I received this novel as an advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
What drew me to this novel was the long title. It made me curious (ha-ha) as to what this novel would be like.
For several years, Miss Lane served as a collaborator and friend to Miss X, a member of the Psychical Societs – only to discover that Miss X was a fraud. Upset by this betrayal, Miss Lane leaves to go find new employment, and she does so with Mr. Jasper Jesperson, a consulting detective. While she is much happier in her current position as assistant detective, the cases aren’t plentiful and money is a bit tight. They need a breakthrough case, something that will give them a reputation – and some cash. Then they get one: it involves a somnambulist, the disappearance of several mediums, and a cat stuck up a tree. And Jesperson and Lane are the perfect people to solve this case!
Sometimes a novel just doesn’t work for a reader. This is one of those times. I’m going to go through the list of things that caused this novel to not work for me, but keep in mind that it may just be a case of personal preference.
When I began reading this novel, I was startled by the pacing of the book. The focus was more on recounting events rather than showing the true passage of time and the full events, which was a bit disappointing; I would have preferred to have read the scenes in real time.
I was also taken aback by the similarities between Jesperson and Sherlock Holmes. The author did allude to Sherlock Holmes in the very beginning so I knew that there would be comparisons between these detectives and him. However, I wasn’t expecting the author to create characters and relationships so strikingly similar. While I love Sherlock Holmes, I don’t like seeing characters that try to emulate him.
I didn’t like the main characters in the story, which is unfortunate because it led me to not like the story. Jesperson was quite whiny and I didn’t like his ideologies; he believed himself to be the next Sherlock, and showed a great deal of selfishness and arrogance in his decisions. Miss Lane was a bit annoying, and that made it hard to get through the story, which is pretty much told through her perspective.
My favorite thing about this story is the Victorian Era setting for this novel. The author really did a good job in staying true to this time period and I just love reading novels set in Victorian England. I also quite liked the mystery itself, as it had a lot of funny and interesting aspects to it.
Overall, this was an interesting story but the characters didn’t work for me, and that is why I didn’t really enjoy this novel as much as I could have. While I give this novel a 2.5/5 stars, I’m sure there are others that would rate this novel higher!
Happy reading ~