Kenneth M. Cameron

This novel was difficult for me to review, as I have two sides to my opinions on it.

One one hand, the writing was at times gripping, the author had a good, believable voice, and at times I was very into the storyline. But then the story would rely on yet another old cliche, and ruin things for me.... And I'm not the only female reader who seems to have felt this, either. “Winter at Death’s Hotel” by Kenneth Cameron seems to be lacking in Sense and Logic, at times.

What Mr Cameron has done with this novel, is he has at times indulged in every sick male fantasy along the way, allowing his heroine Mrs Doyle to be brutalized and near-raped by a crazed villain who was so obvious right from the beginning, I'd be concerned if you could not tell by half way through the novel. And just when you thought you couldn’t possibly be more irritated at all this, at the very end the author lets the villain escape and doesn’t even bother to tie together any of the other plot strings. The ending is VERY abrupt. I hated it, for many reasons.

These Are my issues with this novel:

-The plot, which may or may not have been based on Dr. H H Holmes' murder house, had some serious problems. Mr Cameron tries to make us believe that a tall, very large-shouldered man could snake his way through a narrow, less than 2 feet wide gap between walls AND climb up and down ladders and slide through trap doors in these “tunnels” with ease. While clearly totally insane, and having some kind of disease that effected his head so that it swelled very large, as well. (Wouldn't that effect his balance, and coordination at all...?).

-Somehow, the actual killer (not the elder hotel owner) is able to chase after two females, who are much smaller than him, without any problems at all, holding a knife in one hand and a lantern in the other, while tearing up and down vertical ladders and flitting through trap doors that are 2 feet wide, like some kind of monkey?

- And in ALL the years this peeping tom was doing this, no one else saw, or heard anything, to make them complain to the management, and find out why....? Only the servants notice, and complain, but the think it's just ghosts....? Ok, I will suspend my beliefs and my training in Architecture, and just keep reading...

-Incidentally, having suffered sprained ankles many times over throughout my life time, I would think that one doesn’t hobble about with crutches or walking sticks for 2 weeks like 28-year-old Louisa Doyle does. I haven't sprained my ankle nearly that badly, but to me, Louisa's ankle seemed broken, instead. Also, one does not take drugs like morphine for the first 3 days to dull the allegedly excruciating pain – it’s not actually that painful once the foot is elevated and wrapped up. And iced, for that matter.

-When Mrs Doyle craves independence from her controlling husband and seeks the companionship of other females, this author promptly lets her meet a preposterous pre-suffragette woman who tells Mrs Doyle that the “perfect man” is a man who acts out all his fantasies. In other words, when a woman has achieved independence as three of the women in this story have, she talks nothing but nonsense and can’t be anything other than a man hater and lesbian. I found this other character annoying and bitter. And then the same character helps Louisa throughout the end of the novel.....which doesn't seem like something that character would turn around and do....please correct me if I'm wrong?

-Then Dr. Conan Doyle starts acting horrid, and not giving Louisa hardly any money. Just what did this man expect his wife to live on, while he was gone for weeks, and while supporting/paying a maid? At this point in the novel the reader wonders if the author is trying to telling us that Louisa had better be a meek little wife, tolerating her husband’s irritating, mean and pompous ways instead of looking for a better life and marriage. I found Cameron's version of Dr. Conan Doyle really mental, with his mood swings and tight-fistedness as ridiculous, and off-putting. But thinking of your wife as more of a child than an equal? Like Dr. Conan Doyle did at the end of the novel? EW. Mr. Cameron, how could you?

-And the whole scene with the elder hotel owner was totally unnecessary, and the “Show us your Tits” type of chauvinistic writing.

-Also, every time a female character of this book is left to her own devices and without male company, she immediately strips off and twirls around her room without wearing much of anything. Given that the plot is set in the winter (the title was a dead give-away) and that 1896 hotels didn’t have the type of central heating we have today, this behaviour is clearly aimed to please male readers – which I doubt many would read this novel. And, Victorian people’s attitude to nudity was such that they would have bathed in their undergarments and not stripped off at all, never mind how cold or warm the room would have been.

-When protagonist Mrs Doyle meets the character of Minnie Fitch, a woman newspaper reporter cliché, both women embark on the beginnings of a lesbian relationship instead of doing what they set out to do, namely being comrades in arms against a common foe and becoming friends in the process. Naturally, the reporter suddenly freaks out mid-kiss, and won't return any of Louisa's phone calls. I'm guessing it's because she's worried she will be labeled subversive as well as another character did. (Fitch got murdered in the end, so this wouldn't happen. Don't worry! [sarcasm])

-When the reveal finally arrives, every reader with an ounce of sense will have guessed who the killer is. There were only ever 3 men who had the means and opportunity, and it was pretty obvious which one of them would be the killer.

-Not content with subjecting his heroine and female readers to horrendous ways in which the killer has murdered and disposed of his female victims, the author now treats his readers to a graphic description of a rape, the brutalization of two women, one of them Mrs Arthur Conan Doyle herself. What the descendants of historic characters like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his wife must have made of this horrible book one can only wonder.

-The author tells us that he researched New York City’s architecture as it was in the 1890s – it would have been far better had he spent time researching what motivated Victorian women, what their aspirations were in 1896 and what women really think of men – then and now. For it would have allowed him to present readers with realistic and believable female characters instead of hackneyed comic book fiction versions of women...and men for that matter.

-The brutalisation of women in this book is clearly used to shock us all, or perhaps even titillate those that like these kinds of scenes. All they did for me was trigger my rape issues.

-Dr. Conan Doyle lets the bleeding, dying killer get away, instead of pursuing him to help him out, because he is so worried about his poor little wife.

-The jewelry Louisa pawned, because her hubby was so tight with money can no longer be bought back, as the claim slip has burned up in the hotel's massive fire in the end. Which is a small issue, but how about it?

-The disfiguring disease/issue the elder hotel owner had, that disfigured his face and head, and caused Louisa to think was leprosy, was never explained. Was it contagious? Is Louisa going to get it?

-Teddy Roosevelt was an awful caricature, and I hated that.

My likes about this novel: or, But then again......

One of the main themes in the novel is the police brutality and corruption. Two men are on the take and Louisa and Maggie set out to prove that they have covered up the first murder in order to collect money from the husband. So you should expect this kind of behavior, in a city rife with it.

At the heart of Winter at Death’s Hotel is the figure of Louise Conan Doyle and she charms the socks off at nearly every page. A young and confident woman, vibrant and funny, restricted by her corsets and the conventions of marriage, she loves her husband Arthur, revelling in a sexual desire that is barely confined to the privacy of the bedchamber. This restraint or secrecy or even hypocrisy is a powerful theme of the novel. What is it that goes on behind closed doors, what secrets do walls hide and what happens when these passions or instincts are unleashed? Louisa might be tied by tradition and moral codes but, with her husband away, she can snip away at the laws, bit by bit.

Louisa draws others into her investigations, especially the ‘modern’ female journalist Minnie Fitch, her maid Ethel, the hotel detective and other guests in the hotel, which include Henry Irving and William ‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody – a fascinating cast of characters. Then there is the police force. This is a time when New York City was ruled by its gangs and members of its police force had their own allegiances and codes. Everyone has their own agenda and goals, leaving Louisa and Minnie almost alone to fight for the victims. Very soon there is more than one and the Ripper-esque horrors suffered by these women makes Louise fight all the harder.

Kenneth Cameron achieves something nearly special with the style of "Winter at Death’s Hotel". It is -sometimes- extremely well written but it also benefits from an ease and accessibility that pulls the reader in from the beginning. All credit to Cameron for creating such a some what believable and likeable female heroine. Louisa is an admirable guide through the maze of 1890s’ polite society, through the pitfalls of a happy upper middle class marriage, and, ultimately, through a terrible sequence of events.

In a way, this ease and charm, the way we fall for characters such as Louisa and Minnie, it fools us because it means we are completely unprepared for the way that events unfold. I think while I read the second half of the novel it really turned things around for me, made me forget all the little issues that caused me consternation in the first half, and kept me reading through to the ending. This is certainly a novel I won’t forget in a hurry. But I don't know if I can urge anyone to read it.

How about 2 and a half stars?… (more)

Long, befuddling, violent with unlikable characters; this will be the last I read by this author.

Denton comes home to find the police in his home, a woman murdered wrapped in a tarp in his back yard. Violent government thugs come in, take over from the police and take the corpse away.

The government is covertly attempting to expunge Britain of poor Jews by attempting to negotiate a settlement for them in Uganda.

A Jewish pugilist friend of Denton's has opened up a boxing studio for poor Jewish boys, while Denton goes to work-out with him, the man is beaten nearly to death & his studio set on fire.

A woman is secreted away in Janet's house after having an abortion.

While investigating the disappearance of the corpse, Denton is captured by the government thugs and tortured....

Just ugly hateful people and over the top violence....

One star of the overall story idea.… (more)

Long and drawn out, so much so I had to skip 50-75 pages.....

I didn't like the characters they were hard and elicited no empathy.... Had I read this first I'd not have read the 2nd in the series (as it was I read that one first).

A man comes to Denton insisting that Jack-the-Ripper is after him and is in need of protection. As it turns out the man was a voyeur and had witnessed the horrific murder of a young prostitute.....

The police, of course, don't care and pin the murder on an African Sailor, just to be done with it... Until Denton is attacked twice in his home by a mad-man with a knife, the same type used on the dead girl.

Denton searches for the frightened man & finds him dead, 4 floors below the window of his photography studio.....

And so the book goes on & on & on with everyone fighting their personal demons & the police, until Denton unwittingly comes across the murderer.… (more)