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A review by gabberjaws
The Body in the Garden by Katharine Schellman
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
What a lovely little surprise.
I picked The Body in The Garden up on on a lark and was pleasantly surprised by how much I ended up liking this. This was super cozy and easy to read, and I found myself not only breezing through this, but also reaching for my kindle every time I could spare a few minutes during work lulls and reading as much as I could fit in during my little breaks. Not un-putdownable, but definitely engaging enough to keep me wanting more. I wanted the sequel the instant I finished reading this.
As far as mysteries go the one this book dealt with wasn't especially complex and I did have a pretty strong idea who the murderer was pretty early on, but the clues were spaced out really well, and I had a fun time following the mystery along as the case unraveled. We learned things as the characters did, and except for one moment towards the end, no revelation was ever withheld from us. And I can't even fault that one instance too much, because if you had a memory for details, you'd have figured out what Adler's big "Oh" moment was.
All in all, I found this really enjoyable. It feels like the author really did her research on the locations and time periods and the customs of this era. And I do love that she made this a diverse novel - especially since regency novels are a genre where you'd be unsurprised by the whole cast being predominantly white. I loved that two of the main characters were biracial, that their othering by society was commented on, and that . I, personally, thought it was handled well.
My only critique is that the characters, especially Lily, didn't seem to have a lot of depth to them? But that's something I'm hoping will be fixed in future books. I also wasn't a giant fan of how we were introduced to Captain Hartley? It felt a tad rushed and flimsy, but it's a minor complaint.
I picked The Body in The Garden up on on a lark and was pleasantly surprised by how much I ended up liking this. This was super cozy and easy to read, and I found myself not only breezing through this, but also reaching for my kindle every time I could spare a few minutes during work lulls and reading as much as I could fit in during my little breaks. Not un-putdownable, but definitely engaging enough to keep me wanting more. I wanted the sequel the instant I finished reading this.
As far as mysteries go the one this book dealt with wasn't especially complex and I did have a pretty strong idea who the murderer was pretty early on, but the clues were spaced out really well, and I had a fun time following the mystery along as the case unraveled. We learned things as the characters did, and except for one moment towards the end, no revelation was ever withheld from us. And I can't even fault that one instance too much, because if you had a memory for details, you'd have figured out what Adler's big "Oh" moment was.
All in all, I found this really enjoyable. It feels like the author really did her research on the locations and time periods and the customs of this era. And I do love that she made this a diverse novel - especially since regency novels are a genre where you'd be unsurprised by the whole cast being predominantly white. I loved that two of the main characters were biracial, that their othering by society was commented on, and that . I, personally, thought it was handled well.
My only critique is that the characters, especially Lily, didn't seem to have a lot of depth to them? But that's something I'm hoping will be fixed in future books. I also wasn't a giant fan of how we were introduced to Captain Hartley? It felt a tad rushed and flimsy, but it's a minor complaint.