It has been a minute since I've posted a review but, in fairness, I have read three books in the interim. Two of these three books are part of a children's series recommended by my daughter, and I will be be writing about those in one single review at a later date. In the meantime, I thought I'd indulge in one of my favorite -and slightly more frivolous- genres: murder mysteries.
I read a lot of classic literature, some epics, some histories, some tragedies. I haven't touched a brainless book in quite some time and, quite frankly, I just wanted to read one. One of my students -a retired English professor- claims that her favorite books these days are what she calls "beach books", meaning books that you'd read lazily on a beach. These are the types of reads that you pick up and leave in the hotel room, at the airport, or in a Free Little Library somewhere. I used to call them "trash books", but that seems to imply that they are trashy (which, let's face it, sometimes they are).
Anyway, I happened to find a new murder mystery at my local library's used book store and was able to purchase it for 25 cents. (Love a bargain!!!) What I didn't realize was that Death Comes to Kurland Hall is actually the third book in the longer Kurland St. Mary mystery series by Catherine Lloyd. No matter, though, as it was easy enough to fill in the backstories of these characters and settings, even starting with the third installment.
A predictable ending. Contrived dialogue. Characters cliched to the highest order. It was delightful. I say without the remotest shred of sarcasm, I genuinely enjoyed this book. It was everything I wanted after some of my most recent reads, a perfect "beach book". Set in Regency England (early 1800s), our main protagonist, Lucy Harrington, is compelled to solve the murder of a particularly despicable busybody who is found dead at a very grand wedding reception. Filled with tea, rain, ridiculous bonnets, and plenty of people with considerably large sticks up their butts, this book is quintessentially English. I hope the next person to pick it up from my neighborhood's Free Little Library unabashedly enjoys it as much as I did. In fact, I even checked out another murder mystery novel by Catherine Lloyd (the first of its series, this time!) to take with me on my family's vacation later this summer.
Not everything we read has to be highbrow.
