I said it in the title and I'll say it again: Guys, I have a problem. I can't stop reading murder mysteries set in Great Britain.
These novels are all so contrived. Most often, I guess the ending (at least in some capacity) before arriving at it, but I just enjoy the ride. The character development is, if not profound, kind of fun; I like a puzzle and I like suspense. But why are they always British? I like tea and rain, but their food sucks and the period piece social hierarchies annoy the hell out of me. I spent the entirety of the latest Downton Abbey movie hoping that we'd see the 1929 stock market crash so that I could watch the entitled Crawleys struggle to work and live like the rest of us. (What can I say? As an American, I'm born and bred to be informal and egalitarian. I HAVE NO 'BETTERS'.) So why do I keep gravitating to this very specific genre?
Today, I figured it out.
I'm not unique in my love of mystery novels. There's a reason the genre is so prolific: people love it. I'm also not unique in my interest in history and proclivity for historical fiction. This Brit Lit often combines the two: mystery and history. But, above all, the British mysteries towards which I gravitate are not violent. Yes, there is violence in them (they are murder mysteries, after all), but it is never so graphic as to be difficult or gratuitous. None of the authors whose works I've been reading go into gory details. To add, animals rarely (if ever?) get hurt, which is a feature that I cannot/do not abide. These are books that are easy to get lost in. They are suspenseful without being scary. They are safe (for the reader...not for the characters!), fun, and lend a sense of excitement to an otherwise mundane or routine day/week/month/whatever.
This past year, I have read a lot of mystery novels that I have reviewed here. And, shameful though it may be, I don't intend to stop. It's not the worst vice I have. So, without further ado, here are the three most recent titles I have enjoyed:
The Hummingbird Dagger, by Cindy Anstey
In 1833, a young woman is found unconscious after a carriage accident outside a small village. When she awakens, she has no memory of who she is or how she arrived at Hardwick Manor with the Ellerby family, where she now finds herself. As she recovers, she tries to piece together her mysterious past and how it pertains to some of the strange happenings she and her new friends observe about the village.
As a Young Adult novel (I don't judge), The Hummingbird Dagger keeps a steady pace. The characters may be flat and predictable, but that is precisely what keeps things moving in books like these. It doesn't drag or spend too much time pontificating on useless details. Easy to read and hard to put down, I'd recommend it as a "hot dog" book.
Miss Morton and the Spirits of the Underworld, by Catherine Lloyd
Last summer, while on vacation, I read the book Miss Morton and the English House Party Murder by Catherine Lloyd. This summer, I picked up the second book in this series (by one of my favorite hot dog writers!) and enjoyed the hell out of it. Much like every other book of this genre, Miss Morton and the Spirits of the Underworld is full of smoke and mirrors...and tropes.
Miss Caroline Morton is a fallen-from-grace blue blood, because her father made some bad decisions before croaking. The former Lady Caroline has transformed into plain ol' Miss Morton, companion to the rich-by-honest-means (read: made money because of working) Mrs. Frogerton. Bonus: former Lady Caroline/Miss Morton is also able to advise Mrs. Frogerton's daughter Dorothy on the upper crust meat marriage market. But don't worry, Miss Morton isn't old and washed up yet. This ol' bird's still in her twenties and keepin' it tight.
When Mrs. Frogerton drags Miss Morton to a seance, they have a terrific -albeit weird- time. It's basically the equivalent to today's haunted house scene, but less bloody and more ghosty. Apparently, in Regency England, people were very easy to dupe because they didn't have internet. But when the spiritualist, Madam Lavinia, turns up dead, things get weird and it's up to our protagonists to solve the case...much to the dismay of the real police.
Just like its predecessor, Spirits of the Underworld is a fun, easy ride. At barely 300 pages, it's a relaxing read that doesn't demand much from the reader at all. And great news to me (although probably not to Miss Morton), there is another murder mystery that will rock her world later this month when Miss Morton and the Deadly Inheritance hits shelves on August 20!
The Last Heir to Blackwood Library, by Hester Fox
This last one isn't quite a murder mystery. In fact, there is no murder -mysterious or otherwise- to solve! Set in England just after the first World War, young Ivy Radcliffe suddenly inherits Blackwood Abbey in the Yorkshire moors. Apart from her best friend and roommate, Ivy is alone in the world after losing her entire family to war and illness. She is struggling to make ends meet in London and, upon the death of a distant and unknown relative, she is now proprietor of a great estate up north. But when Ivy arrives at Blackwood Abbey, things become worrisome: gaps begin to appear in her memory, strange things happen in town, and rumors run rampant. The staff are cold and distant. Even the abbey itself seems to be haunted, leaving Ivy with no one and nowhere to turn for relief. It is only when Ivy discovers the abbey's secret and mysterious library that she begins to make a home for herself...but things are never as simple as they seem.
A slight deviation from the classic murder mystery genre, I lumped this one in because it embodies the same sort of mysterious spirit that draws me to these books. Written by New England author Hester Fox, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library has a flavor to it that reminds me a great deal of Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier. Both are Gothic novels featuring a young, naive heroine who must find her place in newfound status; both have dark undertones coming from the environs, atmosphere, staff, and the physical house itself that they are now tasked with running. It's weird. It's different. I liked it.
I will try to branch out some more with a few non-mystery novels. I have several other genres in my present line-up, many that I've already read and are just awaiting written reviews! But I never make promises unless I know that I can keep them. ;)
