A review by saturnus
The Red Palace by June Hur

4.0

june hur is such an expert in this genre oh god. the atmosphere is depicted thoroughly it fitted the different scenes esp about the murder investigation. i seriously gasped and felt chill reading this. june hur also captured the historical korea beautifully and i admired how she actually added an author's note at the end of the book. it's always been intriguing to read something set in past korea esp when the kingdoms reigned.

the red palace took place in 1758 korea, when a murder in a hyeminseo happened. the murder killed four women. our main character, hyeon, found herself joining the secret investigation of this murder with a famous young police inspector, eojin. the characters (esp the murder suspects) are all entangled with each other that i needed to pay attention and take imaginary notes in my brain so i wouldn't miss even a thing. it is a perfectly constructed murder mystery since there were so many things to solve.

i also liked how the romance extended in an unhurried way, emphasizing that the main characters' love story is only a subplot. although the ending was delivered in a common way, i quite enjoyed how things unraveled in the end. the red palace is certainly a well-made mystery story and as i expected, june hur never disappoints <3