The Storyline This being the first story in the Sherlock Holmes series, this is also the introducInterested in more of my reviews? Visit my blog!
Part I
The Storyline This being the first story in the Sherlock Holmes series, this is also the introduction of the two main characters: Holmes and Watson. After meeting one another they agree to move in together as they were both in need of a roommate. Shortly after, a man is discovered as being murdered and Sherlock Holmes is asked to evaluate the scene to determine if there is any evidence of who may have done it. The only clue is a woman’s wedding ring and the words “RACHE” written in blood on the wall.
My Thoughts Okay so… I think I have a bit of a crush. I loved Sherlock eccentricity and how unconventional he was. I will admit, the mystery wasn't really much of a mystery but it was still entertaining nonetheless. It did get a big "oooohhhhhhhhh...." from me once the mystery was finally solved though. Silly me, probably should have seen that one coming.
‘There is no mystery about it at all. I am simply applying to ordinary life a few of those precepts of observation and deduction which I advocated in that article. Is there anything else that puzzles you?’
Part II So, umm… I thought I missed something. The second half of this book was almost like a different book entirely and all of a sudden I’m right smack dab in the middle of Utah and everyone has buckets o’ wives?
[image] hahaha… Funny.
Anyways. Essentially, the second half of this book was a major bash-fest on the Mormons. I figure that’s why it ended up on the banned book list.
"We have come," continued Stangerson, "at the advice of our fathers to solicit the hand of your daughter for whichever of us may seem good to you and to her. As I have but four wives and Brother Drebber here has seven, it appears to me that my claim is the stronger one."
Uh-huh. Five is definitely better than eight.
Overall, pretty enjoyable, would definitely be interested in reading more about Sherlock most definitely....more
Short Summary: When Sheriff Heath decides to run for Congress after his term as Sheriff is up, the man running in his place is extremely vocal about hShort Summary: When Sheriff Heath decides to run for Congress after his term as Sheriff is up, the man running in his place is extremely vocal about his opinion on Miss Kopp and her presence in the jail, but she can only hope that the town will vote against him. The election, unfortunately, doesn’t go as planned and it puts Constance at a crossroads in life.
Thoughts: The fourth installment has the intensity that I was missing with a story still enmeshed in history, still audaciously feminist, and possessing a rousing message about it never being too late to change your path in life.
Verdict: This installment had me falling back in love with this series all over again. The next installment will definitely bring a lot of change to this series, but I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the Kopp sisters.
I received this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review....more
Short Summary: Journalist Fiona Sheridan has been unable to shake the mystery surrounding her sisters' death twenty years past but when 3.5 of 5 stars
Short Summary: Journalist Fiona Sheridan has been unable to shake the mystery surrounding her sisters' death twenty years past but when new evidence arises, it uncovers the secrets of a much older mystery as well.
Thoughts: This gothic mystery (with a dual timeline to boot) is quite the engaging and well-written tale despite its more implausible bits.
Verdict: Simone St. James' writing is most impressive considering the fact that I read this over the course of an entire month (not the book's fault, I was on vacation for 2 weeks as well) and still managed to retain the details of the story and fall immediately back into it whenever I was able to open the pages once again.
I received this book free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review....more
Short Summary: When Bergen County, New Jersey begins to see a rise in young women being wrongly arrested for morality charges, Constance Kopp takes itShort Summary: When Bergen County, New Jersey begins to see a rise in young women being wrongly arrested for morality charges, Constance Kopp takes it upon herself to investigate because no one else believes that these girls should be doing anything but staying home and keeping house. But the real test comes when her youngest sister Fleurette moves out to travel with a vaudeville show and Constance is torn between wanting to see her home and safe and out living her life how she chooses.
Thoughts: This installment definitely lacked a certain excitement and intensity that were present in the previous two novels, however, the stories of the Kopp sisters are far from dull.
Verdict: The continued focus on women’s rights in the early 1900s is eye-opening and informative and the fact that this is all based on a real individual makes it even better.
I received this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review....more
He looked up and said, in a loud, plain voice, “She’s not a regular lady.”
Indeed, Constance Kopp was quite a woman for heMy rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
He looked up and said, in a loud, plain voice, “She’s not a regular lady.”
Indeed, Constance Kopp was quite a woman for her time. Constance Amelie Kopp was born in 1878 and as an adult was recorded as being six feet tall. Yes, Constance Kopp was a real-life woman and is credited as being one of America’s first female deputy sheriffs. Little is known of the women but what is known paints a most interesting picture. Amy Stewart gathered as much information as she could and the necessary enrichment truly brought her and the people associated with her to being. Girl Waits With a Gun starts off Constance’s story with a buggy accident involving her and her sisters, Norma and Fleurette, in 1914. The individual responsible for causing the damage and irreversibly damaging their mode of transportation, was one Henry Kaufman, a wealthy silk factory owner. Constance sends him repeated notices of the amount of damage he is responsible for, $50, and when he fails to respond to her goes to collect from him personally. This sets off a long year of harrassment from Kaufman and his associates where they suffer through having bricks thrown through their windows at night to letters threatening to kidnap their youngest sister Fleurette and sell her into white slavery. Not willing to lay down and accept this, Constance goes to the police with the hope that she can put her trust in them to put a stop to the menace in their lives.
Girl Waits With a Gun was an unexpected delight for me but was much more slower paced than I would have figured. I went into this expecting some sort of crime fiction with a historical flair being that it’s set in 1914. This was decidedly less focused on the crime itself but of Constance and of the story behind her becoming a deputy sheriff, and how it was nothing but a complete accident. This story leaned more towards historical-fiction/cozy mystery territory but is unmistakably the smartest story of the genre I’ve read. It took me a solid week to read this and while I had to pace myself, I never lost any interest in this charming tale.
Constance was a fantastic character and imaginably a remarkable individual in her own right. On Amy Stewart’s website she lists a quote from Constance where she said: “Some women prefer to stay at home and take care of the house. Let them. There are plenty who like that kind of work enough to do it. Others want something to do that will take them out among people and affairs. A woman should have the right to do any sort of work she wants to, provided she can do it.” That was the kind of woman she was, one who refused to fall into typical social expectations of the time. In her earlier years she expressed an interest in pursuing a career, as a lawyer or a nurse, but her mother inevitably discouraged that and kept her at home. The story touches briefly and only occasionally on her past when she was around eighteen years old and what truly molded her into the woman she is today. While I loved her take no crap attitude in her mature years, I really loved seeing this younger part of her that was still coming into her own and learning the ways of the world. The situations she found herself in for that time may have been irreversible and life-changing but not only was she strong-willed but she had a supportive family to back her up. She was quite an inspiring individual and I do hope we haven’t seen the last of Constance Kopp.
“…if I could give her one silent gift […] – it would be this: the realization that we have to be a part of the world we live in. We don’t scurry away when we’re in trouble, or when someone else is. We don’t run and hide.”
I received this book free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review....more
‘They all had their terrors, but at least the spiders that lived in the new girl’s veins were imaginary. Grace has learned long ago that the true h‘They all had their terrors, but at least the spiders that lived in the new girl’s veins were imaginary. Grace has learned long ago that the true horrors of this world were other people.’
A Madness So Discreet introduces Grace Mae, a young woman who has been placed in an asylum in an attempt to hide her out of wedlock pregnancy in addition to the horrible secret to how she came to be pregnant in the first place. She is certainly of sound mind, however, the long nights spent listening to the screams of patients echoing the corridors is enough to effect even the toughest of individuals. When an opportunity to leave the asylum is presented to her she jumps at the opportunity for a fresh start, but Grace soon finds that sometimes your past finds a way to sneak up on you.
The beginning is one of the most shocking and audacious introductions I have come across in YA. We’re introduced to Grace and the patients in the Wayburne Lunatic Asylum of Boston and a terrifying picture is quickly painted. This is set in the 19th century and patients are not treated as people, they are not given sufficient food or clothing, and they are thrown into the basement cells which leak rainwater from outside as a form of punishment. There are other far worse punishments described as well. It was grisly and utterly distressing but considering grisly and distressing are totally my thing, I was immediately foreseeing a first-rate reading experience. Alas, the book took an odd turn after that.
‘They work their discreet types of madness on us, power and pain, and we hold on to our truths in the darkness.’
Going from a decidedly Gothic feel and leaving the confines of the asylum, it quickly transforms into a something of a crime thriller, just minus the thrill. Grace is placed in the care of Dr. Thornhollow after he takes a keen interest in her sharp mind and believes she can be of assistance to him. Why he goes to such dramatic lengths to get her out of the asylum is beyond me though. See, Dr. Thornhollow believes himself to be Sherlock in his spare time, investigating crimes and catching killers. Towards the end we once again take an odd turn and it quickly becomes an episode of Law & Order.
Referencing a book as having a Gothic feel, set in an asylum with crime and legal aspects should have been a home-run for me and I can’t decide whether all aspects combined were simply too much or it was simply too far-fetched for it to feel any way authentic. I would have much preferred Grace’s story to play out within the asylum walls, wrestling her inner-demons.
I received this book free from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review....more
‘I refused to allow my paranoias to root inside me; I knew I must allow them no room to grow during the long, dar*spoilers from Mayhem will follow*
‘I refused to allow my paranoias to root inside me; I knew I must allow them no room to grow during the long, dark nights.’
Six years have passed since James Harrington, the Thames Torso Murderer was finally caught and killed by Dr. Thomas Bond, a Police Surgeon in London. Bond is haunted with the knowledge behind the killings because Harrington was possessed by a violent parasite, the Upir, which drove him to violently murder all those women. Unfortunately, the death of Harrington did not kill the Upir, only left it temporarily without a host. Bond is seemingly moving past the nightmares of his past as he’s fallen in love with Juliana, Harrington’s widow, and plans to propose to her. His life is thrown into disarray when an old friend of Harrington comes to London with a packet of letters from Harrington which implicates him in crimes committed while in the throes of the parasite. In addition to the dredging up of these memories, Bond must also deal with new evidence which points to a new suspect being the famed ‘Jack the Ripper’.
Setting aside the horrific plot, the most amazing thing about both Mayhem and Murder is the vivid atmosphere deftly brought to life. Pinborough’s writing goes beyond creating a movie in our minds; it truly feels like you’re walking the streets of London, visualizing the slums and seedy individuals Bond encounters as he makes his way to the opium dens. The fact that she manages to blend historical fiction with the supernatural seamlessly is even more spectacular. The attention to detail only serves to make the horrors of this macabre story even more unnerving.
Mayhem stood alone as a solid story but Murder adds an extra facet to the tale that I wasn’t sure was necessary until I read it myself. The ending of Mayhem was, in retrospect, far too neatly completed; the mystery too cleanly wrapped up. Simply put, it was too good to be true. And Murder completely proves that to be true. If you thought Mayhem was terrifying and left your skin crawling, Murder completely outdoes its predecessor, ensnaring you in its grasp leaving you hopeless to stop reading until the undoubted heart stopping ending. This was one superb and truly impressive duology. Bravo Sarah Pinborough.
I received this book free from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review....more
‘Show Holmes a drop of water and he would deduce the existence of the Atlantic. Show it to me and I would look for a tap. My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
‘Show Holmes a drop of water and he would deduce the existence of the Atlantic. Show it to me and I would look for a tap. That was the difference between us.’
In London, during the Autumn of 1890, Holmes and Watson are investigating a seemingly ordinary crime involving rare art and of course murder. Their investigation manages to take them far from the beaten path and propels them straight into a most horrific ongoing crime involving The House of Silk. They hit a brick wall being unable to find any useful information about it but both Holmes and Watson are unable to stop investigating, of course, even with the obvious danger they are putting themselves in by continuing to do so. Watson narrates the tale wonderfully, giving us insight into the quirks of Sherlock and the sheer brilliance of his mind. There are mysteries within mysteries in this story and the inevitable unraveling is truly the best part.
The House of Silk is the first installment in a new Holmes series written by Anthony Horowitz that has been sanctioned and commissioned by the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Horowitz definitely has some big shoes to fill but his writing skills shine and Holmes and Watson feel as if they were never gone. I’m a huge fan of the original Conan Doyle stories and have always been leery of picking up the various pastiches out there; I’d much rather just read the originals. I took the risk once with The Beekeeper’s Apprentice and it quickly became one of my all-time favorites. The House of Silk was my second foray into Holmes pastiches and my luck continued. This was a fantastically faithful representation of everything I love about the originals, yet managed to add a level of excitement that I feel are sometimes missing from the classics. Horowitz did an honorable job of continuing the Sherlock legacy and these are well worth the read to all you Sherlock fans out there....more
‘What I seek – the thing I seek – brings mayhem and wickedness in its wake, spreading it like this choking fog acroEnter to win a copy of Mayhem here!
‘What I seek – the thing I seek – brings mayhem and wickedness in its wake, spreading it like this choking fog across the city. It runs in he water of the river and it will destroy men’s souls.'
It’s the late 1800′s and London is being terrorized by the murders by a man dubbed Jack the Ripper, although recent murders have succeeded in overshadowing even those horrific crimes. These new murders are gruesome and appalling. The victims are all women, they are all dismembered postmortem yet their heads are never found among the remains. Dr. Thomas Bond is a police surgeon but is unable to stop himself from seeking out evidence to uncover this killer. He succeeds in uncovering far more than he thought possible and it is more monstrous and nightmarish than any imagination could concoct.
Jack the Ripper has always been a subject matter of interest for me and just the thought of another killer overshadowing the work of Jack the Ripper was enough for me to pick up Mayhem. I had never heard of ‘the Torso Killer’ before but Sarah Pinborough successfully brought his macabre story to life. Frightfully disturbing, these murders are described in vivid detail and the slight addition of the supernatural aspects were added almost proficiently and were not overdone.
The story is told mainly from the point of view of Dr. Thomas Bond but we’re given an occasional glimpse through a few other side characters. Each character was alluring and were each integral to understanding the story as a whole. Dr. Bond himself was a perfectly imperfect character who frequented opium dens in order to deal with his bouts of insomnia. He’s such a flawed character yet made the story all the more real and satisfying.
I found this to be an extremely solid story with writing that was incredibly engaging. Mayhem is quite the page-turner with very little filler or sections that felt inconsequential. Mayhem is a well-written thriller that I would highly recommend for fans of mysteries, of historical fiction and for those who like just a little bit of horror....more
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars I received this book free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book orMy rating: 4.5 of 5 stars I received this book free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
'Criminal. The word hangs in the air. Heavy, unmoved by the bluster of the wind. I want to shake my head. That word does not belong to me, I want to say. It doesn’t fit me or who I am. It’s another word, and it belongs to another person.'
Burial Rites is based on the true story of an Icelandic woman that was beheaded in 1829 for a double murder authorities believed her to have had a part in. It was the last public execution to take place in Iceland. Due to the lack of prisons in Iceland at the time, Agnes Magnúsdóttir was sent to a farm and was watched over by the farmer’s wife and their two daughters until it came time for her execution. Based on research conducted by the author, Agnes was typically portrayed in a harsh light so Kent sought to share her side of things and the pain that she suffered as well. Burial Rites is the re-imagined last months of Agnes’ life.
The story is written from several different points of view, but primarily from Agnes’ and the farmer’s wife, Margrét. Agnes’ quiet desolation was palpable and while I felt thoroughly immersed in her scenes, I welcomed the break. It did have the negative effect of disrupting the flow of the story at times though. Margrét’s initial scenes reflected a family frightened to have a murderess in their midst and a growing bitterness at being forced to care for her. Agnes is not ill treated, but she is ignored as much as possible and left to stew in her own thoughts. The only individual that Agnes has to share her thoughts with is her spiritual guardian, a young assistant priest by the name of Tóti. As time progresses the family begins to not only become accustomed to Agnes’ company but become thankful for the extra set of hands and the assistance she provides to the struggling family. She shares her confession of what happened the night of the murders with the family and Tóti. Her words forever changes the families opinion of her.
"To know what a person has done, and to know who a person is, are very different things."
The writing is extremely eloquent for a debut novel. Her prose elicits a picturesque portrait of Iceland and its harsh climates while also evoking a suffocating sense of despair. Burial Rites is a compelling tale of heartbreak and sorrow that illustrates how a truth is never one-sided....more
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