Showing posts with label Kelling and Bittersohn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kelling and Bittersohn. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

The Odd Job by Charlotte MacLeod

Another book in the series where we don't see much of Max since he is away on a trip to Argentina. Instead, Sarah is left at home to uncover what happened to Dolores Tawne. In life, she was (unofficially) the person who ran the Wilkins Museum. She was also a former art forger who Max had uncovered. In fact, the Bittersohn/Kelling family has had many ties with the Wilkins over the years which allow Sarah to find out what actually happened to Dolores which she feels some urge to do because Dolores set Sarah up as her executrix. Sarah didn't think Dolores had much but she finds the keys to two bank boxes, one of which has six hat pins which look startlingly familiar, mostly because Dolores was killed by a similar object, one that was mailed to Sarah. And it seems that the hatpins have a history of their own, one linked to the Wicket Widows.
This book was a wild ride. This death was rooted in the past which allowed MacLeod to bring back Uncle Jeremy but the timelines didn't quite make sense and I couldn't figure out the ages of some of the characters which would have made this story a little more fairly clued. 

Three and a half stars
This book came out in 1996
Followed by The Balloon Man
Hard copy I didn't keep
Opinions are my own

Friday, January 13, 2017

The Resurrection Man by Charlotte MacLeod

When I saw this book was available as an ARC, I sort of recognized the author's name. I had read the previous book in this series last year and had had little problem jumping into the story. That was not so with this book. There are a lot of characters. A LOT. And while there is some background given for each, knowing the characters ahead of time would have been very beneficial.
Unlike the previous book, this book actually focuses on the titular series characters. Max is somewhat restricted because of a broken leg but that doesn't stop him from getting interested when a flighty artist friend mentions that she's working for a group that does restorations. Then he further discovers that almost of the restored items are being stolen.
This was generally an okay story but the ending got weird. Really, really weird.

Three stars
This book was re-released December 2016, originally published April 1, 1992
Followed by The Odd Job
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Reread June 2023 (Hard copy I didn't keep)