Julia's original idea of giving them to her late husband's heir was way better. I'm not the best person at picking up all the clues and solving the murder mystery before the book explains it to you, but this one just struck me as impossible to solve, in an unfair kind of way.Īlso, the Grey Pearls? Seriously, giving these magnificent heirloom pearls away to your Roma friend on a whim? No. In the end we had two different murderers, plus two more people who either attempt a murder or are an accessory to one, plus an unrelated jewel thief. And second, once the mystery(ies) start to get solved and Everything is Explained, it was really an overly complex resolution, not to mention wildly unlikely. I mean, I do enjoy Raybourn's writing and hanging out with these characters, but over 200 pages of exposition before the murder mystery actually gets going? Seems excessive. No, my real complaint with this book is the murder mystery itself. I think Lady Julia and her eccentric family are too much 21st century with their socially liberal attitudes, but I already complained about that in the first book, so that one's on me if I decide to keep reading the series anyway. I enjoy the characters and the world Raybourn has created, and I'm pretty much into the tortured romance of the main characters, even though they go months without seeing each other and spend more time insulting each other than kissing. This Victorian-era murder mystery gets a mixed verdict from me.
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