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lgpiper 's review for:
Except the Dying
by Maureen Jennings
I found this to be rather a disappointment. My spouse and I have begun watching the popular TV series, Murdoch Murders, and have enjoyed them quite a lot. While this book contains characters with similar names, their characteristics aren't much like the video characters. In the video, William Murdoch is a highly educated person who employs scientific investigations to help his investigations along. In the book, we learn that Murdoch was poorly educated and began his working career as a lumberman. Also, he has a mustache, unlike the video character. Then too, Insp. Brackenreid turns out to be an Irishman of the "orange" variety, who had emigrated to Canada as a child, so never darkened the doors of Scotland Yard, and George Crabtree is a bit of a jock. So, it would seem that the only similarity between the book and the video series are the names of three characters and the fact that things are set in the 1890s.
But, I think the biggest disappointment for me is that even the educated people in the book, doctors and lawyers and such like, don't understand grammar. While it's rather common that younger people who have come of age since the 1990s don't don't properly differentiate between objective and nominative case, find it hard to believe that educated people in the 1890s would do likewise. Interestingly, these rather glaring grammar faux pas are also a feature in the videos. I find myself correcting the characters multiple times per episode. Really, they shouldn't talk like the people on sports talk radio in the 21st century. Gah!
Sorry, I got distracted.
Now, as for the story. A young woman, a Therese Laporte is found frozen to death in the snow. It turns out that she had been drugged with opium first. Later on, before her body was discovered by the authorities, her clothes were stripped off. Therese was a maid in the household of Dr. Cyril Rhodes and his wife, Donalda. It seems that Therese was several months pregnant. The only two people in the household who mourned Therese's demise were Donalda and the stable boy, Joe Seaton.
Two people who might have been involved were two young women, Bernadette Weston and Alice Black, who allegedly sewed gloves for a living, but who also seemed to derive most of their income by "entertaining" gentlemen, might know something. Their lodging was near where Therese was found, and Murdoch, upon talking to them, is sure they're hiding something. Later on, he finds Therese's clothes hidden in the outhouse behind the women's lodging.
Another line of inquiry, of course, is to look for the person who got Therese "with child". Might it have been her employer, his son, Owen, or perhaps, the butler? Then too, it could be the not so punctilious father of Owen's fiancée, Harriet Shepcote.
A while later on, Alice is found frozen to death on a lake, having also been drugged with opium.
So, anyway, we have lots of suspects and lots of blind alleys. Eventually, it all gets figured out. I dunno, I gave it 3*, but were it possible on GoodReads, I'd likely give it only 3*-, which to my mind makes it better than 2*+, but still only a vaguely GoodRead.
But, I think the biggest disappointment for me is that even the educated people in the book, doctors and lawyers and such like, don't understand grammar. While it's rather common that younger people who have come of age since the 1990s don't don't properly differentiate between objective and nominative case, find it hard to believe that educated people in the 1890s would do likewise. Interestingly, these rather glaring grammar faux pas are also a feature in the videos. I find myself correcting the characters multiple times per episode. Really, they shouldn't talk like the people on sports talk radio in the 21st century. Gah!
Sorry, I got distracted.
Now, as for the story. A young woman, a Therese Laporte is found frozen to death in the snow. It turns out that she had been drugged with opium first. Later on, before her body was discovered by the authorities, her clothes were stripped off. Therese was a maid in the household of Dr. Cyril Rhodes and his wife, Donalda. It seems that Therese was several months pregnant. The only two people in the household who mourned Therese's demise were Donalda and the stable boy, Joe Seaton.
Two people who might have been involved were two young women, Bernadette Weston and Alice Black, who allegedly sewed gloves for a living, but who also seemed to derive most of their income by "entertaining" gentlemen, might know something. Their lodging was near where Therese was found, and Murdoch, upon talking to them, is sure they're hiding something. Later on, he finds Therese's clothes hidden in the outhouse behind the women's lodging.
Another line of inquiry, of course, is to look for the person who got Therese "with child". Might it have been her employer, his son, Owen, or perhaps, the butler? Then too, it could be the not so punctilious father of Owen's fiancée, Harriet Shepcote.
A while later on, Alice is found frozen to death on a lake, having also been drugged with opium.
So, anyway, we have lots of suspects and lots of blind alleys. Eventually, it all gets figured out. I dunno, I gave it 3*, but were it possible on GoodReads, I'd likely give it only 3*-, which to my mind makes it better than 2*+, but still only a vaguely GoodRead.