Nell Gwynne's Scarlet Spy by Kage Baker

This book was first released as a collector’s edition entitled The Women of Nell Gwynne’s. Considering that it garnered a lot of attention and the author sadly passed away shortly after, the publishers decided to republish it along with an accompanying short story. This was good news for me as it meant that I could get the book that had piqued my interest for less than the $100 asking price for the limited edition. Unfortunately, for a long time the only edition that came up on my book provider’s site was the German one, and my German is far too rusty to attempt to read a book in the language! So I found myself waiting until the English language edition became available. Having forgotten about the book for some time, I recently went back to check on the status only to discover that it was now available for ordering. I, of course, immediately put the order through, excited for what awaited me even though I knew absolutely nothing about the story. Yes, sometimes I get fixated on things that I know nothing about!

Presentation: A large, good quality paperback. The type is small but spaced. The original novella is 122 pages broken down into 18 chapters. There then follows a short story The Bohemian Astrobleme that is approx. 40 pages long and includes breaks in the text but no chapters.

Story: I’m only going to address the story of the original novella here. In The Women of Nell Gwynne’s, Lady Beatrice, daughter of a high-ranking member of the English army, finds herself fallen from grace and unacceptable in polite society after the death of her father. Instead, she turns to prostitution and is soon approached by the madam of a very exclusive brothel that deals only in secrets. When one of their agents goes missing on a mission, the Gentlemen’s Speculative Society (which works hand in hand with Nell Gwynne’s) sends the ladies to an ancient English manor hoping not only to find their agent but also to uncover just what the Lord has been doing with vast sums of money.

Thoughts and impressions: As of the very first lines, this book strikes you. It is probably largely due to the fact that the style is so very formal but at the same time… I can only think to call it in-your-face and cheeky. The main character is always referred to as Lady Beatrice because that is the name that she took for her prostitute persona. The reader never knows what her name was before this, though they do (briefly) follow her through the early years of her life and the events that led up to her decision to sell her body to earn her way.

The author introduces the reader to a steampunk early Victorian society where the underground Gentlemen’s Speculative Society has invented any number of interesting and quirky devices, such as mechanical lenses that allow the blind to see, but do not share their inventions with society at large. At least, not for now. But they do use these inventions to influence society with the help of the secrets that the women of Nell Gwynne’s extract from their high-ranking clientele. Some of the devices are great fun!

But the characters themselves are even more fun. There’s just something about writing about whores that allows the author to present the tight-laced society that they live in and characters that completely contradict everything about that society. Books about whores also always seem to have an undercurrent of dry, sarcastic humour and Nell Gwynne’s is no exception! I’m a big fan of dry humour when it is handled correctly, as it is here. Lady Beatrice always goes with whatever the flow but tries to subtly influence it to meet her means, sometimes with funny or unexpected consequences.

I believe that it was the author's original intention to continue this series of novellas but that life unfortunately did not allow for such. This is a great shame as it could have heralded the start of an excellent series about Lady Beatrice's adventures.

A quick note on The Bohemian Astrobleme: this short story delves more into the Gentlemen’s Speculative Society and the work that they do. It’s about a specific type of meteorite only found in Bohemia that gives a powerful electric shock to anyone who touches it after it comes in contact with a specific type of acid. It is soon ascertained that this red glass would make excellent battery fuel cells. Ludbridge, whom we met in The Women on Nell Gwynne’s is sent to Bohemia with two companions to track the origin of the glass. Lady Beatrice soon joins him and again the reader is treated to a delightful romp through this society with characters who are quiet and others who are too cocky for their own good.

Style: The greatness of this style stems from the juxtaposition of a very formal style and extremely informal situations. There’s just something about describing an orgy and then mentioning that the host had agreed to allow himself to be “fellatiated”!

Final verdict: Great fun. Short but it worked really well. I really enjoyed it, it was a quick read and I’ll likely go back and reread it at some point soon in case I missed anything. 5 stars.

Extra notes: Occasional mild language. The story is about whores so obviously there’s a certain amount of sex involved.

The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn

I read this book for the first time last year after I discovered the author and fell in love with her style. A couple of days ago I felt the irrepressible urge to pick it up again, so pick it up I did.

Author: Deanna Raybourn seems to be rather popular in the USA but if I want to get my hands on any of her books here I have to order them in from the other side of the Atlantic. They're quite expensive, too, but I feel that they're worth it. She's an American author but she makes a very commendable effort to write in British English as her characters thus far have all been Brits. She even changes her sentence structure to be one closer to that of 19th century English. Just part of why I love her!

Presentation: A medium sized paperback of good quality paper. Medium sized, well spaced type. There are 309 pages broken down into 20 chapters of roughly the same length.

Story: Theodora Lestrange has recently lost her grandfather, her only remaining relative apart from her happily married, mother of four (soon to be five) sister. She does not want to find herself lodged with her sister's family and means to make her own way in the world as an established author.

So when her best friend from boarding school invites Theodora to her wedding at her family's castle in Translyvania, Theodora jumps at the chance to go to the land that Cosmina used to tell of when they were girls, hoping to find inspiration for a full-length story there.

Theodora arrives in the Carpathians, at the caste perched on a mountain peak. The master of the castle and surrounding lands having recently died, his heir, Cosmina's supposed fiancé, has returned to settle affairs before meaning to leave again - without having taken Cosmina as his wife.

Despite herself, Theodora finds herself draw to Count Andrei Dragulescu and he seems to be showing interest in her too, even encouraging her interest in him. She feels that it would be a breach of her friendship with Cosmina to go after the man who had refused her friend but as she gets to know the Count better she finds that she just cannot help her attraction.

But there is more than just romance in the air at the Dragulescu castle. The villagers tell of werewolves and strigoi (vampires) living in their mountains. Theodora comes to understand that Translyvania is unlike other places: things happen there that do not happen elsewhere. When one of the servants is found dead, two puncture marks on her neck and her body drained of blood, Theodora finds herself wrapped up in her own horror story.

Thoughts and impressions: I think that I was able to enjoy this book more the second time around than I did the first time I read it. The first time around I was expecting a supernatural horror story; the second time I knew I was going into a mystery novel.

Raybourn's ability to create such a vivid atmosphere of middle-of-nowhere Translyvania, where the locals still cling to ancient superstitions, is admirable. I felt the isolatedness of the castle and the village oozing from the pages. I enjoyed the descriptions of the area - it sounds positively stunning and I would love to visit the Carpathians one day - and the local folklore was fun and interesting to read about. I only wish there'd been more of it! I adore Eastern European folklore.

There are some passages where the narrator is apt to rambling, the sheer length of them making it difficult to retain all the information they offer. The story is also somewhat slow in parts: this frustrated me last year but I was able to appreciate them more this time around.

Style: As mentioned, Deanna Raybourn tries very hard to make her language the British English of the area. She misses some spellings - in particular in this book she often describes things as being 'medieval' instead of 'mediaeval' - but she does extremely well. Her style is not the most sophisticated out there but it is one that suits what I want from a book very well. It is her style that has cemented her a place as one of my favourite authors.

Final verdict: Not perfect and I will not pretend that it is, but the story works very well for me. I really enjoyed the story and the characters, though the slow pace of the story may frustrate other readers. This book is not as good as the Lady Julia Grey books but it is certainly very enjoyable and a solid stand alone. 4 stars.

Extra notes: The language in the book is what I would consider clean. Sex does take place but behind closed doors.

Murder on Waverly Place by Victoria Thompson

This is the eleventh book in the Gaslight Mysteries series by Victoria Thompson. As such, there may be spoilers pertaining to earlier books in the series. Considering that each book’s plot is fairly independent of events in previous books, there shouldn’t be any major give aways, though.

Author: Victoria Thompson started out writing historical romances. In the late 90’s she turned her attention to cosy mystery instead. Now she writes about midwife, Sarah Brandt, and her policeman friend, Frank Malloy. In each book they team up to solve a different murder. I was attracted to this series because it is set in late 19^th century New York, which is a new setting for me.

Presentation: Mass market paperback. The print is quite small but spaced in this book (editions of earlier books in the series are not spaced, I prefer this look.) There are 294 pages broken down into 16 chapters.

Story: Sarah Brandt’s sister, Maggie, died many years ago, giving birth to her son in a filthy fifth floor tenement apartment after their father disowned her and ruined her husband’s chances of getting a job that could support them. Mrs Decker, Sarah’s mother, has never forgiven herself for the role she played in her daughter’s death. Now, one of her friends has introduced her to the world of séances. Unwilling to go without moral support, she asks Sarah to join her and Sarah reluctantly agrees. There are some strange goings-on at the séance: the smell of roses, the sound of a baby crying… but all of those present do not get any real answers to their questions. Sarah in unconvinced and asks her mother not to return. Mrs Decker, though, is desperate to contact Maggie, to ask for her forgiveness, and so she returns. This time, however, something a little more sinister happens: one of the guests will not leave the house alive. Unwilling to give her own name to the police lest it be leaked to the media, thus potentially getting back to her husband (who does not know of her attempts to contact their dead daughter), Mrs Decker calls herself by her daughter’s name and asks for Frank Malloy to come and investigate. Malloy, realising that he’s going to need Sarah’s help in this matter, has her sent for, too, even though he knows that this will mean her getting embroiled in yet another murder investigation – something he’s not too happy about. But in a world where the rich are paying to contact the dead, nothing is as simple as it seems.

Thoughts and impressions:  The book was rather good fun. I’ve read certain reviews claiming that it wasn’t as good as previous books, but I enjoyed it more than Little Italy, Chinatown and Bank Street. The séances were portrayed very well, with just enough spooky. The obsession of those attending for answers from the dead (that they would likely never receive) was very realistic, including the lengths they were all willing to go to to keep getting their vague lack of answers.

As per usual when the killer is introduced early on in the book, I’d figured out who the murderer was, but I couldn’t figure out how they’d been able to commit the crime.

Sarah’s mother, always a delightful character, was once again an interesting addition to the story – caught between the delights of doing something she shouldn’t be doing and her upbringing that tells her not to do it. And towards the start of the story, was that the setting of a potential future romance for Maeve? It could be an interesting match. And Sarah’s palm reading telling her she’ll marry again? A good bit of info to ruminate on – though I wonder how many books we’ll have to get through before they even really begin their courtship, let alone marry. I wish Sarah and Frank would get over the “two different worlds” thing and advance in their relationship already. Sarah and Tom were two different worlds too, but that didn’t stop her!

I miss Brian, Malloy’s son. He hasn’t had any on-page time for the past couple of books now. It’s a shame because he’s a fun little thing. I prefer him to Catherine. I’m fact, I’m getting fed up with Sarah tearing up whenever Catherine hugs her or her mother or whoever in the books. The girl’s been living with her for months, and she’s always very affectionate. Sarah should get over it already.

We’re back to only the two POVs now, Maeve has lost hers again, which makes me question whether it was a good idea to introduce it in book 10.

Style: In this book, Thompson returns to her obsession for {adjective} eyes. I noticed it in early books, too. Thankfully it has evolved a bit since then. In an earlier book, one character’s eyes were frequently described and they were always described as “lovely eyes”. In this book, Serafina’s eyes are described as being lovely / wonderful / amazing no less than four times in two chapters! A bit overkill on the eye description front.

Final verdict: I enjoyed this one. I felt that advances were made in all the places that were important and I quite liked the romp into the world of séances and spiritualism! 4 stars.

Extra notes: No sex, no swearing. More aimed at an adult market than anything else.

Murder on Bank Street by Victoria Thompson

This is the tenth book in the Gaslight Mysteries series by Victoria Thompson. As such, there may be spoilers pertaining to earlier books in the series. Considering that each book’s plot is fairly independent of events in previous books, there shouldn’t be any major give aways, though.

Author: Victoria Thompson started out writing historical romances. In the late 90’s she turned her attention to cosy mystery instead. Now she writes about midwife, Sarah Brandt, and her policeman friend, Frank Malloy. In each book they team up to solve a different murder. I was attracted to this series because it is set in late 19^th century New York, which is a new setting for me.

Presentation: Mass market paperback. The print is quite small but spaced in this book (editions of earlier books in the series are not spaced, I prefer this look.) There are 324 pages broken down into 16 chapters.

Story: Sarah Brandt is a widow. 4 years ago her husband, Doctor Tom Brandt, was murdered. The police never launched a proper investigation into the murder as they did not receive a “reward” (the police back then were, apparently, corrupt and would only investigate if they were paid to do so as their salary was so low that they could not afford to do otherwise) from Sarah or her parents, the Deckers (members of the elite New York society). Since he met her, Malloy has found himself indebted to Mrs Brandt: she has not only helped him with numerous murder investigations, but more importantly she brought him to understand that his son, Brian, was deaf with a club foot that could be fixed by surgery (permitting him to walk) and not both a physical and mental cripple doomed to a life depends on others. And Malloy wants to return the favour by finding the man responsible for Doctor Tom’s death. Now, Frank Malloy, widower himself, has received permission from police commissioner Roosevelt himself to reopen this cold case in light of new evidence. But Roosevelt is due to leave office to accept a role in the government within just a few short weeks. No new commissioner would ever allow Malloy to continue to investigate a murder that happened four years ago, so he finds himself having to rush an investigation he would rather not rush. And that means having to get extra help on board.

Thoughts and impressions: I put off reading this book for about a month. I’m not sure why as I devoured the previous 9 books in the series very quickly. Maybe I’d just given myself an overload of it, but no matter the reason, I got back on track and polished off this book within an afternoon.

It was interesting to finally look into Tom Brandt’s murder, to learn more about these women who were forming romantic attachments to men who’d shown them nothing more than common courtesy. Tom Brandt’s death has been looming over the series since… well, really since three years before the events in the first book even took place! Maybe with that out of the way we’ll finally be able to see some real advances in the relationship between Sarah and Frank, though I am beginning to believe nothing will happen until Felix Decker gives Frank his permission to court his daughter. At least that the start of this book Sarah admitted to herself that she loves Frank, which I think was the first time she’s ever put it so plainly!

As for Tom Brandt… well, I’d begun to believe that maybe he had been hiding his true nature from his wife. Even the author herself said that when asked about it, she wasn’t sure whether Tom was a good guy or not, and events in previous books pointed to the possibility that he wasn’t.

Maeve came into her own in this book. She even got a POV. That was the first time in ten books that any character other than Sarah and Frank was given a POV. I’m not sure how I feel about this, though I did enjoy her story with little Iris. She was certainly more interesting than Sarah, who regressed in this book. She seemed to spend her whole time upset with everyone and everything because her husband might not have been the saint she’d believed him to be and her father didn’t pay for the investigation.

Style: Nothing much to say about it. I like it, it draws me in.

Final verdict: Not as good as some of the earlier books, but better than others. I enjoyed the read. It reminded me of why I like Sarah Brandt and Frank Malloy so much! 3 stars.

Extra notes: No sex, no swearing. More aimed at an adult market than anything else.