Melanie Fletcher

Alternate History and Cozy Murder for the win!

(I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.)

What if Edgar Allan Poe had not died in 1849 and turned his life around? Then finds himself on tour in England trying to drum up subscriptions for his brainchild, The Stylus magazine? His first stop is Oxford for a talk at Christ Church, one of the largest colleges at the University. Yet, a nasty encounter and a pushy publisher lead him to cave to his alcohol craving imp's show more wishes, despite his promise to his second wife not to imbibe. A lapse he comes to doubly regret when he awakens in the wrong room of the hotel but a foot or two from a murdered maid.

Melanie Fletcher does an outstanding job of weaving what has been to what could have been. The details are vivid, and she expertly shows the amalgamation that is Oxford and its varied challenges. Including Charles Dodgson before he became the famed Lewis Carroll adds a nice layer, as we see the author in his still formative years.

The two men, different in temperament, country, and age, must find ways to deal with one another and accept what each brings to the table in order to clear Poe's name and catch a murderer. With the viewpoints shifting from Poe to Dodgson and the killer, readers will get an immersive view of events.

A Most Malicious Murder is a sensory delicious and fast-moving read. show less

Once the government will no longer fund the program to study Vadim and his human-extinct creature DNA he's released and left to live a normal human life. He's found a job as a janitor at a school and finds deep, genetic fulfillment in guarding the children.

This story was wonderfully written. I could see both Vadim's human instincts and his animal extincts and the author wrote them both distinctly. In particular, there was one paragraph that, after I knew what other DNA Vadim possessed, made show more me shiver. show less