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A review by panda_incognito
A Useful Woman by Darcie Wilde
3.0
This book gets off to a very slow start, and the pace never truly picks up until the end. Even then, as Rosalind unravels the mystery, it seems to revolve more around lucky guesses than true deduction. I guessed who was guilty before I was halfway through the book, and even though I did not predict all of the plot twists, I still wasn't impressed with the ending, which seemed too convenient. Still, even though this didn't satisfy me as a mystery, I found it entertaining enough that I am still going to give it three stars. I already have the second book out from the library, so I will give it a chance, and then I will decide whether or not I want to continue with the series.
One thing I appreciate about this book is how completely clean it is. The story references infidelity and other unsavory issues, but the author does not dramatize these elements on the page or dwell on them at length, and just includes them as part of the real world. I would have been fine reading this at thirteen or fourteen, and the story doesn't even have much language. A few mild words appear from time to time, but no more than you would read in Agatha Christie, and the author simply describes someone's speech apart from that, such as saying that the heroine muttered words that would have gotten her expelled from school.
I can't vouch for the rest of the series, of course, since I haven't read it, but since this author also writes bodice-rippers, I wanted to make it clear that this book is very different in content and tone, and that teenagers and adults who prefer gentle reads will not find this too edgy for their tastes.
One thing I appreciate about this book is how completely clean it is. The story references infidelity and other unsavory issues, but the author does not dramatize these elements on the page or dwell on them at length, and just includes them as part of the real world. I would have been fine reading this at thirteen or fourteen, and the story doesn't even have much language. A few mild words appear from time to time, but no more than you would read in Agatha Christie, and the author simply describes someone's speech apart from that, such as saying that the heroine muttered words that would have gotten her expelled from school.
I can't vouch for the rest of the series, of course, since I haven't read it, but since this author also writes bodice-rippers, I wanted to make it clear that this book is very different in content and tone, and that teenagers and adults who prefer gentle reads will not find this too edgy for their tastes.