Author: Callie Hutton
Published: May 12th 2020 by Crooked Lane Books
Format: eBook, 320 pages
Genre: Historical Cozy Mystery
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: A Victorian Book Club Mystery #1
I can’t tell you the number of times my mind began to wander when I was reading this dry and overwritten book. A book that attempts to shock the sensibilities of the aristocrats of 1890 Bath, England, when Lady Amy Lovell descends her grand staircase to greet her ex-fiancé only to discover his body in the library with a knife. Yes, we are playing a drawn-out version of the game of Clue. Only this time there was a letter spelling out the evil doings of Ronald St. Vincent and how opium has taken over the upper classes. Add in the usual players used to distract the reader and the striking Lord Wethington, who just so happens to show up when needed, and you have a book that falls short.
By the time I reached the end, I was disappointed in the fact that there was no humor. This book attempted to bridge the gap between stoic historical mysteries and the cozy mystery genre which the cover touts. I think I was expecting something along the lines of Deanna Raybourn’s Veronica Speedwell, since both books take place in the same time frame, and with the same types of characters, but then again, there will only be one Veronica and Stoker no matter how hard the author is trying to duplicate them.
By the time I reached the end, I was disappointed in the fact that there was no humor. This book attempted to bridge the gap between stoic historical mysteries and the cozy mystery genre which the cover touts. I think I was expecting something along the lines of Deanna Raybourn’s Veronica Speedwell, since both books take place in the same time frame, and with the same types of characters, but then again, there will only be one Veronica and Stoker no matter how hard the author is trying to duplicate them.
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