How nice to get a Quick novel along the lines of what she wrote before the Arcane series. I love the books but it's nice to get a palate cleanser. It's not exactly like Quick's previous books (lots of modern ideals inserted: solar power, condoms, criminal profiling) but I really did enjoy this book.
Miss Amity Doncaster suffered a heartbreak at age nineteen. She took her pain and became a world traveler, selling articles about her experiences. Her book is just about to come out. If her recent scandals don't scare off her publisher, that is.
On her last adventure before returning to London, Amity stumbles across a man who has been left for dead. Benedict Stanbridge feels incredibly lucky to have encountered a female who is not only
not flighty, she is pragmatic enough to get him back to his ship. And even has the skills (learned from her doctor father) to help nurse him back to health. The more he spends time with her, the more interested he becomes. But when they get to New York, he is not going on to London but rather to California.
A month later, there are rumors circulating about just what the two of them got up to while on board. And to make matters worse, she's been kidnapped by the crazed serial murderer dubbed the Bridegroom by the press. Luckily, she has her steel-tipped fan and can get herself away but the story just makes her even more notorious. And of course, just as the story is reaching it's height, Benedict decides to show up. After not sending word for over a month.
They will have to work together, and with others like Amity's sister and an inspector from Scotland Yard in order to stop not only a crazed madman but also some diabolical Russian spies.
The group melds together rather quickly, the ending does drag on a bit, and there are rather a lot of people to keep track of, but I really enjoyed this story and hope to get more from AQ.
Three stars
This book came out April 22, 2014
Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Plus
Opinions are my own
Vivian Brazier is just trying to make a living as a photographer. It's an emerging field in the 1920s and very few people are making Art. She's making ends meet by being a photojournalist, taking pictures of crime scenes. And it's the latter job that brings her in contact with the person known as the "Dagger Killer." Her second sight when she uses the camera helps her capture nuances that no one else can see. When she becomes a target, a bodyguard is arranged.
Opening with our heroine, Amalie Vaughn, literally on the edge of death, Then it slips into a confusing third person omniscient overlook overlook of almost everyone in the book. It smooths out when Amalie gets to Burning Cove. She's picked up a mansion for a song. Too bad it's because a phony psychic was murdered there. And now that her first paying guest has also been murdered (on stage, by his own robot), she's not very hopeful that the profile of her hotel will improve. And now, Matthias Jones, a known associate of Luther Pell (night club owner and mob affiliate), is in her hotel. She just knows that the gossip is going to go wild.
Like the other heroines of this series (only one other so far, but we're given the pattern), Adelaide Bankcroft has a reason to hide her past. She's in Burning Cove after escaping from an insane asylum; the place her husband consigned her to in order to get control of her inheritance. Now she's working as a tea shop waitress who also creates specific teas for the shop's customers - the tea can do things like create calm or help with insomnia.
The book opens with the murder of Anna Harris' boss. It seems her boss had an extremely valuable notebook. One that she left for Anna. So Anna quickly heads out the door and quietly disappears to California, becoming newspaper reporter Irene.
Calista Langley is being stalked. Little memento moris are being left in her house, on her bed. She's starting to get really frightened. And annoyed. Which is why she can't deal with her ex's ish when he shows up, begging her to take him back. And why would she? As soon as he (Nestor's the name by the way, obviously a tool (sorry if there are still any Nestors in the world)) found out that she hadn't inherited her money, she was earning it (gasp! the stain of trade!), he skedaddled right into the arms of another woman. One he's been married to for awhile now. What could make the encounter even worse? Her newest client, famous mystery author Trent Hastings, overhearing it? Yep. That would do it. Oh, and the fact that he's only checking her out because he thinks she's a con artist trying to steal his sister's money? Just icing on the cake.