The Saturday Morning Post (No. 85)

Another library hold book came in, so... Another mystery. The fourth in a series of four. I haven't read the second on yet, as it had a lot more holds on it. Well, on to the book.

My reviewer criteria. I like light, entertaining novels. I like smaller scale stories rather than epics. I like character focused novels featuring pleasant characters, with a minimum number of unpleasant ones. I greatly value clever and witty writing. I like first person, or close third person narratives. I dislike a lot of "head jumping" between POVs and flashbacks. I want a story, not a puzzle. While I am not opposed to violence, I dislike gore for the sake of gore. I find long and elaborate fight, action, and battle sequences tedious. Plot holes and things that happen for the convenience of the author annoy me. And I fear I'm a born critic in that I don't mind pointing out what I don't like in a story. However, I lay no claim to be the final arbitrator of style and taste, you need to decide for yourself what you like or dislike in a book.

Your opinions are always welcome. Comment below.

Rivals in the City by Y S Lee   C

This cover calls it a "Mary Quinn Mystery." I don't know if she is planning more of them or not. They used to be called "The Agency." As you may recall, the premise is that Mary Quinn was saved from the gallows for theft as a child and raised in a private school that prepares girls for a successful life as a woman in Victorian England. The best and the brightest were invited to become undercover agents, on the theory that women were often overlooked. Mary Quinn is one such agent.

In this story we return to characters central to the first story to tie up at least one loose end, though it seems like several others were left dangling. Like all the other ones I've read, the story is rather over the top, but in this installment, only the premise is. It is actually rather prodding, featuring little snapshots of Victorian London, of which the author is an expert at. The appeal of these books for me was the character of Mary Quinn, and while that is still the case, it's not so much in this book. And, as I hinted at, the premise is pretty unbelievable, and how it actually was worked was not all that well explained. And the ending, melodramatic in a classic melodramatic way, with a gun pointing at our heroine. In addition there seemed to be characters who were left hanging at the end, their fates undefined. 

I see that this series is considered YA, and that may well explain how loose its plotting is. Well, as you can see, this installment left me feeling pretty so-so about the book, and the series as a whole. The first book while over the top, was a fair bit more entertaining than this one. You would hope they'd get better as they went along. Now, while I have yet to read the second installment I don't think they have. We'll have to see how that one goes when I get it, but it won't be for months yet. I'm not holding my breath in anticipation.