Last year I was perplexed as to why I enjoyed Speller’s first mystery novel featuring Bartram, The Return of Captain John Emmett as much as I did. I think it was a combination of the victim’s back story and the time period. The mystery itself and Bartram were not as well developed as I would have liked them to be but given the quality of Speller’s writing I thought things would only get better.
Alas The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton suffers from the same deficiencies as its predecessor. The back ground is there, the atmosphere is there but the mystery is missing and amateur detective Bartram does not have the level of charisma you want in your crime solver. Sigh.
Elizabeth Speller can write. She has complete control of the time period. The history, the settings, the behavior and speech of her characters is all right on point. Maybe the third time will be the charm?
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