Author: Allison Montclair
Expected Publication Date: February 4, 2025, by Severn House
Format: Kindle, 224 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Sparks & Bainbridge Mystery #7
Blurb: London, 1947. Spirited Miss Iris Sparks and ever-practical Mrs Gwendolyn Bainbridge are called to action when Gwen's beau Salvatore 'Sally' Danielli is accused of murder!
Sally has taken a job at the BBC studios at Alexandra Palace, but when the beautiful Miss JeanneMarie Duplessis - one of the Parisian performers over for a new variety show - is found dead in the old theatre, a number of inconvenient coincidences make him Suspect
Just days earlier, Miss Duplessis had arrived at The Right Sort, desperately looking for a husband - any husband - to avoid having to return to Paris. As the plot thickens, Iris is pulled back into the clandestine circles she moved in during the war and it soon becomes apparent that to clear Sally's name, she and Gwen would need to go on the hunt for a killer once more.
My Opinion: This was a DNF for me. I threw in the towel at the 33% mark. The novel kicks off with a brief recap that feels a bit like “If you didn't read Murder at the White Palace, good luck catching up,” followed by a quick dive into the current happenings with Gwen and Sparks. Sadly, the narrative is derailed by numerous tangents that detract from the central characters and, quite frankly, bore the reader.
These distractions continue until, finally, a body makes an appearance. By then, it's too little, too late. This is where I decided to put the book down.
What started as a promising series has now found its way to my “that was fun while it lasted, but I won’t be reading any more from this author” shelf. The initial spark that made the series engaging seems to have fizzled out, replaced by unfocused storytelling and an overload of irrelevant details. If the aim was to keep readers hooked, it missed the mark by a long shot.
Sally has taken a job at the BBC studios at Alexandra Palace, but when the beautiful Miss JeanneMarie Duplessis - one of the Parisian performers over for a new variety show - is found dead in the old theatre, a number of inconvenient coincidences make him Suspect
Just days earlier, Miss Duplessis had arrived at The Right Sort, desperately looking for a husband - any husband - to avoid having to return to Paris. As the plot thickens, Iris is pulled back into the clandestine circles she moved in during the war and it soon becomes apparent that to clear Sally's name, she and Gwen would need to go on the hunt for a killer once more.
My Opinion: This was a DNF for me. I threw in the towel at the 33% mark. The novel kicks off with a brief recap that feels a bit like “If you didn't read Murder at the White Palace, good luck catching up,” followed by a quick dive into the current happenings with Gwen and Sparks. Sadly, the narrative is derailed by numerous tangents that detract from the central characters and, quite frankly, bore the reader.
These distractions continue until, finally, a body makes an appearance. By then, it's too little, too late. This is where I decided to put the book down.
What started as a promising series has now found its way to my “that was fun while it lasted, but I won’t be reading any more from this author” shelf. The initial spark that made the series engaging seems to have fizzled out, replaced by unfocused storytelling and an overload of irrelevant details. If the aim was to keep readers hooked, it missed the mark by a long shot.
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