From description: England, 1925. Louisa Drew lost her husband in the First World War and her six-year-old twin sons in the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918. Newly re-married to a war-traumatised husband and seven months pregnant, Louisa is asked by her employer to travel to Clewer Hall in Sussex where she is to photograph the contents of the house for auction.
The book was kind of a near-miss for me. Some great Gothic elements and writing style, but not quite as suspenseful as it wanted to be. Nevertheless, the Gothic elements were interesting, and The Quickening would make a good book on a night you want a mysterious and not too frightening Gothic adventure.
Historical Fiction. 2020. Print length: 336 pages.
A Shamus Award Finalist and Best Mystery, Next Generation Book Awards
Drayco plans to meet a prospective client at his Opera House, only to find his client dead.
What I liked:
*Interesting small town characters.
*No bodies of women tortured.
*Nice plot line focused mainly on solving the murder(s).
Played to Death is the first in a series, and I plan to continue reading. I'm a little tired of "thrillers" in which the thrill involves tortured and murdered women. I don't mind one every once in a while, but it seems more and more have less mystery and investigation and more horrific cases. Anyway, I did enjoy this book and the characters.
Mystery/PI. 2014. Print length: 314 pages.
The Lawson recommend puts it on my reading list. Thank you
ReplyDeleteI began reading a non-fiction title. Having a stack of mysteries to read will be a good reading mix.
I'm still reading Tove Jannson's letters and alternating with fiction. I like mixing nonfiction with fiction. Sometimes nonfiction needs pauses in between reading sessions. :) The first 250 or so pages of the letters I read quickly; I'm taking the last half or the book more slowly. What nonfiction are you reading now?
DeleteBoth books sound like a great read.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I'm a bit tired of thrillers featuring tortured and murdered women. I understand they make an intriguing feature but it gets old when there are too many. ;p
I just read a thriller that had some good parts and good writing, but too many tortured and murdered women. I would have liked it better if it had not been so much about titillating the reader with violence committed on women.
DeletePlayed to death sounds really good! Though I hear you on how common murdered women are in this genre.
ReplyDeletePlayed to Death was about the investigation and the characters. The actual deaths were kept out of sight. The book was an unfolding by investigation. :)
DeleteI'm always on the lookout for new Gothic reads. And that thriller sounds really good. I'm so glad that there were no bodies of women tortured. I'm right there with you about being tired of that.
ReplyDeleteI'm always in for a good Gothic novel. :) (oh, and mediums and séances) I did enjoy the BV Lawson book that didn't need the abuse of women.
DeleteI'm intrigued by The Quickening. Though I wish you'd liked it more. Still, I might give it a try. :)
ReplyDeleteI didn't feel enough suspense and felt several things went unanswered in the plot, but the Gothic style of writing was very good! Of course, a séance and a possible ghost--also good. :)
DeleteI always love a seance and a ghost. :)
DeleteMe, too. :)
DeleteI know what you mean about thrillers. I'm not quite ready to go straight to cozies only but I'm definitely more into mystery series. The Quickening sounds like a good choice especially one to remember for R.I.P.!
ReplyDeleteThe Quickening is definitely R.I.P. material! Just the right atmosphere for that challenge and for Halloween reading. :)
DeleteI have to agree with you about thrillers...getting very tired of the type you mentioned. In fact, the more thrillers I read, the more difficult it has become to find much of anything that is remotely original. And the more farfetched they are, the less I enjoy them. I've abandoned two of them already this year.
ReplyDeleteTrue. They have such similar formats, characters, and plots. It is almost as if the authors try to out "far fetch" each other. Mainly kill a lot of women in horrendous situations. Sad to say that is so frequent that it becomes more tedious than shocking.
DeleteBoth of these sound appealing. The Quickening with its Gothic ambiance and Played to Death for the mystery. I find I have to spread my thriller reading out a bit these days. I'm tired of reading books about torture and killing of women too. It does sometimes feel like authors are trying to out do each other with how violent and shocking the crime can be.
ReplyDeleteGood point on the overuse of the torture and murder of women. Sometimes genre writers surprise me in that they stay so narrowly within the confines of what has come before. This is particularly surprising to me in fantasy, when really the sky is the limit! You don't have to have a faux-medieval setting or standard gender norms, etc.
ReplyDelete