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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
“I hope all that cake you’ve been eating was worth sacrificing your entire married future and sending us all to our deaths.”
Being a lady isn’t easy for Beatrice Steele. She cannot sew or sing, and her artwork frightens everyone. The only thing she seems to be good at is murder (solving, not committing), but of course that’s hard to come by in Swampshire. Until the night of the Annual Autumnal Ball, when a guest drops dead from poisoning. Now it’s up to Beatrice to unmask the killer — preferably without being deemed a “morbid creep” and disgracing her family so badly she must move to mime-infested France.
There I was, having blithely picked up what I assumed would be a semi-cozy “Regency” murder mystery/romance, when I came across this sentence referencing the family never entering Mary Steele’s bedroom: “…there was always a smell of raw meat emanating from within, and everything inside was covered by an unexplained layer of fur.” Believe it or not, it only gets wackier from there. This book is a fabulous combination of traditional “Regency” novel themes, a well-crafted murder mystery, and absolutely off-the-wall satire that kept me nearly snorting my beverage out my nose.
Give this a try if you like an author who pokes fun at the genre while still clearly respecting it, and you’re looking to have a little fun.
Being a lady isn’t easy for Beatrice Steele. She cannot sew or sing, and her artwork frightens everyone. The only thing she seems to be good at is murder (solving, not committing), but of course that’s hard to come by in Swampshire. Until the night of the Annual Autumnal Ball, when a guest drops dead from poisoning. Now it’s up to Beatrice to unmask the killer — preferably without being deemed a “morbid creep” and disgracing her family so badly she must move to mime-infested France.
There I was, having blithely picked up what I assumed would be a semi-cozy “Regency” murder mystery/romance, when I came across this sentence referencing the family never entering Mary Steele’s bedroom: “…there was always a smell of raw meat emanating from within, and everything inside was covered by an unexplained layer of fur.” Believe it or not, it only gets wackier from there. This book is a fabulous combination of traditional “Regency” novel themes, a well-crafted murder mystery, and absolutely off-the-wall satire that kept me nearly snorting my beverage out my nose.
Give this a try if you like an author who pokes fun at the genre while still clearly respecting it, and you’re looking to have a little fun.
Someone else commented that this books suffered from “debut author syndrome”. I can’t think of a more apt description. I could hardly follow the plot, and there were far too many characters with similar names. The world was neither appealing nor believable - it seemed like I was reading a cartoon.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was cute! I liked that it was a kinda funny, cozy mystery that was set in the regency era so you get some bridgerton vibes.
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Simply delightful. I inhaled this book over two days.