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astrocourt 's review for:
Except the Dying
by Maureen Jennings
The book: Murdoch Mysteries: Except The Dying
The author: Maureen Jennings, British-born Canadian author.
The subject: A young woman is found murdered in Toronto during the freezing winter of 1895; Detective William Murdoch must find out who is responsible.
Why I chose it: I really enjoy the TV series based on these books and wanted to check out the source material.
The rating: Three out of five stars
What I thought of it: This is a bit of a tricky one. This book was very different to the TV series, so is it fair to consider the book lacking because I didn't enjoy it as much? I thought it was pretty good in its own right and probably would have marked it the same even if I hadn't seen the TV show, which I enjoy more than I enjoyed this book. Still, I can't ignore my disappointment.
Being positive, the setting of this book is really well painted. The author obviously did a lot of research to make it feel so authentic. The characters are also vividly created and felt like real people, flaws and all. The mystery itself is solid too and kept me guessing throughout (not that that's difficult because I've only ever once worked out the murderer especially early on, but still). The book also gave interesting insights into class differences and other societal factors at play in the world in which it's set.
On the negative side, this book doesn't have the same humour as the TV show and the characters are a lot darker. In a way this is good, because this book isn't trying to be light-hearted, but I have to admit I enjoy how the show doesn't take itself too seriously. A glaring omission is the lack of nineteenth-century science on display in this book. Again, it's possibly unfair to compare the two, so here's one thing that's wrong with the book completely independent of any comparison: the killer's motive wasn't really explored at all. I'm not entirely sure why they did what they did!
In comparison to the TV show version, this book wasn't quite as enjoyable to me despite being alright in its own right. Still, I have the next in the series out of the library and will probably start it soon, since the plot sounds pretty interesting.
Just one more thing: For those of you who like the show too, someone has started the epic task of recording how many times Brackenreid says "Me Ol' Mucker" in each episode. Important work, I'm sure you'll agree.
The author: Maureen Jennings, British-born Canadian author.
The subject: A young woman is found murdered in Toronto during the freezing winter of 1895; Detective William Murdoch must find out who is responsible.
Why I chose it: I really enjoy the TV series based on these books and wanted to check out the source material.
The rating: Three out of five stars
What I thought of it: This is a bit of a tricky one. This book was very different to the TV series, so is it fair to consider the book lacking because I didn't enjoy it as much? I thought it was pretty good in its own right and probably would have marked it the same even if I hadn't seen the TV show, which I enjoy more than I enjoyed this book. Still, I can't ignore my disappointment.
Being positive, the setting of this book is really well painted. The author obviously did a lot of research to make it feel so authentic. The characters are also vividly created and felt like real people, flaws and all. The mystery itself is solid too and kept me guessing throughout (not that that's difficult because I've only ever once worked out the murderer especially early on, but still). The book also gave interesting insights into class differences and other societal factors at play in the world in which it's set.
On the negative side, this book doesn't have the same humour as the TV show and the characters are a lot darker. In a way this is good, because this book isn't trying to be light-hearted, but I have to admit I enjoy how the show doesn't take itself too seriously. A glaring omission is the lack of nineteenth-century science on display in this book. Again, it's possibly unfair to compare the two, so here's one thing that's wrong with the book completely independent of any comparison: the killer's motive wasn't really explored at all. I'm not entirely sure why they did what they did!
In comparison to the TV show version, this book wasn't quite as enjoyable to me despite being alright in its own right. Still, I have the next in the series out of the library and will probably start it soon, since the plot sounds pretty interesting.
Just one more thing: For those of you who like the show too, someone has started the epic task of recording how many times Brackenreid says "Me Ol' Mucker" in each episode. Important work, I'm sure you'll agree.