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Loading... Deadlier than the Penby Kathy Lynn Emerson
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Belongs to SeriesDiana Spaulding (1)
In 1888, the murder of two female journalists in the New York City prompts newly widowed journalist Diana Spaulding to investigate the handsome horror author Damon Bathory in this historical mystery. Although her growing affection for Bathory makes her increasingly reluctant to pursue him, Spaulding is spurred on by her cigar-chomping boss Horatio Foxe in an adventure that pits her against a deranged artist, a matriarch with a bloodthirsty sense of humor, and a traveling acting troupe of egotistical men and jealous women. Written against the background of New York City during the height of yellow journalism, the novel brings to life not only theĀ fast-paced murder mystery that Spaulding investigates, but also the day-to-day realities and hardships of the gilded age. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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But don't be fooled by the wonderfully pulpy cover art or the attempts to market this as a period mystery, because what little mystery you'll find here is contrived, unimaginative, and unconvincing. The "suspects" are few and not very credible, and there are no clues - lacking any particular wit or critical thinking skills, the heroine of the tale ends up relying on the old "I'll figure out who the bad guy is when they try to kill me!" trope in order to smoke out the villain.
Mostly the "mystery" appears to be a shell in which to embed a yet another worn-out "plucky heroine meets/saves brooding hero" romance story between comely newspaper journalist Diana Spaulding and Damon Bathory, the sinister but sensual author of Poe-esque tales. If you love your prose purple, you'll be in your element here - from "The twisted, tortured soul of Damon Bathory, however, resided in a vital, superbly conditioned body" to "his gaze raked her from top to bottom," to my personal favorite "She'd be a fool to let herself fall under his spell again ... but she could not seem to stop herself." Holy Harlequin!
I get that one problem plaguing writers of historical fiction is how to make female characters that resonate with modern readers. Make them too helpless and they come off as Polyannas; make them too "woke," they come off as Mary Janes. Instead of trying to break new ground, however, Emerson's Diana takes turns wavering between the extremes, thus invoking both comparisons. This is not just aggravating, but also - apparently - avoidable, as at least one of Emerson's other female characters, Ben's mom Maggie, is refreshingly outrageous and original. (Sadly, this may only be because we're supposed to question whether Maggie is crazy, which requires at least some outrageous and original behaviour.)
In summary, I feel like there was potential here, but poor choices by the author made this a much less engaging tale than it might have been. ( )