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smittybooks2630's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.0
jdew4516's review
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
melissa_who_reads's review against another edition
5.0
Loved this new addition to the Brighton/Magic Men series. This one circled more around the female characters she's developed - particularly Emma Holmes Stephens and WDC Meg Connolly, though Max Mephisto has his share of the story as well. An old nemesis of Max's, Bert Billington, the very formidable theatrical producer, has been killed with rat poison ... and since the police suspect his wife, Verity Malone, she hires Emma and Sam (who now have a detective agency) to find out what really happen. Lines get blurred in all kinds of ways, and much of the plot depends on who had affairs with whom and when - but it was a great read.
rapscallion1985's review
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
boitevide's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
heroineinabook's review against another edition
3.0
It's simply OK.
When you review a digital ARC, it is hoped that the formatting of the file doesn't take away from the story and that the reviewer is conscious of this and doesn't use it against the book content.
That's the idea anyway.
But I cannot help but mentioned the formatting for this book was not that great. Paragraphs were broken up, words were overlapped, book info was sometimes deposited in between the sentences. I've published a book on Amazon before and it's not really that hard to get the formatting set up if you're willing to put in the time and energy to do it. That a professional publishing house didn't see fit to do that, yes yes, it's an ARC, is a bit lazy.
Back to the story.
The Midnight Hour is the sixth installment in the Brighton Mysteries. At this point, the characters are well established and a history has been formed. I give Griffiths points that she was able to fill in the missing pieces and the book can be read as a standalone. That's often a difficult job to do, why do authors go on forever?, and Griffiths pulls it out quite nicely.
I also felt the twists and turns of the story were strong, but it was the damned formatting that got me flustered and frustrated. I'm trying to enjoy a novel only to be besieged by a mess.
I didn't see the murderer coming and it wasn't obvious whodunnit which is also refreshing. The writing was okay, some places Griffiths was strong and other places a bit lackluster. Griffiths mentions in the afterword that she wrote the book during lock down and we all know that we're not in the best shape of mind so some parts felt a bit desperate. I did enjoy the characters did travel around England which I bet Griffiths was longing to do herself and let her fictional characters do it for her.
I like historical mysteries (especially cozies but this one is close to but I wouldn't go so far as to say it is) and I this this series has a lot of promise. The timing of the publication and writing period may have not been that great. Like I said, the book is OK. Serviceable and gets the job done. Griffiths won an Edgar for previous work so maybe this is a one off?
Griffiths is prolific. One of my libraries has 20 of her books alone so I'm totally up for reading her other work to see if she is all that and a bag of chips.
tl;dr: Serviceable. Worth if if you're a fan of the series or of Griffiths herself. Printed and formalized Kindle editions won't have the formatting issues so take that into consideration and my review affected by this as a grain of salt.
When you review a digital ARC, it is hoped that the formatting of the file doesn't take away from the story and that the reviewer is conscious of this and doesn't use it against the book content.
That's the idea anyway.
But I cannot help but mentioned the formatting for this book was not that great. Paragraphs were broken up, words were overlapped, book info was sometimes deposited in between the sentences. I've published a book on Amazon before and it's not really that hard to get the formatting set up if you're willing to put in the time and energy to do it. That a professional publishing house didn't see fit to do that, yes yes, it's an ARC, is a bit lazy.
Back to the story.
The Midnight Hour is the sixth installment in the Brighton Mysteries. At this point, the characters are well established and a history has been formed. I give Griffiths points that she was able to fill in the missing pieces and the book can be read as a standalone. That's often a difficult job to do, why do authors go on forever?, and Griffiths pulls it out quite nicely.
I also felt the twists and turns of the story were strong, but it was the damned formatting that got me flustered and frustrated. I'm trying to enjoy a novel only to be besieged by a mess.
I didn't see the murderer coming and it wasn't obvious whodunnit which is also refreshing. The writing was okay, some places Griffiths was strong and other places a bit lackluster. Griffiths mentions in the afterword that she wrote the book during lock down and we all know that we're not in the best shape of mind so some parts felt a bit desperate. I did enjoy the characters did travel around England which I bet Griffiths was longing to do herself and let her fictional characters do it for her.
I like historical mysteries (especially cozies but this one is close to but I wouldn't go so far as to say it is) and I this this series has a lot of promise. The timing of the publication and writing period may have not been that great. Like I said, the book is OK. Serviceable and gets the job done. Griffiths won an Edgar for previous work so maybe this is a one off?
Griffiths is prolific. One of my libraries has 20 of her books alone so I'm totally up for reading her other work to see if she is all that and a bag of chips.
tl;dr: Serviceable. Worth if if you're a fan of the series or of Griffiths herself. Printed and formalized Kindle editions won't have the formatting issues so take that into consideration and my review affected by this as a grain of salt.
hippybrarian's review
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
jacki_f's review
4.0
We’re in 1965 Brighton and theatrical impresario Bert Billington has been poisoned. Superintendent Edgar Holme’s team is investigating, but Bert’s widow has also hired a private investigation team: Holme’s wife (and former colleague) Emma and her partner. The two teams work independently at first but after there’s another murder, they gradually start to co-operate and Emma forms a bond with junior police officer Meg Connolly.
This is the 6th book in Elly Griffith’s “Brighton Mysteries” series. Technically you could read this as a standalone (and there is a guide to the main characters and their back stories at the end of the book), but you’ll enjoy it far more if you have at least read [b:Now You See Them|42958878|Now You See Them (Stephens & Mephisto Mystery, #5)|Elly Griffiths|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1556803022l/42958878._SY75_.jpg|66771406] and have a sense of who everyone is. I felt like I was catching up with old friends.
I really like this series which has a endearingly retro feel to it and which occupies the middle ground between crime and cosy crime. Even though there are murders there is no serious tension or unpleasant violence. The appeal lies in the engaging characters, the interesting setting and the insight into life at that time. If you’ve read the Ruth Galloway series this is not quite - but almost - as good.
This is the 6th book in Elly Griffith’s “Brighton Mysteries” series. Technically you could read this as a standalone (and there is a guide to the main characters and their back stories at the end of the book), but you’ll enjoy it far more if you have at least read [b:Now You See Them|42958878|Now You See Them (Stephens & Mephisto Mystery, #5)|Elly Griffiths|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1556803022l/42958878._SY75_.jpg|66771406] and have a sense of who everyone is. I felt like I was catching up with old friends.
I really like this series which has a endearingly retro feel to it and which occupies the middle ground between crime and cosy crime. Even though there are murders there is no serious tension or unpleasant violence. The appeal lies in the engaging characters, the interesting setting and the insight into life at that time. If you’ve read the Ruth Galloway series this is not quite - but almost - as good.