Scan barcode
A review by cmbohn
A Trace of Deceit by Karen Odden
4.0
I love a good historical mystery. I get to learn about some aspect of history, in this case the Victorian art world, while enjoying a good whodunnit. This book was no exception. I was a little hesitant, since this was book 2 in a series, but as it happens the books are set in the same general time frame, but are not truly related.
The story centers around the murder of an artist during an art theft. A valuable French painting goes missing while being restored. Only after its disappearance do the police learn about a dispute over the ownership of the missing painting. Meanwhile the artist's sister, who is an art student herself, joins the hunt for the killer. Annabel and the police inspector dig through the past to track down the painting - and the murderer.
I feel like a lot of writers struggle to get it right when writing a historical mystery with a female main character. They give her modern attitudes and allow her modern freedoms that are completely out of place. While I understand wanting to showcase some parts of life that have been left out of existing mysteries, throwing a totally modern character into a 19th century story just doesn't work.
In this case, I felt like Annabel's story was authentic enough. The Slade did accept female students, and there were female artists. I just question whether a single young woman would wander about so much on her own. Would people really take her seriously enough to answer her questions? Most of the time she accompanied the inspector, though, so that was mostly OK. I did like the characters and the story moved at a good pace. This one definitely kept my interest. I liked it enough that I'd be happy to go back and read the first book.
This book was just released this week. I read it in paperback and I have to thank the publisher for the chance to read this one.
The story centers around the murder of an artist during an art theft. A valuable French painting goes missing while being restored. Only after its disappearance do the police learn about a dispute over the ownership of the missing painting. Meanwhile the artist's sister, who is an art student herself, joins the hunt for the killer. Annabel and the police inspector dig through the past to track down the painting - and the murderer.
I feel like a lot of writers struggle to get it right when writing a historical mystery with a female main character. They give her modern attitudes and allow her modern freedoms that are completely out of place. While I understand wanting to showcase some parts of life that have been left out of existing mysteries, throwing a totally modern character into a 19th century story just doesn't work.
In this case, I felt like Annabel's story was authentic enough. The Slade did accept female students, and there were female artists. I just question whether a single young woman would wander about so much on her own. Would people really take her seriously enough to answer her questions? Most of the time she accompanied the inspector, though, so that was mostly OK. I did like the characters and the story moved at a good pace. This one definitely kept my interest. I liked it enough that I'd be happy to go back and read the first book.
This book was just released this week. I read it in paperback and I have to thank the publisher for the chance to read this one.