Reviews

The Butcher's Daughter: A Foundlings Novel by Wendy Corsi Staub

rmarcin's review against another edition

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3.0

I have mixed feelings about this book. It was gory at times, and hard to imagine a woman capable of such evil. At other times, the book was both heartbreaking and heartwarming.
The book is told in alternate timelines, 1968 and 2017. In 1968, with racial tensions high, Melody and Cyril have a forbidden relationship in the Deep South. Gypsy, the butcher’s daughter, begins to suspect her father of unspeakable crimes. In 2017, Amelia is helping foundlings (those abandoned in childhood) find their birth families. Amelia is working with NYPD detective, Stockton Barnes, who himself has a daughter who was abandoned and lost to him.
This is Book 3 in the foundling series, and I think I would have enjoyed the book more had I read the earlier books. I was not aware of this before I began reading. I did like the way the book wrapped up, but I thought it was difficult keeping some of the characters straight.
Thanks to The Scene of the Crime/William Morrow/Harper Collins/NetGalley for the ARC.

#TheButchersDaughter #WendyCorsiStaub #WilliamMorrow #HarperCollins #NetGalley

hmbb99's review against another edition

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3.0

The Butcher's Daughter starts off slowly but escalates into a thrilling mystery. The story interweaves a tale of murder along with the mystery of finding Amelia's parents and Stockton's daughter. The mixing of the two seems a little weird at first but it all comes together about midway in the book.
The story is original and well written. I liked Amelia's storyline more than I did the storyline about the murder and would be interested in reading more stories about Amelia searching for ancestral connections.
Thanks to Netgalley, William Morrow, and the Scene of the Crime Early Reads for the advanced copy of this book. The opinions are my own.

heather626's review against another edition

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2.0

I was sent The Butcher's Daughter by Wendy Corsi Staub by William Morrow-HaperCollins Publishing as an ARC to give my honest opinion on. I just couldn't connect with this book. This is the final book in a triology. I have not read any of the other books. Lots of characters, too many to keep up with. Between the changing of time and changing of names over the years to protect the identity, its just too much. There is a lot of dialogue to read through and I will admit, I got lost in it. With that being said, I did enjoy the story line that took place in the 1960's. I could have read a whole book on that time, especially the story between Melody and Cyril. They had a beautiful, tragic love story that carried Melody through her years. Honestly, that was the only part of the book that kept me going. I struggled with this book.
Special thanks to NetGalley, Wendy Corsi Staub, and William Morrow-HarperCollins Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
#TheButchersDaughter #NetGalley

cj_mo_2222's review against another edition

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3.0

Amelia Crenshaw Haines was abandoned at a church in Harlem when she was an infant, but was found by a local family and adopted. She grew up to become a genealogy consultant to help other foundlings locate their biological families. She is also still trying to trace her own family. Amelia thinks her latest client, NYPD Detective Stockton Barnes who is trying to find his daughter, may be able to help in Amelia’s personal search for her family. However, something about their search may have put both of them in the crosshairs of a ruthless killer.

I have enjoyed many books by Wendy Corsi Staub and I enjoy her style of writing. I didn’t realize this book was the third book of a trilogy when I started reading it. This is definitely not a standalone novel. There are many parts of the book I enjoyed, but since I didn’t read the first two books, I could never catch up. A cast of characters at the front may have helped somewhat because this book has so many characters in it in different cities and timelines. I was a third of the way into the book before I could come close to figuring out how all the discounted parts of the book could come together into one plot.

I enjoyed Amelia and Stockton’s story and wish more of the focus of the book would have been on them instead of all of the details about Gypsy’s childhood experiences. I also liked Melody’s story even though it’s heartbreaking and all too realistic. Overall, it’s an intriguing story but the suspense didn’t build as well as it could if the telling wasn’t so choppy. That being said, the last few chapters are very exciting and I loved the way the story wrapped up. I’m sure those who followed this trilogy from the beginning will be especially pleased. There are a lot of positives in the book and I will rate it 3.5 stars even though I was confused during much of the book. I will give the book the benefit of the doubt and assume it’s because I didn’t read the prior two books.

Thank you to NetGalley, William Morrow, and Scene of the Crime Early Reads for this ebook. An advance copy was provided to me at no cost, but my review is voluntary and unbiased.

dg_reads's review against another edition

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4.0

I received a complimentary copy of THE BUTCHER’S DAUGTHER by Wendy Corsi Staub. Thank you to William Morrow Books!

THE BUTCHER’S DAUGHTER is the third book in The Foundlings trilogy which follows investigative genealogist Amelia Crenshaw. In this installment, the case is more personal as Amelia begins to investigate her own biological history to uncover the identities of her birth parents while helping NYPD Detective Stockton Barnes find the daughter he left behind long ago, presumably for her own good. Each has secrets to uncover and others have more sinister objectives in mind when it comes to uncovering those secrets or keeping them hidden.

Southern California just finally had an almost fall-ish day yesterday, so of course today seems like the appropriate time to post probably my most summer-ish picture of the year, but this book is perfect for the transition from a gripping summer beach read into fall’s dark and tangled thrillers. The author does a great job of intertangling the lives and histories of Stockton and Amelia and doling out clues that keep you wanting to know more.

There were a lot of characters to keep track of initially between present day and back in time in the family tree, so it did take me a bit to settle into the story, but I think the author did a good job of keeping the reader on track with who was who as the story progressed. Once I really settled into it, I really enjoyed it!

I actually did not realize that this was the third in a series when I first picked it up, and I think it worked well as a standalone since I had not read the previous two books. That said, given the synopsis I had expected to hear a bit more about Amelia’s investigations into genealogies, but I suspect that may have come up more in the previous books where this book was more focused on the action that came out of what she learned. This book did deliver on the action, with twists and turns that kept me flying through the pages.

milesofpages's review against another edition

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3.0

Review:

wulfwyn's review against another edition

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4.0

I did not read the first two books in the series. I actually did not realize it was a trilogy until I was finished.
I had a bit of difficulty in getting into this book. I started it a couple of times before I read enough that it was difficult to put down. Perhaps if I had known there were two previous books, beginning this one would have been smoother. Once I got into the story, though, I was hooked. There are a lot of characters in this book. The timeline jumps around a lot too. Those both contributed to my difficulty with the beginning. I would make the suggestion, to the author, perhaps a character list with time line and places might be of value to readers. It would have helped me early on.
Once I got into the story and figured out connections, times and places, it was a truly interesting story. It dealt with social issues from the 60’s and 70’s that we still, to an extent, are dealing with today. I was a child back then but I have a lot of memories of marches and violence. I enjoyed the various storylines and how they connected. Some of the people I connected with in various ways. I do think, if you haven’t read the previous books, you may want to read the first one. I think this might be the best introduction to the characters. In hindsight I wish I had read it. I think it might have helped with Gypsy and Oran’s storyline the most. This might have made the beginning of this book more understandable for me.
I would recommend this book to my friends but I would add that book 1 should also be read. I would suggest a notebook to keep track of characters and time zones.
Thank you to William Morrow, Scene of the Crime, the author and NetGalley for providing a review copy. I voluntarily reviewed this book.

bwagner's review against another edition

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4.0

I enjoyed this suspenseful, thriller. This is an author that has continued to impress me with her well written stories that pull me in right from the beginning. Her attention to details make the stories easy to read and keep them engaging. This book is no different. I enjoyed how the characters pulled me in and kept me turning pages. I had no issues connecting with them as the brought the story to life. The twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat just waiting to see what will happen next. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to all.

quinnster's review against another edition

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2.0

I was waiting to finish the trilogy before I reviewed them because they are truly a trilogy. The first book leaves much unfinished.

There was A LOT going on. There are about eleventy hundred characters to keep track of and time flip flops so that makes everything even more confusing.

The murders don't really make sense. The Butcher, The Angler, The Butcher's Daughter....they seemed like a separate story (in fact, The Angler really is it's own story, it has no bearing on the story as a whole and nothing that happens with him really carries over to the next book). You're not really given much insight as to what drives the killers except psychopathy and the end of times.

All in all, it was just okay. The fact that nothing really resolves itself until the final book is what kept me reading, otherwise I might have stopped after the first book.

wulfwyn's review against another edition

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4.0

I did not read the first two books in the series. I actually did not realize it was a trilogy until I was finished.
I had a bit of difficulty in getting into this book. I started it a couple of times before I read enough that it was difficult to put down. Perhaps if I had known there were two previous books, beginning this one would have been smoother. Once I got into the story, though, I was hooked. There are a lot of characters in this book. The timeline jumps around a lot too. Those both contributed to my difficulty with the beginning. I would make the suggestion, to the author, perhaps a character list with time line and places might be of value to readers. It would have helped me early on.
Once I got into the story and figured out connections, times and places, it was a truly interesting story. It dealt with social issues from the 60’s and 70’s that we still, to an extent, are dealing with today. I was a child back then but I have a lot of memories of marches and violence. I enjoyed the various storylines and how they connected. Some of the people I connected with in various ways. I do think, if you haven’t read the previous books, you may want to read the first one. I think this might be the best introduction to the characters. In hindsight I wish I had read it. I think it might have helped with Gypsy and Oran’s storyline the most. This might have made the beginning of this book more understandable for me.
I would recommend this book to my friends but I would add that book 1 should also be read. I would suggest a notebook to keep track of characters and time zones.
Thank you to William Morrow, Scene of the Crime, the author and NetGalley for providing a review copy. I voluntarily reviewed this book.