Daniel Darabos reviewed Murder by Lamplight by Patrice McDonough
Review of 'Murder by Lamplight' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Murder by Lamplight has a perfectly Agatha Christie atmosphere. Just hop into a cab on the foggy London streets of the 19th century, and you're set. The murders are perhaps more numerous and gruesome than usual, but the characters are so cheerful it makes up for that. It's light reading.
At first, the strong stroke of feminism in this past setting felt anachronistic. Sure, women didn't have voting rights. But that doesn't mean they were all okay with that! If they had been, they still wouldn't have voting rights today. It's cool to see progressive characters in a classical setting.
My only complaint is that I felt the murderer's identity came out of nowhere. I see in the author's notes that the number of clues we get is the result of careful tuning over many reads. I must be very dumb compared to the beta readers because I saw exactly …
Murder by Lamplight has a perfectly Agatha Christie atmosphere. Just hop into a cab on the foggy London streets of the 19th century, and you're set. The murders are perhaps more numerous and gruesome than usual, but the characters are so cheerful it makes up for that. It's light reading.
At first, the strong stroke of feminism in this past setting felt anachronistic. Sure, women didn't have voting rights. But that doesn't mean they were all okay with that! If they had been, they still wouldn't have voting rights today. It's cool to see progressive characters in a classical setting.
My only complaint is that I felt the murderer's identity came out of nowhere. I see in the author's notes that the number of clues we get is the result of careful tuning over many reads. I must be very dumb compared to the beta readers because I saw exactly zero clues. But I suppose it's better than the reverse.