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A review by alesia_charles
The Devil in Music by Kate Ross
3.0
It took me a long time to finish this, because unlike the earlier three volumes, it dragged. The first 50 or so pages held a lamentable lack of Julian Kestrel, and even once he arrived on the scene there was a lot of conversation and very little progress.
Really, things only took off after Rinaldo Malvezzi arrived on page 266, and then they proceeded most satisfactorily: drama, another murder, investigation, recriminations, tragedy, and threats of premature interment! Not to mention a twist in the ending that I'd actually considered early on, but then discarded because the author carefully avoided any hints toward it at all.
Besides that last third or so of the book, the most interesting part of the story was learning about early nineteenth-century northern Italy, a place and time that is much neglected in fiction - and in history as taught in the United States. The area had been conquered by the French and then, including the time of the book, the Austrians. There's a substantial political background to the story, to go with the cultural information.
But I didn't pick up the book to learn about occupied Italy, though that was a welcome bonus. Despite the great ending, overall I was a bit disappointed in Ross's last book, which makes me sad. It was good enough, but not as good as the previous ones.
Really, things only took off after Rinaldo Malvezzi arrived on page 266, and then they proceeded most satisfactorily: drama, another murder, investigation, recriminations, tragedy, and threats of premature interment! Not to mention a twist in the ending that I'd actually considered early on, but then discarded because the author carefully avoided any hints toward it at all.
Besides that last third or so of the book, the most interesting part of the story was learning about early nineteenth-century northern Italy, a place and time that is much neglected in fiction - and in history as taught in the United States. The area had been conquered by the French and then, including the time of the book, the Austrians. There's a substantial political background to the story, to go with the cultural information.
But I didn't pick up the book to learn about occupied Italy, though that was a welcome bonus. Despite the great ending, overall I was a bit disappointed in Ross's last book, which makes me sad. It was good enough, but not as good as the previous ones.