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madzie's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Bell crafts a story with great theme development which deals with women and queer history as well as the morals of oppression and crime. Bell says a lot in this book, wrapping up deep ideas about what love is and how others will use social standing to perpetuate hate - lessons still oh so applicable to daily life. She highlights a strong and realistic ace voice that is often never shown in media, giving life and understanding to the daily struggles of being asexual in an allonomative world. Everything Louisa thinks about her sexual orientation is definitely something I have thought at least once, and her constant navigation of love and relationships is very true to the asexual experience, reminding the world that different understandings of love are vital for all people and should never be silenced. Her tackling of sapphic characters and themes also develops similarly, demonstrating the cruel reality of the history of being queer while also offering hope of how people have continued to exist when they were told and forced not to.
Further, Bell demonstrates an insightful feminist commentary on how women have been treated throughout history and continue to be treated today. Her use of history is authentic and makes her work come to life. She highlights small points of the time period that make it feel like you are truly back in time. However, most notable is her use of mystery, always leaving the audience to guess what is going to happen next. Get out your notebook, though, because you may need to write down these characters who constantly interact and influence one another and how society has left them. Bell proves she can wind an irresistible complex plot and character cast flawlessly. Her main relationship between Ada and Louisa further invokes authentic life and gives a deeper look into how opposite viewpoints can support us and make us stronger, while love can bridge all sorts of gaps.
Bellโs prose is satisfying, beautifully using free indirect discourse and modern prose to be an easy read. My only complaint is some moments feel forced and unrealistic to recap events to the audience. Nevertheless, these moments are little in a novel that tackles great themes with well-rounded characters. Overall, I very much enjoyed this novel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Sexism, Infidelity, and Acephobia/Arophobia
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Murder, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Racism and Abortion
Bell tackles many social issues prominent in the historical period her novel is set, developing themes over the oppression of women and queer people. However, the novel offers hope of how oppressed people navigate society and often live happy and fulfilling lives. She gives a voice to oppressed and marginalized people, always suggesting the types of oppression listed above are harmful for everyone involved and never acceptable. The plot is set around infidelity and domestic abuse that ends in murder.sarah_bell's review
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Book Twitter told me it was alright to rate my own book ๐คทโโ๏ธ
Anyway, thank you to anyone who has read & reviewed ๐
And to anyone who's considering reading, here's a breakdown. If any of the following catch your attention, you might just enjoy it:
โ 1912 Yorkshire
๐ญ Sapphic
โ ๏ธ Ace rep
๐ Logical bookish one + impulsive artsy one ๐จ
๐ค Female camaraderie
๐ฌ Sarcasm aplenty
โ A murder victim who had it coming
๐ Investigating despite being warned off
โ Legality v morality
Anyway, thank you to anyone who has read & reviewed ๐
And to anyone who's considering reading, here's a breakdown. If any of the following catch your attention, you might just enjoy it:
โ 1912 Yorkshire
๐ญ Sapphic
โ ๏ธ Ace rep
๐ Logical bookish one + impulsive artsy one ๐จ
๐ค Female camaraderie
๐ฌ Sarcasm aplenty
โ A murder victim who had it coming
๐ Investigating despite being warned off
โ Legality v morality
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Abortion, Death, Infidelity, Murder, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Racism, Grief, Alcohol, Child death, Cursing, Death of parent, and Homophobia
Please note a lot of the warnings above relate to information the characters learn about in regards to their investigation and it is described to them, rather than it directly happening to them in the narrative.shanaqui's review
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
At first, reading The Murder Next Door felt like reading the nth book in an ongoing series. There were references to previous investigations, and bits of one of the protagonists' past were peeping through, and it just felt like there was a whole previous book or even series being referenced. I knew it was the author's debut, though, from other reviews, so I stuck with it and can confirm that the information you need is all contained within this book, that you don't need to know about the previous investigations (aside from that they were ill-received by the local police), and that the characters and their motivations all fully make sense by the end.
The story itself is not so unique: the couple next door have always seemed a little haughty and aloof, but beneath the surface, the husband was abusive and unfaithful, and the wife was terrified and fed up. Louisa and Ada become involved when the husband suddenly dies, and it's clear it was poison: Ada saw the wife fleeing with her young son, and is haunted by another woman who was once arrested for murder.
Where it becomes a little less typical is the fact that Ada and Louisa are a couple, with Ada acting as Louisa's 'companion' in order to hide the truth of their relationship. What's more, Louisa is actually asexual (though she doesn't have that word for it), and her relationship with Ada is a balancing act of trying to read cues she doesn't understand, and trying to ensure the relationship is also satisfying for Ada. That aspect of the book was handled pretty well: that navigation between them rings true.
Overall, it was a fairly enjoyable story once I got into it and felt sure that all the pieces would be present in the same book (and that I wouldn't have to find some other book to figure out why Ada was so affected by the case). I did find the characters a little... wooden, I suppose, in some ways? There were some scenes where things definitely rang true, and then others where it felt that the characters were arguing or agreeing solely because that's what the plot needed in order to proceed. Sometimes it felt like a bit of a shortcut, I suppose.
So I guess the upshot is that it was enjoyable, just not brilliant.
The story itself is not so unique: the couple next door have always seemed a little haughty and aloof, but beneath the surface, the husband was abusive and unfaithful, and the wife was terrified and fed up. Louisa and Ada become involved when the husband suddenly dies, and it's clear it was poison: Ada saw the wife fleeing with her young son, and is haunted by another woman who was once arrested for murder.
Where it becomes a little less typical is the fact that Ada and Louisa are a couple, with Ada acting as Louisa's 'companion' in order to hide the truth of their relationship. What's more, Louisa is actually asexual (though she doesn't have that word for it), and her relationship with Ada is a balancing act of trying to read cues she doesn't understand, and trying to ensure the relationship is also satisfying for Ada. That aspect of the book was handled pretty well: that navigation between them rings true.
Overall, it was a fairly enjoyable story once I got into it and felt sure that all the pieces would be present in the same book (and that I wouldn't have to find some other book to figure out why Ada was so affected by the case). I did find the characters a little... wooden, I suppose, in some ways? There were some scenes where things definitely rang true, and then others where it felt that the characters were arguing or agreeing solely because that's what the plot needed in order to proceed. Sometimes it felt like a bit of a shortcut, I suppose.
So I guess the upshot is that it was enjoyable, just not brilliant.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse
Minor: Homophobia and Abortion
The domestic abuse is reported, not directly witnessed. The homophobia is typical for the period being portrayed.
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