A Beautiful Poison

It's the engagement party of wealthy Manhattan socialite Allene, a frothy distraction from the news of the slaughter in the trenches of Europe and the ever-rising number of influenza cases in the city—but then one of Allene's guests is poisoned. She is just the first to die, and Allene and her slightly-estranged childhood friends, Birdie and Jasper, team up to unmask the killer.

This is an enjoyable and unusually ambitious example of the historical murder mystery genre. Lydia Kang doesn't overlook how social class, gender, and money shape the lives of her characters; Allene, Birdie, and Jasper are all believably flawed and have individual blind spots that are believable for people born in fin de siècle New York. The first couple of show more chapters made me think that this would be a vaguely polyamorous Nancy Drew-ish kind of read, but Kang is trying to do something more complex here. It doesn't always work. Some of the perspective shifts are a little clumsy and red herrings too obviously sign-posted. The whodunnit reveal was also underwhelming. While the logistics of it worked, I have a suspicion that a re-read wouldn't show Kang to have been playing fair with the misdirects/the psychology of it, and some of the motivations aren't entirely believable.

Still, a fun read for lying on the couch in arm's reach of the Christmas tub of Cadbury's Roses, and I'd definitely check out subsequent books by this author. show less

Underlying is an interesting eeryness

Characters inter-relate and cause you to form opinions and to choose favorites. But, in the end a lot of the elements you used to rate their value (wealth, social awareness, hard work, resilience, beauty, intellect, and loyalty) and choose who was to your liking and who was not - are twisted and turned into an ending that turns from the macabre and delivers a few glimmers of hope.

This is an intriguing book about three friends who had been separated but are now brought together for the engagement party of one of them – Allene, an heiress. She has not seen Jasper – a former member of her set until a series of catastrophes brought him low – and Birdie, her previous lady’s maid for lack of a better description, but whom she considered a friend despite her parents’ disapproval. Allene never understood why Birdie and her mother were so summarily dismissed those years ago.

Allene is conflicted about marrying as she doesn’t really care for her fiance and the marriage is really more of a merger between two wealthy families rather than a love story. At the party a young socialite falls down the stairs and she show more is pronounced dead – rather ruining the party. All is hushed up with the police but Allene and Jasper both suspect that more is going on than a drunken fall. In fact, Jasper notices a smell of bitter almonds.

As the friends investigate the death, they also must deal with the looming draft for Jasper and other young men reaching the age of 18. WWI is raging and soldiers are a constant need. In addition a virulent flu has reached the shores of New York and it is killing indiscriminately. As people close to the friends start dying they start questioning relationships they have had for years.

This historical mystery covers some dark topics – poisoning, the flu epidemic of 1917, radium, murder, sexual abuse, class differences. Allene is a woman ahead of her time in some ways but due to her privilege she is amazingly blind to a lot of the suffering around her. The story is mostly about relationships whether they be good, bad or abusive.

Ms. Kang does an excellent job of bringing the period alive through descriptions of the neighborhoods – both upper class and poor. Her characters are distinct and well defined. I also appreciated the various lessons woven so well into the story on forensics, chemistry and medicine. I love a book where I learn something without feeling like I’m reading a textbook, I will admit to being surprised at the ending which is always a good thing. show less

The book started off with a great premise: three childhood friends reunited to solve a murder. The setting was the end of The Great War where girls worked in factories painting clock dials with radium. The Spanish influenza was also raging. With all this going for it, I thought the book had great potential. However with a plethora of red herrings and minor characters it turned out to be a convoluted who dunnit with too many story lines, shallow characters, and a disappointing ending. 350 pages 3 stars (for history background and potential).

And a beautiful mystery.

A slow, somewhat lurching start finally eases into an intricately woven mystery. The characters are well done, and if the red herrings are sometimes clumsy, it can be forgiven for the elegant foreshadowing. The science is impeccable. Altogether a terrific read.

I found this was an enjoyable book to read. I like history and the forensic aspects, as well as the stark differences in social classes that the author paints so vividly, highlighted even more by the complete ignorance by Allene as to the realities most people faced if they weren't incredibly wealthy. It also felt like the she grew and matured more as she became more exposed, and it helped her break free from her parents gilded cage and grow into more of an adult who wasn't afraid to voice her own opinions and make her own decisions. I really liked that. She isn't a very likeable character, especially at first, but she grows more in depth and humanity by the end, and I think it redeems her somewhat.

The murder mystery part was show more interesting, but I feel like the author switched things up at one point in a way that didn't make sense. That along with some other issues made me rate it less than I might have otherwise. The note aspect was an interesting touch, but the timing felt odd. Like the note found in the book could have been found at any time... it might not have been found for years. And the notes mailed... if they truly went through the mail, how could the killer be sure that when the note was read, the deed would have just been done? But I mostly brushed that aside and just enjoyed the ride. It did keep me up very late until I finished the book.

I also found that the chemistry between the characters fell a bit flat, despite so much going on about how they were inseparable and had an almost obsessive need to be with each other, yet it seemed like they had simply not bothered to contact each other much for years. Allene, maybe was understandable due to her parents feelings, but why wouldn't Jasper and Birdie have continued to be in contact? I also found they weren't particularly likeable people, especially Allene, but Birdie and Jasper as well. Still it was written well and made for an interesting read and I always enjoy seeing how different kinds of families operate, including ones that are very dysfunctional. The difficulty of loving parents that are abusive or neglectful or who have disappointed in major ways is always tainted by the anger and hate felt by the child as the victim who suffers, and too often is ignored. Overall, despite my little issues with the book, I thought it was written well and I enjoyed reading it and following what happened to everyone, and would definitely read more by this author.

SPOILERS BELOW*******************************

I found it unbelievable that Allene, with her knowledge of chemical elements didn't immediately know why Birdie was glowing, or consider radium as something that might have been to blame for her failing health. I realize that they didn't know yet that radium was so toxic and deadly, but still... she just didn't comment on it at all, which I found surprising with her obscure and indepth knowledge of chemistry and the elements. I also found the fact that they didn't notice she was really ill until she broke a bone somewhat hard to believe.

And I also found that the ending surprise as to who was really behind the killings didn't fit. There was no indication of the killer's true motivation or feelings earlier in the book even thought it had passages written from the different characters point of views, where the reader could read their thoughts. That felt kind of like a bait and switch. Maybe it there had been more hints, even subtle ones, thrown in, that looking back you could see would fit into place with the motivation of the killer at the end, but ... that was a bit of an issue for me. show less

This is a story about three broken young adults, 2 of which irrevocable so, in NY during the frantic end of WWI and decimating Spanish Influenza that coincidentally killed my own Great Grandmother. Each character Jasper, Allene and Birdie are victims of fate, the tenuous trappings of society and cages of their own making. It was hard to find something redeemable in any of them and yet I still empathized with all of them.

I wish I was more surprised by the architect of the murder spree, but the ending especially in relation to Allene left me wishing she had learned more self-reliance and less on other people fixing her problems. The interjection of time appropriate slang and the mental images of the late Edwardian period were done well show more and immersed you in a visually beautiful world. It also highlighted why I am so glad I am a woman in our current time.

Lydia Kang clearly researched the era and her firsthand knowledge of medicine and science was clearly where she shined, I found her writing competent and engaging I think Tess Gerritsen's The Bone Garden also set at the cusp of what we now know as modern medicine and forensic science, with both fictional and non-fictional characters waging a war against ignorance and deadly pathologies more succinctly written. But I found I could not put A Beautiful Poison down, and was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it especially since it was a free book through Amazon Prime Reading of an author I was not familiar with….and my favorite molecule is also one three seven trimethylxanthine. show less