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3.43 AVERAGE
3.43 AVERAGE
I think I'm being generous with this rating as I'm spoiled with the wonderful Regency mysteries of C.S. Harris and Anne Perry's Victorian William Monk series. This story was somewhat convoluted while not really adding to the murder mystery. As other reviewers noted, there is a lot of anachronisms and inaccuracies that a little research would have fixed.
Charles Lenox is likable enough though Lady Jane is a bit of a cipher, more of a cardboard cutout for a female role. I did find the relationship between Lenox and his butler odd. Sometimes they're friendly and other times strictly employer/employee for no particular reason (no one else is there). All the men in love and having sex with the murdered maid was also strange to me; why aren't they all suspects right away? Lenox's reasoning just didn't work for me.
Charles Lenox is likable enough though Lady Jane is a bit of a cipher, more of a cardboard cutout for a female role. I did find the relationship between Lenox and his butler odd. Sometimes they're friendly and other times strictly employer/employee for no particular reason (no one else is there). All the men in love and having sex with the murdered maid was also strange to me; why aren't they all suspects right away? Lenox's reasoning just didn't work for me.
Charles Lenox is a gentleman in 1860s London. Lady Jane Grey approaches Lenox for help investigating when a former servant turns up dead. Charles immediately sees that the servant, Prue Smith, was murdered, and that it was set up to look like suicide. The case is complicated, because Smith had been working in the house of another gentleman, who refuses to believe the death could be murder. With the help of his butler/friend Graham (Watson?), Lenox (Holmes?) feels he has the case about solved when his chief suspect is murdered. He goes on to solve both murders. I took me a LONG time to read this book, and I had a hard time getting engaged. Because of my haphazard reading, I had a hard time keeping track of all the characters. The story was good and plot was fine, I just don't think I was in the right mental state to enjoy it as I could have, so I err on the side of three stars instead of two.
Completely failed as a distraction... I found the characters not very original, the mystery so easily guessed that it is comical, plus, it just doesn't want to finish! I mean everything has an answer why do we have to 3 or 4 more chapters? Very disappointing and I did really need something to put off my mind from reality.
http://wordnerdy.blogspot.com/2013/11/2013-book-299.html
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Victorian mystery. Good research. Only a couple of anachronisms. Lots of snow. Made me grateful for today's warm boots; even 50 years ago they were hard to get. Well-written in a kind of Victorian prose. Nice cozy but platonic romance between the sleuth, Charles Lenox, and his best friend, lady Jane, from childhood. Couldn't figure out whodunit it til it was revealed. Clever plot. Lady Jane's former maid is discovered to be poisoned and Lenox looks into it as a favor. I liked the portrayals of the webs of family and friendships that governed England then.
The first in a series of cozy mysteries set in Victorian London. The sleuth, an amateur by the name of Charles Lenox, draws upon his brother, butler, and friends to help him solve two murders. There is also a potential love interest for Lenox, a 40-year-old bachelor, in his neighbor, Lady Jane, a widow whom he has known since their childhood in Sussex. The novel gives a good sense of place and time and the characters are likeable.
I listened to the audiobook and had forgotten much of the book, which apparently I read three years ago. I enjoyed the audiobook quite a bit. It might nudge my rating into the "4" range. I especially loved the way the reader voiced Graham and the other butlers. The reader was good with most of the male voices, but not so good with the female voices (especially Lady Jane). The plot seemed to bog down a bit. I was only half way through the novel and felt I was ready to have the case come to a conclusion.
I listened to the audiobook and had forgotten much of the book, which apparently I read three years ago. I enjoyed the audiobook quite a bit. It might nudge my rating into the "4" range. I especially loved the way the reader voiced Graham and the other butlers. The reader was good with most of the male voices, but not so good with the female voices (especially Lady Jane). The plot seemed to bog down a bit. I was only half way through the novel and felt I was ready to have the case come to a conclusion.
This is the first book in what is going to be a series involving Victorian gentleman Charles Lenox. He's an armchair explorer who also happens to excel in solving mysteries. Even though this is the first book in the series, it is evident that Charles has solved mysteries in the past. His next door neighbor, Lady Jane Gray, asks him to look into the death of a former servant who left her employ in order to work at the home where her fiance was employed. Lady Jane and Charles have been friends since childhood.
Charles' butler, Graham, and Charles' brother, Edmund, also become involved in this case, along with another friend and former physician, McConnell.
The Royal Mint, Parliament, winter in Victorian England, manners and customs, romantic liaisons, and murders make this an enjoyable read. I will probably read the next offering in the series.
Charles' butler, Graham, and Charles' brother, Edmund, also become involved in this case, along with another friend and former physician, McConnell.
The Royal Mint, Parliament, winter in Victorian England, manners and customs, romantic liaisons, and murders make this an enjoyable read. I will probably read the next offering in the series.
Although all three authors might not agree, for me this was a Jane Austin meets Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Mystery meets British Society and I loved every minute of it! I'm not in search of Finch's other novels to continue getting to know my new favorite gentleman detective Charles Lenox!
Charles Lenox is a gentleman of the highest class. Aristocratic birth and old money allow him to live a life of leisure in one of London’s best neighborhoods. For Lenox, leisure means sipping tea in front of a cozy fire, studying Roman antiquities, and—and this is what separates our Charles Lenox from the other rich but dull members of high society—solving mysteries. Lenox is an amateur detective; his wealth allows him to take pleasure in solving the crime rather than in getting paid to do so. He attracts people from the poor lower classes and, because of his status as a gentleman, the aristocracy trusts him to solve their mysteries as well. So when Lenox’s neighbor and close friend Lady Jane Grey learns that her former maid has committed suicide, she asks Lenox to investigate. The maid, Prue Smith, was poisoned, and Lenox quickly deduces that it’s murder. The poison is rare, Prue’s master George Barnard is the Director of the Royal Mint, and there’s a house full of guests who make excellent suspects. It’s a worthy mystery, but its first-time author Charles Finch’s finely-drawn portrait of the life and times of Lenox that will keep readers turning the pages. Lenox is a sleuth of the finest order and Finch gifts him with a complex character and a fully realized history. Lenox has a couple of unconventional relationships in an age where rigid class and gender roles keep gentlefolk separate from their servants and men separate from women that add complexity and charm to the already engaging story, one a sincere friendship with his butler Graham and the other a cozy camaraderie with Lady Jane. With precise writing and Victorian atmosphere a-plenty, this is a true-blue mystery series in the making. An Agatha Award nominee in the tradition of Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle, A Beautiful Blue Death is a quality whodunit to be savored slowly, preferably in front of a roaring fire with a hot cup of tea.