Callahan's Lady, by Spider Robinson

Callahan's Lady is one of Spider Robinson's popular series of novels based on the adventures of Mike Callahan and the denizens of his popular watering-hole, Callahan's Crosstime Saloon. In this book, however, the focus shifts from Mike's bar to the Brooklyn bordello operated by his wife, Lady Sally. This particular House of Ill Repute is as extraordinary as Callahan's Crosstime Saloon, and is populated by just as eccentric a group of clients and employees.

The book is broken down into four shorter stories. The first, titled "A Very Very Very Fine House," introduces the reader to the narrator, Maureen, and reveals how she came to employed as an "artist" at Lady Sally's House. The second, "Revolver," deals with a client with a very exhausting problem. In the third story, "The Paranoid," the House is taken over by a woman with a very large chip on her shoulder, and in the last, "Dollars to Donuts," Maureen and her former lover, a con-man known as The Professor, must deal with a VERY tough street hood to whom The Professor owes money.

Callahan's Lady is, in many ways, a worthy addition to the Callahan's Crosstime Saloon books. It does, as any novel set in a bordello is likely to, include a fair amount of sex, not graphically described, but omnipresent nonetheless. The inhabitants of Lady Sally's house are, by and large, quite engaging, if somewhat two-dimensional on occasion. My only real complaint, and it is related to the "two-dimensionality" issue, is that matters in the book have the tendency to work themselves out just a little bit TOO perfectly. This is especially the case in "The Paranoid." However, that aside, Callahan's Lady is a well-written, enjoyable, and easy read, far above much of what is masquerading as Sci-fi or Fantasy these days. It may not really broaden your mind, or force you to think, but it will amuse you.

Reviewed by Patrick Conway, January 16, 1997.