Disclaimer: I received this book from a publisher, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Greetings Adventurers,
It's been ages since I wrote a book review, so now is the time to break my fast of not writing reviews and write one. This book is part of a series that I have never read before, but it's now a series I would like to read. I received this book early, and it will be released on May 9th.
The book is the fifth book in a longer book series titled, The Roddy and Val DeVere Gilded Age series. However, I read it as a stand alone, and I believe it can be read without having read the other four books.
The Review:
Genres: Historical fiction | Murder Mystery
I have always been a fan of historical fiction and mysteries, so this book immediately got me interested. While set in a different time and different place than books I usually read, the book itself reminds me a lot of The Murdoch Mysteries (but with a woman lead instead of a man).
Providing a heading with the date and location reminded me of other novels such as Frankenstein or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The author is a historian, so I imagine this influenced her choices in her writing. Like Where the Crawdads Sing, though, I would have liked the dates to continue throughout as it makes more sense for me as I read.
The book itself was set in 1899. So, a year before the turn of the 19th century to the 20th century. I am not deeply familiar with the time period in America, but the author seems incredibly knowledgeable about it. At times I had to look up information, but that was not a failing of the book, because a reader could read it without having any idea of what is mentioned. Instead I was driven by my own curiosity to look things up. Another thing that is worth mentioning is the main character. I like that the main character, "Val," is a daughter of an Irish immigrant. My great-great-grandparents were immigrants from Ireland. So, that was a happy moment for me as a reader, because interestingly I have not read many books from the perspective of a character like that. The character herself is intelligent and is married. She and her husband work on the cases together. But she also works independently, and is shown to be strong on her own. She reminded me of detectives I had liked in the past, as she solved the case in a sophisticated way. She reminded me a bit of Enola Holmes, but a grown up version of her.
However, from the title of the series, it seems like both of Roddy and Val are main characters. I found Val to be more of a main character than Roddy. It could be because the whole story is told from her perspective, but she gets the most attention and detective work in this book. That might not be the case for the other books in the series, but in this one Val seemed like a more prominent main character.
While the writing style is plain-- it does not sound like it comes from the time period-- it works for that story, since other stories have been written in a similar fashion. The opening paragraph was strong and set up tension with horse imagery, "[a] horse that kicks can kill anyone near its hind legs. A stable hand, a groom, a coachman, or a care-less owner will risk their lives if struck by the animal’s lightning-fast speed and power" (Tichi 1). I've been thinking a lot about opening sentences as a writer myself, and this one works because it sets up what is going to happen, not with a person-- but with a horse. The build up for the detectives going to solve the mystery was well done, for the characters received a message through telegram to show that they were going to go where the body was found. I preferred that to them stumbling over the body (in this case), because it seemed like a call to adventure, a call to the crime scene that is-- since Val had not been wanting to leave where they were currently staying.
When the Hudson River Valley was mentioned by the characters, my mind instantly connected that to Sleepy Hollow. But the characters don't end up going there. In one of the chapters, when they came to the Hudson River Valley, reminded me strongly of Irving's writing. When they got onto a boat, for example:"Dark wisps from every smokestack signaled on-time departures when every giant sidewheel would churn the waters named for the Dutch explorer who sailed here nearly two centuries ago" (Tichi 33). This reminded me a little of Irving..."In the bosom of one of those spacious coves which indent the eastern shore of the Hudson, at that broad expansion of the river denominated by the ancient Dutch navigators the Tappan Zee, and where they always prudently shortened sail and implored the protection of St. Nicholas when they crossed, there lies a small market town or rural port, which by some is called Greensburgh[...]" (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, P.1). Despite the differences in what they're describing, I wonder if the author had researched anything about Irving when writing this, for there are references to what the Dutch did in the Hudson throughout. And also, supernatural elements are not the main theme of Tichi's book (there isn't a headless horseman running around for example), but there is a character named Cassie who sees auras and has visions. She is important to the ongoing mystery and seems to know information that was not ever given to her.
The plot had many suspenseful elements: the idea of people wandering about on the property, the mysterious drowning, and who caused it. I felt like I was on the edge of my seat because of the way the author built up the tension-- in some cases, the fear turned out to be nothing, but it worked to set the scene for the suspense of the mystery. I won't be revealing who or what the killer was, but the author builds up the mystery well, laying clues throughout, making the reader want to solve the case along with the detective. It makes you wonder if those who you trust are trustworthy, or those who seem as if they could do the murder, don't.
The clues were revealed steadily and mostly conveyed through dialogue instead of through research. The book relied upon social interworking between characters for the mystery to work: they heard about the murder through social connections, and got information through that, which added to the lively feeling. However, despite the feeling that the place was alive, the side characters were rather flat and not memorable. Some mysteries want the suspects or people the detectives talk to be memorable; others don't. This book went for the latter. So, I found myself more interested in the relationship between the detectives than I was in the suspects at times.
I normally find books that are so dialogue heavy difficult to follow, but this one was easy for me. I could keep up with the pacing because Val always brought up the questions over and over again, about who was the killer, why would they do this, so I could be up to speed and not fall behind.
When the killer was revealed at the end, I was surprised. But I didn't feel like the author pulled something out of thin air. Instead, it came naturally. There was a red herring that I truly believed for a moment, the certainty of it from the character's perspective was what made me believe it.
The ending hinted at a sequel. Since this is a part of a larger series (being the fifth book), there had to be room for the series to continue. But as a mystery, it resolved the plot well, and I am happy to have read it.
This is a small note, but there were cocktail recipes, which reminded me of my reading groups at The Rosenbach where often the host posts recipes for alcoholic beverages relating the book. So if you're someone who makes cocktails and enjoys trying them, the book lays a short recipe in some chapters how to do so. I have not tried them, so I can't state how they taste or whether they are good. But there is a sort of audience interaction one can do between the characters and the reader, by trying what they make.
Overall, this was a fun and gripping (but not too intense) detective read. So if you're interested in adult cozy historical mysteries with a female lead, you will enjoy this.
Overall rating:
Dialogue: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (not much to say about it, other than it moved the story forward).
Characters: ⭐⭐⭐ (the characters weren't as memorable as I thought they would be. But it's more plot driven than character driven)
Plot: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐(overall a gripping mystery that made me want to keep reading).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Have you read books from this book series? If so did you enjoy them? What's your favorite murder mystery book?
-Quinley
