Hello Readers,
Diving back into time for a Victorian themed mystery quartet that I started reading for research on manners and words that would fit in well. I ended up falling in love. Here is the review that I did of the library book I borrowed.
Bella Wallis is a glamorous widow with a secret identity: in an office buried deep within the dodgy backstreets of Victorian London, she writes sensationalist novels exposing the scoundrels that litter high society under the pen name Henry Ellis Margam. With dodgy deals, scheming aristocrats and stolen kisses behind closed doors, prize-winning author Brian Thompson conjures up an irresistible quartet filled top to toe with seedy Dickensian glamour.
We start with The Widow's Secret, an effervescent romp to Paris on the trail of the owner of a mysterious cigar case; then The Sailor's Ransom, a tale of pearls and swine, set on the Cornish coast and the high seas; and The Player's Curse, where kidnap, cricket and cross-dressing coincide in a riotous mystery. We end with the previously unpublished The Whole Story, in which Bella is caught up in an anarchist bomb attack at her favourite restaurant, Fracatelli's on the Strand... and only just survives to tell the tale.
Diving back into time for a Victorian themed mystery quartet that I started reading for research on manners and words that would fit in well. I ended up falling in love. Here is the review that I did of the library book I borrowed.
Bella Wallis: A Victorian Mystery Quartet
Bella Wallis is a glamorous widow with a secret identity: in an office buried deep within the dodgy backstreets of Victorian London, she writes sensationalist novels exposing the scoundrels that litter high society under the pen name Henry Ellis Margam. With dodgy deals, scheming aristocrats and stolen kisses behind closed doors, prize-winning author Brian Thompson conjures up an irresistible quartet filled top to toe with seedy Dickensian glamour.We start with The Widow's Secret, an effervescent romp to Paris on the trail of the owner of a mysterious cigar case; then The Sailor's Ransom, a tale of pearls and swine, set on the Cornish coast and the high seas; and The Player's Curse, where kidnap, cricket and cross-dressing coincide in a riotous mystery. We end with the previously unpublished The Whole Story, in which Bella is caught up in an anarchist bomb attack at her favourite restaurant, Fracatelli's on the Strand... and only just survives to tell the tale.
The Review:
What a world we dive into here. This set of four books blew me away and I was lost within what was put together in these rather large 981 pages which was what my book was. It earned a hard fought 4 stars that I'm sure that Percy Quiley would hate but it was for his ending that killed the final star from the 5 star rating that I was hoping to give it.
For the first 3 books in this quartet was amazing and so well done even if the third book's ending seemed rather rushed and thrown to one side. Finding out these were single books still doesn't make me feel any better about the third one's ending. I think that he could have stopped at book 3. He didn't need to kill off the character he chose too in book for ending an era of mischief that happened with Bella at the head of it.
From the beginning the book pulls you in and nothing is quite what you think it will be like. Its hard to see the ending coming or to understand what is going to happen. For those parts of the book Brian out did himself.
The types of characters that were seen through out this quartet was well designed and were the sort of characters that everyone could relate too. You loved th
em for what they were and didn't want to see anything bad to happen to them.
I can't recommend this book. I'm not someone who reads mystery novels but this was one that I really enjoyed and felt honored that I picked it up. I have to say that I will be exploring the other books that this author has done for he has won himself a place in my library for good.
You haven't read a good book until you pick this one up. So make sure that you do today.
CLICK FOR HERE AMAZON UK
CLICK FOR HERE AMAZON US
CLICK FOR HERE GOODREADS
Thank you for stopping by and I hope that this reveals all the reasons why you should check out this book.
Kristal McKerrington
No comments:
Post a Comment