C.J. Archer

The fourth book in the Glass Library continues threads begun in earlier books. Sylvia is still on a quest to find out more about her mysterious mother and the magical gift for paper that she has discovered in herself.

A road trip with Gabe and her friends leads her to discover who her mother was but not what she did in the years before she died. A cache of dead letters reveals a possible suitor for her mother who could have potentially been her father.

Most of the story is spent trying to show more track down this mysterious suitor which leads to stolen identities and a shady doctor running a hospital which is now trying to cure shell-shocked World War I victimes but which had earlier been a site for the artless of magical families who wanted to see if their magic could be activated by medical treatment.

Sylvia learns to use a paper spell which strengthens paper and proves (mostly to herself) that she is an actual paper magician. However, questions about who her father was are still left unresolved.

Also unresolved is her growing relationship with Gabe.

This was an engaging episode in the series even with the slowest of slow-burn romances. I like the worldbuilding and the setting of an England in an alternate 1920 which is mostly like our own but with the addition of magic. show less

My kind of catnip, interwar story, magic as a bonus and some snobbery about it. Add in a magical library and a sarky heroine, Sylvia Ashe who is alone in the world, and is finding herself dealing with Gabe, who is a war hero and consults with Scotland Yard to keep away the terrors of his past.
Gabe accidentally gets Sylvia sacked from her job in a library and determines to fix the problem, the only way he knows how, and creates a job for her in the magical library. There she finds a home and show more he also finds that she has skills in linking information. He's got a girlfriend but their relationship seems based more on pragmatism than love.
It's complicated and messy and there are plenty of bright young things and it was a peach of a read. show less

While the first book in the series seemed to have engaging characters as well as an interesting mystery, by book 3 it's clear the author is just dragging things out. The main character is repeatedly terrorized by people at her door, yet does little to prepare. That's about it. A little more of the mystery is decoded--and the final climactic scene where this little bit is revealed is filled with people mostly standing around.

In this fantasy world, women are not allowed to practice medicine show more outside of midwifery. At one point, the main character gets in legal trouble because she stitches wounds for a woman who is bleeding out. In what universe would a person get in trouble for saving someone's life? This one, apparently. If you can't afford and have access to a certified doctor, I guess you just have to die. This insanity is threaded throughout all the books I've read so far.

There are three more books in the series. Pass. show less

I'll admit, this is, I believe, my first ever cosy mystery book! I also admit that I only read this book because it had a purple cover and that was part of a story graph challenge. Honestly, I did not expect it to be a 5 star read at all, so I'm pleasantly surprised and really glad I stumbled across this book!

I generally avoid detective style books (if I see D.C or D.I on the back of a book, it goes back on the shelf immediately), probably because they take themselves too seriously, the show more storylines are too samey and they just seem boring to me - I'd much rather read a book about true crime than read about a fictional detective solving a fictional (and probably outlandish) murder! That's why I didn't expect to enjoy this book as much as I did.

Maybe because I took this story at face value and didn't go into it with a critical eye, that is why I don't really follow the criticisms shared in other reviews. One mentioned that Cleo is Cambridge educated, yet acts naïve and jumps to conclusions, but this is mentioned only a couple of times. Just because someone is well-educated, doesn't mean they can't make mistakes or be naïve to things. I didn't see Cleo as naïve, only passionate about figuring out the mystery.

I loved the tension and banter between Cleo and Harry and I hope it expands in later books. I was hoping something would happen at the end with them, but even though that didn't happen, it was still a satisfying ending that leads into the next book. All the characters felt so real and alive; they all had their own personalities and I could imagine how they behaved so easily. Archer gives little snippets of information which allows your mind to wander and imagine - nothing's bogged down by too much description which I'm all for!

The book was so easy to read, everything flowed so well into another. Although the book is 350+ pages, it didn't feel that way at all. Something was always happening and there was never a lull in the story where I felt I was losing interest. It felt almost fast paced, yet because of the length, it could probably still be deemed medium paced.

I can't think of any moment where I thought, 'that's cringe/weird/doesn't sound right'. It was just a pleasant read from start to finish. No writing/spelling errors either. I can't think of a negative part of the book which is why I had to give it 5 stars! show less