Sherry Thomas continues her Lady Sherlock series with The Art of Theft.
from decription:
Charlotte Holmes, Lady Sherlock, is back solving new cases in the Victorian-set mystery series from the USA Today bestselling author of The Hollow of Fear.
And off we go in another adventure with Charlotte Holmes, Lord Ingram, Mrs. Watson, Livia, and other familiar characters.
It is unusual that a prospective client has an interview with Charlotte, and then decides not to engage the services of Sherlock Holmes, but the beautiful Indian woman who requested the interview doesn't believe "Sherlock Holmes" is suitable for the job she requires.
It turns out, however, that Mrs. Watson is an old friend of the mysterious woman, so Charlotte and friends end up in France in a dangerous escapade that turns out to be more than they bargained for.
The plot is concluded, but a twist at the end sets up the next installment. This is the 4th book in the series, and if you are looking for a good binge, start with the first one A Study in Scarlet Women.
Read in June; blog review scheduled for Sept. 19, 2019
NetGalley/Berkley Publishing
Historical Mystery. Oct. 15, 2019. Print length: 336 pages.
The cover, description, and title intrigued me, but when I started it, I wasn't sure if I'd like it. After a chapter or two, my doubts were relieved, and I entered into the spirit of the book about two writers of penny dreadfuls in the form of a penny dreadful and had a great time!
Below are a couple of interesting sources on the topic of the Penny Dreadful.
In the 1830s, increasing literacy and improving technology saw a boom in cheap fiction for the working classes. ‘Penny bloods’ was the original name for the booklets that, in the 1860s, were renamed penny dreadfuls and told stories of adventure, initially of pirates and highwaymen, later concentrating on crime and detection. Issued weekly, each ‘number’, or episode, was eight (occasionally 16) pages, with a black-and-white illustration on the top half of the front page. Double columns of text filled the rest, breaking off at the bottom of the final page, even if it was the middle of a sentence.
(source)
Of note, many famous authors contributed to the serials, Bram Stoker and Wilkie Collins to name a couple, and it was in “The String of Pearls” that Sweeney Todd made his first appearance, 1846 to 1847, by J.M. Rymer and T.P. Prest. (source)
Elizabeth Black, prim and proper headmistress of a girls' school in 1830 London writes acceptable novels for the more staid Victorian audience, but secretly, she also writes romantic and adventurous penny dreadfuls. Since the writing she most enjoys could undermine her role as genteel and respectable headmistress, Elizabeth writes her penny dreadfuls under a pseudonym.
Fletcher Walker, former street urchin and one of the most popular writers of dreadfuls, finds that his role as the most successful author in the genre is threatened by a Mr. King, whose stories have recently become wildly fashionable. Fletcher is also a member of the Dreadful Penny Society, a group of men who write dreadfuls and are intent on saving street children and fighting for the rights of the poor. (I thought I knew the Dread Master, whose identity is kept secret, but maybe not.) At any rate, the society is concerned for social justice.
Written with many of the stylistic elements of the penny dreadfuls, including illustrations (which my ARC copy from NetGalley doesn't include), a little sweet romance, dangerous rescues of children, good and evil characters, and class distinctions of the period. There are also two short stories, one by each author that have connections to the larger narrative.
What fun! I ended up thoroughly enjoying Sarah M. Eden's The Lady and the Highwayman.
Read in May; blog review scheduled for ??
NetGalley/Shadow Mountain Publishing
Historical fiction/Romance. Sept. 3, 2019. Print length: 352 pages.
I read The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter last year and loved it.
European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman is the sequel that takes the Athena Club (Mary Jekyll, Catherine Moreau, Beatrice Rappaccini, Justine Frankenstein, and Diana Hyde) on another exciting adventure.
Don't read this one without having read the The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter first; the sequel depends on the characterizations established in the first book.
The Athena Club faces new and old enemies as they attempt a rescue of Lucy Van Helsing. New and interesting characters include Mina Murray Harker and Irene Adler Norton.
As in the first book, all the characters taken from the original novels and short stories (by Bram Stoker, Robert Louis Stevenson, Mary Shelley, Nathaniel Hawthorne, H.G. Wells, Conan Doyle) are turned on their heads. If you enjoyed any or all of the originals, you will find the Athena Club mash-ups great fun.
All of that said, however, this one is a tad long and could have been improved by judicious editing of at least 100 or so pages.
Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed European Travel and look forward to the next adventures of the "monstrous women" of the Athena Club.
Purchased.
Victorian/Fantasy. 2018. Print length: 780 pages.
I started reading Anne Perry years ago; she has several series, but my favorite is the one featuring Monk & Hester. Although it has been a long time since I've read any of Perry's novels, when NetGalley offered a new book with Monk & Hester, I jumped on it.
William Monk is now commander of the River Police and is on the water when an explosion sinks a pleasure boat full of revelers. The explosion sinks the boat within minutes, and Monk and Orme are immediately pressed into rescuing survivors.
Of some 200 people aboard the Princess Mary, only a few survive, and the event sends shock waves that reverberate throughout England. Monk vows to discover who was responsible, but very quickly, to his great frustration, the River Police are removed from the investigation.
A conspiracy to cover up is evidently in place, and it isn't clear how far up the corruption extends. An Egyptian man is caught, tried, and convicted, but there are obvious flaws in the investigation that fail to place the man on the Princess Mary. When some of the problems with the conviction surface, the investigation is handed back to Monk and the River Police, but by then all of the evidence and witness testimony is contaminated, and Monk and his team seem to be set up for failure. The motivation for the bombing is still unclear, and it is the motivation that will eventually reveal who is responsible.
Characters from previous novels are back in play, and Perry is so good at giving life to secondary characters that it is always a pleasure to see them again. I missed the novel preceding this one, so I'm curious about the circumstances surrounding Sir Oliver Rathbone and Scuff (Scuff was new to me, but Sir Oliver has been in most of this series).
The second trial is sometimes a bit tedious and repetitious. And the involvement of several of the individuals who are so determined to impede justice doesn't feel adequately explained. I was surprised at the ultimate cause of the cover up, however.
Even if the section concerning the second trial was a bit slow, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Monk and Hester in action again. Once again, Perry effectively develops her characters and immerses the reader in a Victorian England that feels authentic.
Read in July; blog post scheduled for Aug. 12, 2014.
NetGalley/Random House/Ballentine
Historic Fiction/Mystery. Sept. 9, 2014. Print length: 320 pages.
