jjares reviewed on 10/10/2016 + 3413 more book reviews

This is my first book by Stephanie Laurens and frankly I expect it to be my last. If this story goes any slower it will be traveling backward. This is awful; the conversations are repetitive and mind-numbingly trite. I can't believe that Scotland Yard allows wives to participate in murder investigations.

Penelope, an engaging figure, goes on-and-on about participating in investigations as part of her future. Frankly, I couldn't care one way or the other, yet she has monologues and dialogues about how important it is.

I happen to have 'read' this via a talking book from the library. Boy, am I glad I didn't buy this book. The reader did absolutely nothing for the book; his reading was as overblown as the story itself. I've been seeing this author's name for years and am shocked that the book is this bad.

The plot is interesting enough; an elderly Lady Halstead is anticipating the end of her life and asks her man-of-business to go over her portfolio. She says there is a problem with her bank account -- it has too much money in it. First, I consider this a fairly modest problem. But when she mentions this 'problem,' she has to be murdered. OK; but this just starts the bodies falling.

I put down the exceedingly flowery prose to the era it was written about -- the Victorians. But the Halstead children are so unlikable, it is painful to read about them. The story is supposed to be about the growing relationship between Montague and Violet, but they are small potatoes in this turgid story.

After due consideration, I think this story is worthy of one star -- or less.

Casebook of Barnaby Adair
1. Where the Heart Leads (2008)
1.5. The Peculiar Case of Lord Finsbury's Diamonds (2014)
2. The Masterful Mr Montague (2014)

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