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peppermintz's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I really want to like the main character, but then she opens her mouth and...
1000_books_1000_lives's review against another edition
3.0
Rich in detail, the story creates a layered mystery. I found it a little wordy in parts and despite trying I found it hard to connect with the main character, but it was overall a good read.
sarah_moynihan's review against another edition
1.0
DNF at 60%, and not for lack of trying.
The Gentlewoman's Guide to Murder had a slow start, not for a lack of interesting things happening. But because I didn't feel like we got to really know the main character very much I wasn't interested or invested in what was happening to her and the things that were concerning her.
This book focuses on men of the upper classes using their power and money to abuse those vulnerable to them. Mostly pedophilic men raping the young women in their employ. This is a very dark subject matter and it was jarring to find this to be focus of a cozy mystery. It didn't seem fitting for the genre. Plus they are fighting for this horrible cause and all the characters are so casual about it.
I was so disappointed by this book for a few reasons. Partially because it didn't seem very in keeping with the time period and partially because it was so dreary and slow-paced without even an enjoyable main character to make the reading worth it. But mainly because I have read the 3-part mystery series from when she was writing under the name 'Donna Lee SImpson,' The Lady Anne Addison Mysteries, which she recently republished under Victoria Hamilton. I loved that series, so when I found she had started a new mystery series I was looking forward to starting this book. But this new book doesn't hold any resemblence to her past writing. I didn't find the characters engaging or intruiging and although the premise was good, I wasn't invested. In all honesty I found the main characer to be distinctly unlikeable.
I have tried several times to get into this book, but I simply can't. The author again and again summarizes what you've already read so that you know where the mystery stands, but it was just so repetitive and I was bored. I did not feel a connection for any of the characters, I didn't like Emmeline. She was very modern for a woman of her time and she had a very dim view on life. Choosing to fight the battles she does, her outlook is understandable. But... I'm not here for it.
I will not be finishing this book and am upset that I purchased it. This is the first of a series, but I will not be continuing with the series and I do not recommend it to others.
The Gentlewoman's Guide to Murder had a slow start, not for a lack of interesting things happening. But because I didn't feel like we got to really know the main character very much I wasn't interested or invested in what was happening to her and the things that were concerning her.
This book focuses on men of the upper classes using their power and money to abuse those vulnerable to them. Mostly pedophilic men raping the young women in their employ. This is a very dark subject matter and it was jarring to find this to be focus of a cozy mystery. It didn't seem fitting for the genre. Plus they are fighting for this horrible cause and all the characters are so casual about it.
I was so disappointed by this book for a few reasons. Partially because it didn't seem very in keeping with the time period and partially because it was so dreary and slow-paced without even an enjoyable main character to make the reading worth it. But mainly because I have read the 3-part mystery series from when she was writing under the name 'Donna Lee SImpson,' The Lady Anne Addison Mysteries, which she recently republished under Victoria Hamilton. I loved that series, so when I found she had started a new mystery series I was looking forward to starting this book. But this new book doesn't hold any resemblence to her past writing. I didn't find the characters engaging or intruiging and although the premise was good, I wasn't invested. In all honesty I found the main characer to be distinctly unlikeable.
I have tried several times to get into this book, but I simply can't. The author again and again summarizes what you've already read so that you know where the mystery stands, but it was just so repetitive and I was bored. I did not feel a connection for any of the characters, I didn't like Emmeline. She was very modern for a woman of her time and she had a very dim view on life. Choosing to fight the battles she does, her outlook is understandable. But... I'm not here for it.
I will not be finishing this book and am upset that I purchased it. This is the first of a series, but I will not be continuing with the series and I do not recommend it to others.
katreader's review against another edition
4.0
A GENTLEWOMAN'S GUIDE TO MURDER by Victoria Hamilton
The First Gentlewoman's Guide to Murder
Regency England may be remembered for its romances and lovely people living a life of frivolity and indulgence. But, that was the life of members of the ton. In reality, life was harder and much darker, especially for those on the lowest rungs of the service ladder. Miss Emmeline St. Germaine is a woman with a mission, as well as a double, if not triple, life. In public she's a proper, if unmarried woman. As The Rogue, she writes articles for a newspaper, bringing light to scandalous gossip and social injustices. But her most dangerous role is that of The Avengeress, who ventures out to save young girls and boys from abuse. After rescuing a young maid about to be raped by her employer, she's stunned when the man is found brutally slaughtered the next morning. With the majority of the public blaming The Avengeress, Emmeline determines to find the real killer, before she's exposed...and found guilty of murder!
Victoria Hamilton does not shy away from the gritty reality of life tackling sexual assault and pedophilia in her first Gentlewoman's Guide to Murder mystery! Yet these atrocities are dealt with tact and not sensationalized.
I enjoyed my first entry into Regency England with Miss Emmeline St. Germaine. She's doing what she can to be a free and independent woman, fighting for the betterment of society at a time when upperclass women were thought of as nothing more than adornments while women of lower classes were meant to be used and abused. Sadly, this remains somewhat of a reality even today, 200 years later!
The author has a firm grasp of life during this time period, providing a myriad of small details that are intrinsic to the mood and spirit of the novel and not extraneous fluff or an overt history lesson. Emmaline's work as the Rogue, sharing gossip and rumours with broad hints as to the real people involved, was a standard practice of the time. Clothing details showing class distinction as well as how the different classes met and mingled are all integral particulars to the story. The characters are all multidimentional with deep backstories simmering under the surface. Vivid descriptions are haunting, especially the subtle changes seen in those being abused.
A GENTLEWOMAN'S GUIDE TO MURDER is a smart historical mystery that isn't afraid to deal with difficult subject matter. A truly heroic heroine graces its pages engaging in a fight to be her own person, a fight that women continue to this day.
FTC Disclosure – The publisher sent me a copy of this book in the hopes I would review it.
The First Gentlewoman's Guide to Murder
Regency England may be remembered for its romances and lovely people living a life of frivolity and indulgence. But, that was the life of members of the ton. In reality, life was harder and much darker, especially for those on the lowest rungs of the service ladder. Miss Emmeline St. Germaine is a woman with a mission, as well as a double, if not triple, life. In public she's a proper, if unmarried woman. As The Rogue, she writes articles for a newspaper, bringing light to scandalous gossip and social injustices. But her most dangerous role is that of The Avengeress, who ventures out to save young girls and boys from abuse. After rescuing a young maid about to be raped by her employer, she's stunned when the man is found brutally slaughtered the next morning. With the majority of the public blaming The Avengeress, Emmeline determines to find the real killer, before she's exposed...and found guilty of murder!
Victoria Hamilton does not shy away from the gritty reality of life tackling sexual assault and pedophilia in her first Gentlewoman's Guide to Murder mystery! Yet these atrocities are dealt with tact and not sensationalized.
I enjoyed my first entry into Regency England with Miss Emmeline St. Germaine. She's doing what she can to be a free and independent woman, fighting for the betterment of society at a time when upperclass women were thought of as nothing more than adornments while women of lower classes were meant to be used and abused. Sadly, this remains somewhat of a reality even today, 200 years later!
The author has a firm grasp of life during this time period, providing a myriad of small details that are intrinsic to the mood and spirit of the novel and not extraneous fluff or an overt history lesson. Emmaline's work as the Rogue, sharing gossip and rumours with broad hints as to the real people involved, was a standard practice of the time. Clothing details showing class distinction as well as how the different classes met and mingled are all integral particulars to the story. The characters are all multidimentional with deep backstories simmering under the surface. Vivid descriptions are haunting, especially the subtle changes seen in those being abused.
A GENTLEWOMAN'S GUIDE TO MURDER is a smart historical mystery that isn't afraid to deal with difficult subject matter. A truly heroic heroine graces its pages engaging in a fight to be her own person, a fight that women continue to this day.
FTC Disclosure – The publisher sent me a copy of this book in the hopes I would review it.
ale_xan_dra's review against another edition
3.0
It is well written but it is not a cozy mystery! Do not read it unless you want to dig into the world of child sex trafficking.
aj_langley's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
fishwitch's review
3.0
This book was rather “meh”. It deals with a difficult topic- the sexual exploitation of young girls, but the blurb leads the reader to believe that there is more to the story. Spoiler: there’s not. If I had gone into reading this knowing that, I would have had a different mindset. Instead I was hopeful of reading a relatively lighthearted Victorian mystery and that my friend, is not what this book is.
attytheresa's review against another edition
4.0
London, October 22, 1810. The Rogue is anonymously hinting in the Prattler about unnamed members of the upper class, particularly a newly made knight, of sexual abuse of scullery maids little more than children. The Masked Avengeress is on a mission in the dark of night to rescue one such scullery maid from the new townhouse in Clerkenwell, and succeeds but not without a confrontation with the new knight caught in flagrante delicto. The next morning the newsheets are filled with the gruesome murder of the new knight, the stealing away the scullery maid, silver stolen from the house, and accusations of the Avengeress now being a murderer.
That's how the author launches us into her series and introduces us to Emmeline St. Germaine, a young single woman of the nobility who has vowed to do all she can to save children from abuse at the hands of lecherous men. Emmeline is strong, intelligent, opinionated, fearless, though there are hints of darkness in her own past. She's also walking a very fine line as she's dependent on her eldest brother, one who has no belief that a woman can be independent and manage her own life. Emmeline is a wonderful character, one I can't wait to see mature as the series develops.
It's a well plotted complex murder mystery with deep themes of dark issues such as human trafficking and sexual abuse of young girls, and the subjugation of women of the era. Emmeline herself has a deep aversion to marriage, chafes at any man having control over her, her life choices, and her financial wherewithall, but I suspect that somewhere down the road in this new series that stance will soften given how her present position as a dependent of her elder brother cannot improve unless she marries a more forward thinking man. And of course, there is one on the sidelines.
That's how the author launches us into her series and introduces us to Emmeline St. Germaine, a young single woman of the nobility who has vowed to do all she can to save children from abuse at the hands of lecherous men. Emmeline is strong, intelligent, opinionated, fearless, though there are hints of darkness in her own past. She's also walking a very fine line as she's dependent on her eldest brother, one who has no belief that a woman can be independent and manage her own life. Emmeline is a wonderful character, one I can't wait to see mature as the series develops.
It's a well plotted complex murder mystery with deep themes of dark issues such as human trafficking and sexual abuse of young girls, and the subjugation of women of the era. Emmeline herself has a deep aversion to marriage, chafes at any man having control over her, her life choices, and her financial wherewithall, but I suspect that somewhere down the road in this new series that stance will soften given how her present position as a dependent of her elder brother cannot improve unless she marries a more forward thinking man. And of course, there is one on the sidelines.
annarella's review against another edition
5.0
This is a good start for a new historical mystery series and I enjoyed it even if deals with quite disturbing facts.
The heroine is a strong woman, not conforming to the norm, and fighting for the underdogs.
The plot flows and the mystery kept me guessing.
If we want to define it cozy I would add "dark cozy.
I liked it and it's strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
The heroine is a strong woman, not conforming to the norm, and fighting for the underdogs.
The plot flows and the mystery kept me guessing.
If we want to define it cozy I would add "dark cozy.
I liked it and it's strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
sarajane11's review
2.0
I really wanted to like this, but for whatever reason it just did not hold my interest at all.