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A review by jenbsbooks
Murder at Spindle Manor by Morgan Stang
3.25
This was fine ... I've really enjoyed books by Gial Carriger, which have a similar steampunk/supernatural setup, so I'm not sure why I didn't funny connect with this one. It was well written, with a bit of an Agatha Christie "10 Little Indians" countdown (the Chapter 2 heading was even "Ten Little Guests", but maybe it was just too much? Part of the fun in a mystery, is the reader attempting to figure it out. Here, it was all just too complex and unknown.
Some of the paranormal specters were a little familiar, but others were new. I've never heard of a Doppelvyrm (and it appears created for this story). I have seem something similar to the "living doll" presented here. Astral Projection (a favorite book when I was young was Lois Duncan's Stranger With My Face), a mesmer, a medium, a ghost, a "malformed" (new to this story), a cyborg (half human half machine), necromancy, "zombies", time travel, "Nobles" ... Lady Celestial Brilliance Constellation (12 feet tall ... I was thinking of Pokemon's Celesteela or Pheromosa). There might have been more weird stuff going on that I'm not remembering right off. A LOT.
Also, so many characters. There are the 10 suspects ... we get a laid out list at the end of Chapter2, which I had to highlight and refer back to. There were several other characters in addition to those 10. Beyond the "I'm going to kill one of these 10 people, one of who is the Doppelvyrm" there is a regular ol' human murder. That seems to take over the story more than the original search for the Doppelvyrm. I got a little annoyed with Isabeau in the last half "and now I'll tell you who the murderer is" and she goes on and on and on and on bringing up how everyone could be the suspect.
There was some fun humor ... the skipping of Chapter 13. Evie asking Isabeau how much she weighs. The head splattering into the porridge was funny the first two times, the third and fourth was a bit of overkill.
The interrogations were interesting ... just the lines of dialog, no/very little "he said" and "she said" ... it took just a bit of extra concentration to remember which character was saying what (but better than overusing "said") ...
So ... I think maybe the timing wasn't right for me, that another time I might have enjoyed this more. I made some highlights, more to prep for bookclub, as this was a selection for that. No audio available, so I had to read it on my own (pros and cons to that).
1st in a series but I'm not planning to continue on.
Content - proFanity x2, and some crude sexual humor.
Some of the paranormal specters were a little familiar, but others were new. I've never heard of a Doppelvyrm (and it appears created for this story). I have seem something similar to the "living doll" presented here. Astral Projection (a favorite book when I was young was Lois Duncan's Stranger With My Face), a mesmer, a medium, a ghost, a "malformed" (new to this story), a cyborg (half human half machine), necromancy, "zombies", time travel, "Nobles" ... Lady Celestial Brilliance Constellation (12 feet tall ... I was thinking of Pokemon's Celesteela or Pheromosa). There might have been more weird stuff going on that I'm not remembering right off. A LOT.
Also, so many characters. There are the 10 suspects ... we get a laid out list at the end of Chapter2, which I had to highlight and refer back to. There were several other characters in addition to those 10. Beyond the "I'm going to kill one of these 10 people, one of who is the Doppelvyrm" there is a regular ol' human murder. That seems to take over the story more than the original search for the Doppelvyrm. I got a little annoyed with Isabeau in the last half "and now I'll tell you who the murderer is" and she goes on and on and on and on bringing up how everyone could be the suspect.
There was some fun humor ... the skipping of Chapter 13. Evie asking Isabeau how much she weighs. The head splattering into the porridge was funny the first two times, the third and fourth was a bit of overkill.
The interrogations were interesting ... just the lines of dialog, no/very little "he said" and "she said" ... it took just a bit of extra concentration to remember which character was saying what (but better than overusing "said") ...
So ... I think maybe the timing wasn't right for me, that another time I might have enjoyed this more. I made some highlights, more to prep for bookclub, as this was a selection for that. No audio available, so I had to read it on my own (pros and cons to that).
1st in a series but I'm not planning to continue on.
Content - proFanity x2, and some crude sexual humor.