Reviews

The Wages of Sin by Kaite Welsh

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bmbriar's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I read this mostly in one sitting, and couldn't put it down. As a lover of the hyper-specific genre "woman* in medicine in the Victorian Era also solves crimes", I was excited to find a new series to dive into.

The main strength of this book was its protagonist. Sarah is so well drawn and beautifully flawed while also being incredibly loveable. She also not a very good detective, which was actually quite refreshing to read. The focus is more on her emotional arc than on the actual mystery, but they worked very well in service of each other.

In terms of the mystery itself, there was one element that I thought was drawn out a little too long after it had been made obvious

(that Lucy was Professor M's sister)

but in terms of the murder itself, I found the reveal satisfying in that I hadn't called it, but everything immediately slotted into place.

I'm already looking forward to reading Sarah's next adventure!

Content Warnings

juliamcatherine's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense

3.75

celtic67's review against another edition

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4.0

Review to follow

balawo's review against another edition

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I did not finish after reading some significant percentage. This book was interesting, but I didn’t like the oppression that the FMC was experiencing because she had been labeled “crazy” by her family in Victorian or Edwardian times when any woman who did not behave conventionally could be committed in this way.

I wouldn’t say it was triggering to me, but it was too stressful for what I wanted to read at that time.