Pelham's a fine tale, but mostly it's remarkable as a classic "Fashionable Novel" -- in its day, the Fashionable Novel was a genre unto itself, focusing on the manners, habits and lifestyles of the Rich and Famous of the first half of the 19th century -- the jet set of its day. Pelham's sparkling cynicism makes fun of the genre as it executes it gorgeously; it also sheds an amazing light on a time and circumnstance well removed from our own.