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A review by thunguyen
A Broken Vessel by Kate Ross
4.0
The 2nd instalment in Julian Kestrel series, there is a pattern here: an unknown girl found dead in a locked up house. So, again, almost all of the book was about following the loosest leads to find out who the girl was, and of course, some of the leads led to an entirely unrelated mystery, it is our amateur sleuths' job to sieve through all the information and follow the right lead.
Unlike the 1st book, this one doesn't have the same feel of "police procedure" about the murder, there is no extensive discussion of post-mortem report as the dead was cause by poison, there is no establishing alibis for suspects as the dead was deemed a suicide and there was no suspect. Half of the book was told from Sally's, a new character, point of view, it took the time away from Julian but I didn't mind the change as long as the story makes sense. Dipper again played a role in the investigation, and I like the way that his character has a lot of independence in skills and personalities. He has his own wit and adventure, not simply to carry out Julian's order and be in a position to talk to servants (as usually seen in other ladies & gentlemen sleuths books).
Many reviews seem to strongly disagree with the fling between Julian and Sally, but I think it makes sense. In a book heavy with prostitution topics, from the girls' perilous lives, to despicable reforming preachers and charity matrons, to straight out human trafficking, Sally's character adds a drop of sunlight to the story. Her deliberate choice of spending one night with Julian without expecting anything is her own way to express her fierce independence. For Julian's part, this act added another layer of humanity underneath his dandy exterior. If he could send an illustration book to a little lady girl who was a friend from the 1st story "Cut to the quick", and spent time away from his investigation to help a poor peasant girl, and carried his own luggage in the rain while walking with his manservant, why couldn't he fall a little bit in love with a very clever and playful prostitute?
In the end, the mysteries were somewhat predictable, I have an inkling of what they are before the penny dropped for Julian, purely because of the drama effect such answers would bring. All loose ends were explained, and didn't leave us with the feeling of "too many coincidences" like in book 1.
Gonna keep reading the series, after all, there are only 4 books. I hope the 3rd one will be different once again.
Unlike the 1st book, this one doesn't have the same feel of "police procedure" about the murder, there is no extensive discussion of post-mortem report as the dead was cause by poison, there is no establishing alibis for suspects as the dead was deemed a suicide and there was no suspect. Half of the book was told from Sally's, a new character, point of view, it took the time away from Julian but I didn't mind the change as long as the story makes sense. Dipper again played a role in the investigation, and I like the way that his character has a lot of independence in skills and personalities. He has his own wit and adventure, not simply to carry out Julian's order and be in a position to talk to servants (as usually seen in other ladies & gentlemen sleuths books).
Many reviews seem to strongly disagree with the fling between Julian and Sally, but I think it makes sense. In a book heavy with prostitution topics, from the girls' perilous lives, to despicable reforming preachers and charity matrons, to straight out human trafficking, Sally's character adds a drop of sunlight to the story. Her deliberate choice of spending one night with Julian without expecting anything is her own way to express her fierce independence. For Julian's part, this act added another layer of humanity underneath his dandy exterior. If he could send an illustration book to a little lady girl who was a friend from the 1st story "Cut to the quick", and spent time away from his investigation to help a poor peasant girl, and carried his own luggage in the rain while walking with his manservant, why couldn't he fall a little bit in love with a very clever and playful prostitute?
In the end, the mysteries were somewhat predictable, I have an inkling of what they are before the penny dropped for Julian, purely because of the drama effect such answers would bring. All loose ends were explained, and didn't leave us with the feeling of "too many coincidences" like in book 1.
Gonna keep reading the series, after all, there are only 4 books. I hope the 3rd one will be different once again.