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A review by tawallah
A Drink of Deadly Wine by Kate Charles
2.0
This book has been a challenge to read. On one hand, it captured well the typical characters you can find in the Anglican/Church of England. They are well described with all their idiosyncrasies. Some are quite humorous even if many are stereotypical. With the well described characters, London is well described. Even the epigraphs using certain psalms to set the tone for the chapter was great way to show that the book of Psalm can handle any aspect of life.
This book deals with gossip and blackmail, hence the title. The well loved vicar with the seemingly perfect family receives a poisoned letter about a past event. This event threatens his job and family as no-one should know about it. Clearly there are nuances to this well-loved vicar as well as other characters which are touched throughout the novel. But, it is the unraveling of this component and the final denouement that fail to hit the high note I expected. The secret and its exploration felt unrealistic and pulled me out of the story. When it was mirrored in another character, it felt gimmicky and unrealistic. And the ending just felt almost irrelevant to the story.
Unfortunately, I am unsure if I want to continue this series.
This book deals with gossip and blackmail, hence the title. The well loved vicar with the seemingly perfect family receives a poisoned letter about a past event. This event threatens his job and family as no-one should know about it. Clearly there are nuances to this well-loved vicar as well as other characters which are touched throughout the novel. But, it is the unraveling of this component and the final denouement that fail to hit the high note I expected. The secret and its exploration felt unrealistic and pulled me out of the story. When it was mirrored in another character, it felt gimmicky and unrealistic. And the ending just felt almost irrelevant to the story.
Unfortunately, I am unsure if I want to continue this series.