Madeleine's Ghost on a friend's coffee table and fell in love with the story.

Criticism

Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 1995:

Corrupted Creole civility complicates the life of a Brooklyn bohemian -- in a spirited debut deftly mingling past, present, and the vastly different worldviews of New Orleans and New York.

New York Times Book Review, 08/06/1995:

Quibbles: If you were almost fatally poisoned by oysters you shared with the person you loved most in the world, wouldn't you call that person and say, "How are you?" Ghosts and miracles I can accept. But do women in New York pick up strangers in bars for one-night stands, then leave them alone in the apartment with a note to let themselves out? I've never been sure what a beach book is, but there's a good chance 'Madeleine's Ghost' is one. It is so freshly observed that the sound of surf won't distract you. When you laugh out loud, nobody will complain. When the covers are closed, what's irritating about it disappears faster than sand between your toes. -- Patricia Volk

Los Angeles Times Book Review, 08/06/1995:

'Madeleine's Ghost', Robert Girardi's debut novel, is...immensely engaging, lavish in its descriptive details, with a good, engrossing story to tell....it is in many ways a remarkable achievement...Immensely engaging, lavish in its descriptive details, with a good, engrossing story to tell. -- Joanna Scott

San Francisco Chronicle Book Review, 07/30/1995:

Furniture flies and ghosts walk, but these appartitions aren't the scariest part of 'Madeleine's Ghost', Robert Girardi's atmospheric, sweet-natured first novel about the miraculous power of love...this satisfying novel is filled with a rich cast of supporting characters... -- Alix Madrigal