A review by andipants
A Dangerous Duet by Karen Odden

3.0

I loved the setup here, and the first half was very engaging. The setting and the atmosphere were spot on, and I liked the variety of interesting and complex characters. Unfortunately, the plot didn't really follow through. For a supposed mystery, Nell does very little in terms of detective work; she goes about her daily life, things happen to and around her, then there's a flurry of (ultimately pretty ineffectual) activity at the end, and it's over. In the end,

Spoiler

she doesn't solve the mystery; her brother does. Her only real part to play is saving her boyfriend

. The thread of the mental illness plot is essentially left dangling; Nell gets no real growth or closure on that front, and the conclusion with regards to her piano playing doesn't make much sense. The line about her having a place and being able to choose (p. 382) would make sense if she'd felt trapped, or like she didn't have a choice before, but at no point in the book does she let anyone dictate her life to her; it's a consistent character trait (and one that I liked) that she makes her own choices and finds a way to get what she wants in spite of the obstacles in her path, so this is a flimsy conclusion at best.

Overall, the very weak plot is mitigated somewhat by the wonderful characters and setting, but not enough to make it really great. I'd call it a solid fair-to-middling: three stars.