I received this book for free in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. However, this did not affect my rating.
A Trace of Deceit by Karen Odden (Victorian mystery #2)
Synopsis
“From the author of A Dangerous Duet comes the next book in her Victorian mystery series, this time following a daring female painter and the Scotland Yard detective who is investigating her brother’s suspicious death.
A young painter digs beneath the veneer of Victorian London’s art world to learn the truth behind her brother’s murder…
Edwin is dead. That’s what Inspector Matthew Hallam of Scotland Yard tells Annabel Rowe when she discovers him searching her brother’s flat for clues. While the news is shocking, Annabel can’t say it’s wholly unexpected, given Edwin’s past as a dissolute risk-taker and art forger, although he swore he’d reformed. After years spent blaming his reckless behavior for their parents’ deaths, Annabel is now faced with the question of who murdered him—because Edwin’s death was both violent and deliberate. A valuable French painting he’d been restoring for an auction house is missing from his studio: find the painting, find the murderer. But the owner of the artwork claims it was destroyed in a warehouse fire years ago.
As a painter at the prestigious Slade School of Art and as Edwin’s closest relative, Annabel makes the case that she is crucial to Matthew’s investigation. But in their search for the painting, Matthew and Annabel trace a path of deceit and viciousness that reaches far beyond the elegant rooms of the auction house, into an underworld of politics, corruption, and secrets someone will kill to keep.”
My thoughts
I love a good historical mystery. I get to learn about some aspect of history, in this case the Victorian art world, while enjoying a good whodunnit. This book was no exception. I was a little hesitant, since this was book 2 in a series, but as it happens the books are set in the same general time frame, but are not truly related.
The story centers around the murder of an artist during an art theft. A valuable French painting goes missing while being restored. Only after its disappearance do the police learn about a dispute over the ownership of the missing painting. Meanwhile the artist’s sister, who is an art student herself, joins the hunt for the killer. Annabel and the police inspector dig through the past to track down the painting – and the murderer.
I feel like a lot of writers struggle to get it right when writing a historical mystery with a female main character. They give her modern attitudes and allow her modern freedoms that are completely out of place. While I understand wanting to showcase some parts of life that have been left out of existing mysteries, throwing a totally modern character into a 19th century story just doesn’t work.
In this case, I felt like Annabel’s story was authentic enough. The Slade did accept female students, and there were female artists. I just question whether a single young woman would wander about so much on her own. Would people really take her seriously enough to answer her questions? Most of the time she accompanied the inspector, though, so that was mostly OK. I did like the characters and the story moved at a good pace. This one definitely kept my interest. I liked it enough that I’d be happy to go back and read the first book.
This book was just released this week. I read it in paperback and I have to thank the publisher for the chance to read this one.
Speedy Reader 